Failure to Launch Corey Landing

By Lisa Leveroni

Dead in the Water

In 2021, Ram Realty Advisors, a South Florida-based real estate firm, went under agreement to purchase the property at the east end of Corey Avenue.

Leverock’s Restaurant moved to South Pasadena to make way for this land and water development. All this, for the beautification, development, and practical land use of what should be a showcase for the people of St. Pete Beach.

Fast forward to 2023 and not only has the project failed to advance, but the developer withdrew its purchase offer from property owner Fortress Investment Group of Irving, Texas.

It may seem moot to review Ram Realty Advisors’ submitted plans for a mixed-use property with all the trimmings, but it’s not. Boat docks for residents and visitors, green space, a swimming pool, a 243-unit seven-story apartment building with parking garage, restaurants, and shops may still play into the property plan.

The Future of Corey Landing

During the June 27 commission meeting, St. Pete Beach commissioners discussed the future of the Corey Landing project.

City Manager Alex Rey was asked why the purchase fell through between Ram and Fortress.

“The Ram attorney said that the owner will not comment on the reason,” Rey said. He speculated that one reason might be that the pro- jected cost went from $90 million to $100 million.

Rey explained that the permit fees had all been paid and Fortress owns these permits.

“They’re looking for a company to step into Ram’s shoes,” Rey said.

Ram Realty Advisors reportedly lost at least $1 million by canceling the purchase agreement.

City Attorney Andrew Dickman indicated that if “exactly the same plan was used, the same permits which were already paid for could also be used by the new property owners.”

Vice Mayor Mark Grill asked, “if the permits go with the property owner, what about the Conditional Use Permit (CUP)?”

Corey continued on page 10

History continued from cover to St. Petersburg. Soon thereafter, crews carved roadways and built new homes at this once-remote fishing spot near where a bridge currently connects Pass-a-Grille and Vina del Mar.

Bradley did not sell his Pass-a-Grille assets to reap a handsome profit during the vibrant Florida land boom. The first known Black person to settle along Pass-a-Grille, he and his family became the last Black residents to leave the growing island community a century ago, when ambitious developers and hateful Jim Crow practices forced his removal and turned Passa-Grille into a “sundown town.”

An Early Beachfront

Florida has more miles of coastline than all other states except Alaska. Despite this distinction, until recent years, Black beachgoers endured fear of immediate arrest or violent reprisals if they attempted to enjoy the surf and sand. Indeed, legal restrictions and racial intolerance created coastal “sundown towns” throughout the Sunshine State.

Although real estate boosters have promoted St. Petersburg’s waterfront since the earliest days of settlement, Spa Beach and other Sunshine City locations remained off-limits to Black bathers until the civil rights era. Similar restrictions prohibited Black people from visiting beaches at Gulfport, Clearwater, and the rest of coastal Pinellas during the early- and mid-20th century.

For more than 15 years, however, a then-remote section of the island three-fifths of a mile north of Passa-Grille’s business district became a safe enclave for Black beachgoers. The Bradleys, Gunners, and other families in this area maintained a small bathing beach for Black visitors who came to their secluded area of the island.

Bradley operated a concession stand, provided refreshments, and even rented bathing suits to visitors. He also raised hogs on an adjacent key and transported cargo for whiteowned businesses before automobiles arrived on the island.

At a time when police in St. Petersburg often threatened to arrest Black bathers who set foot in Tampa Bay, this section of Pass-a-Grille offered a coastal refuge found almost nowhere else in Florida.

Bradley’s beach concession welcomed mainland visitors to Pass-aGrille years before many other fabled beach destinations opened during the Jim Crow era. Long before American Beach offered a haven on Amelia

Island in northeastern Florida, Black beachgoers swam and fished along a portion of Pass-a-Grille.

A Known and Respected Neighbor

Although William Bradley lived on the other side of thick mangroves and sea grape trees that separated him from Pass-a-Grille’s business district, white residents relied on his services and ingenuity during the community’s early years. George Lizotte, the island’s first hotel operator, called Bradley “the colorful magnate of transportation on the island.”

Bradley brought a mule and wobbly wagon to the island on a simple barge sometime before 1910. Soon, he used this early form of transportation to carry supplies, remove refuse, and provide firewood for cooking. The boarding house Bradley built offered shelter for Black workers employed at nearby white hotels before McAdoo’s bridge opened.

History continued on page 8

History continued from page 7

Despite his involvement in Pass-aGrille’s early development, the only notable mention of the man known as “Old Bradley” in early narratives involved an unfortunate incident. During the 1910s, St. Petersburg resident Elmer “Ermee” Ermatinger hired a Gulfport barge to bring his REO Runabout to Pass-a-Grille. The first automobile ever driven on the island, this two-cylinder vehicle generated a lot of smoke and noise as Ermatinger drove it on the firm sand during low tide.

One day, as Bradley hauled supplies along the beach, Ermatinger’s loud Runabout scared his mule. As the frightened animal tried to escape, the wagon flipped and knocked Bradley to the ground.

An Inconvenient Education

Pass-a-Grille’s first school opened in 1912. Unfortunately, Bradley’s children and other Black youth living on the beach could not enroll at this whites-only facility. These elementary age pupils had to take a boat to Gulfport. They transferred to a streetcar to reach Davis Elementary, a school in the Gas Plant district that opened in 1914.

These children usually lived with Black families in St. Petersburg during weekdays. This allowed them to avoid a long commute between Pass-aGrille and their school. Bradley and other Black parents on the island worried about their children’s safety in St. Petersburg, especially after the November 1914 lynching of John Evans in that city and increased Ku Klux Klan activity throughout Florida.

During the 1910s, Pass-a-Grille offered a somewhat safe coastal haven in a state increasingly consumed by racial hate.

Born on the island in December 1912, Julius Bradley entered the world at a time when his father was a respected member of the beach community. Julius and his siblings attended Davis Elementary before the end of the decade. By the time Julius entered Gibbs High School, things had profoundly changed in his “hometown.”

White Sands

Pass-a-Grille incorporated as a municipality in June 1911. John J. Duffy, the first mayor, came to the area from West Virginia. Similar to the popular- ity of many Florida beaches during spring break today, Pass-a-Grille became a popular destination for partygoers by the late 1910s.

The 18th Amendment and the federal Volstead Act criminalized the consumption of alcohol. Soon thereafter, an intoxicating number of drinking parties took place in remote areas along Pass-a-Grille during the 1920s. In March 1922, Duffy declared war on drunkenness in his city. He told a Tampa Tribune reporter that “young (white) girls and women from St. Petersburg” were the main offenders.

Duffy pledged to arrest, fine, and have the names of these offending day trippers published in local newspapers. Instead, he and other city leaders targeted the island’s shrinking Black community. For example, officers raided the Pass-a-Grille home of a Black woman in August 1922. They arrested her for the unlawful possession of “intoxicating liquors.”

Meanwhile, drinking parties and gambling gatherings of white beachgoers continued, largely unabated.

William and Mary Bradley moved their children to St. Petersburg in 1923. They lived in a small home at 720 17th St. S., now part of the John Hopkins Middle School campus. William traded his crab traps for various jobs as a laborer.

Julius came of age when Black people were expected to remain in their segregated St. Petersburg neighborhood after sundown. He graduated from Gibbs High School. He later taught there, as well as at Union Academy in Tarpon Springs and 16th Street Junior High. This school once sat on the land now occupied by John Hopkins Middle School.

After the Bradleys moved, Klan

AMAZING FOOD & CRAFT BEER

gatherings occurred more frequently at Pass-a-Grille. More than 200 new Klan members were initiated along the beach during the early summer of 1924. Newspaper reports from the time claimed that a January 9, 1925 Klan ceremony at Pass-a-Grille “drew several thousand persons from St. Petersburg.” A month later, the Klan held a “naturalization ceremony” near the Pass-a-Grille Casino.

Black workers in Pass-a-Grille businesses had to commute from the mainland for decades after the Bradleys left in 1923. During the mid1930s, a Black couple named Tom and Idella briefly lived in a small wooden cottage near Eighth Avenue. Hostile conditions soon compelled these domestic workers to leave.

Although they portray only a brief snapshot in time, federal census records illustrate the disappearance of Pass-a-Grille’s self-sustaining Black community. In 1910 and 1920, census enumerators recorded the names of Black families who lived in their own homes. During the 1930 and 1940 census campaigns, only a handful of Black people employed as live-in “servants” at private residences appeared in the records. Many of these individuals also had family in St. Petersburg that provided them with a permanent residence. By 1950, only white servants lived on the island.

An Important Legacy

Despite their departure from the island a century ago, Black residents of Pass-a-Grille contributed to our area’s history. During World War II, Julius Bradley became a Montford Point Marine, the earliest Black people to desegregate the U.S. Marine Corps. Julius Bradley passed away at Bay Pines in 1991 without any recognition of his service as a Marine. The Weekly Challenger commemorated the March 27, 2021 family gathering where he posthumously received a Congressional Gold Medal.

Few records remain of Pass-aGrille’s once thriving Black settlement. Shining light on the years before the island became a “sundown town” preserves the legacy of a community worth remembering.

“Good question,” replied Dickman. “We are looking into it.” He indicated that he thought Ram would try to “assign” the CUP to the new developer.

“As long as there is not a substantial change in the CUP, it may not need to come before the commission, but I will have to check on that,” Dickman added.

Who Will Buy Corey Landing?

Mayor Adrian Petrila asked if there was city interest in purchasing the property. Grill said some folks in District 2 believe there was definitely interest.

“How do we buy it though? Do we float a bond? 99 years of green space? How would this work?” Grill asked out loud.

“And what about the environmental clean-up,” said Commissioner Ward Friszolowski.

It turns out that Corey Landing is designated by FDEP as a Brownfield, which requires some funds to abate the contaminated property. Petrila asked the city manager to:

1) Get a price for Corey Landing from the sellers.

2) Look into land preservation grants for the Brownfield clean-up.

3) Report back to the Commission as soon as possible.

This is an ongoing story; keep checking our website for updates.

Gulfport Council Approves Contracts Community Development System Upgraded

By Monroe Roark

Gulfport City Council approved several contracts for various departments and general housekeeping-type actions at its June 20 meeting.

Council unanimously approved an agreement with BS&A for a community development software solution. This will replace the system the City uses. Officials said the new option will be much more cost-effective. City staff previously attempted to continue using Energov, the system in place for some time, but that will no longer be affordable.

“We have been working with Energov for a while. It will soon be cost-prohibitive to use Energov,” said Gulfport’s IT Director, David Mather. “What we have right now is housed internally on our network, and if we moved to the cloud with Energov it would be very expensive.”

Mather and Community Development Director Fred Metcalf both said the newer system will be easier for community staff to use. A turnaround time of nine months or so is expected to get the new system online for the city.

According to City staff documents, the cost for BS&A implementation as well as the first year of operation is $60,410. The City will pay $9,830 the second year, with a 3% increase for

CATHY SALUSTRI

the third year. These costs are from piggybacking on an existing contract with another city in Florida.

The new system “is a web-based, feature-rich solution that ‘future proofs’ Community Development against legislation mandating online transactional requirements,” according to City officials. “Among other features, it is capable of building plan acceptance, online permitting requests, and a fully functioning online citizen portal.”

A web-based solution takes the maintenance off City IT staff and also ensures future updates and enhancements are automatic, officials said.

“I think it’s great that we’re moving into the modern era,” said Vice Mayor Paul Ray (Ward III) just before the vote.

“Anything that will make it faster for permits and such is good,” added Councilmember April Thanos (Ward I).

Another major system improvement will benefit the City’s human resources staff and, essentially, all City employees by improving time and attendance management. Council unanimously approved the use of Andrew’s Technology UKG web-based time and attendance system through SHI International.

Officials said hardware and implementation will cost $60,895. Starting in the second year, ongoing costs will run $22,295.

“It’s a game-changer,” said Mather about this new system, noting that in the past the City still used punch cards and other antiquated processes.

Council approved second readings of a pair of ordinances related to pension fund activities and contributions: one for the Police Officers’ Trust Fund, and another for the Firefighters’ Retirement Pension Fund.

Countless Birds, Insects, and Plants Eckerd College Designates New Wildlife Habitats

By Amanda Hagood

When an Eckerd College student approached Grounds Manager Darla Ostenson about collaborating on a project to improve wildlife habitats for snakes on campus, she had a strong reaction.

She recalls: “I thought, snake habitat?! And then I thought: Yes! Somebody pinch me!”

For Ostenson, a landscape manager with a degree in conservation biology, this was a indeed a dream project. And further evidence that she’d landed in a place where animals, plants, and people could come together in ways that were not only sustainable, but educational.

New Wildlife Habitats

This spring, another eco-friendly landscaping project came to fruition: Eckerd designated nine areas across its campus as wildlife habitat, certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

Certification requires applicants to demonstrate that their habitat supplies food, water, cover, and breeding grounds for animals such as birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. It also calls for sustainable practices, such as using native plants or organic methods of pest management, for the habitat. The Nation- al Wildlife Federation states that 22,513 “wildlife gardens” have been created through its certification process, which is open to all kinds of sites from Eckerd’s 188-acre campus to backyard gardens.

According to Ostenson, the process was simple. After surveying prospective habitats and gaining approval from Eckerd’s Environmental Affairs Committee, she was able to input the information directly to the National Wildlife Federation’s website. Eckerd’s student government and Office of Sustainability covered the certification fees, which defrays the cost of a stylish sign you can place in your habitat.

Winged Visitors

Eckerd’s newly certified habitats span a range of types, from meadow-like native flower gardens, to ponds fringed with aquatic plants, to pine groves. Some high-profile visitors have recently put one of the new habitats on the map: a pair of nesting great horned owls.

A student walking home from class in early January discovered the birds — known locally as Link and Zelda — in a pine tree on one of the academic quads. Over the next few months, Eckerdians closely observed the sights and sounds of the pair tending to their two fluffy white owlets.

Dr. Beth Forys, Professor of Environmental Studies at Eckerd, remarks that Eckerd’s decision to discontinue the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, which have recently caused the deaths of great horned owls elsewhere in Pinellas County, is a factor in the birds’ nesting success. She also praised the way in which faculty, students, and staff have enjoyed the owls’ presence: from a respectful distance.

What Does This Plant Do?

But not all the new wildlife habitats are so charismatic.

“Aesthetics are subjective,” notes Ostenson, and when our eyes are trained for showy blooms, carefully manicured foliage, and clean lines, not everyone sees the beauty in a mixed-up meadow of native plants. This has become an issue particularly in one area, designed as a pollinator garden, which is part of admissions tours.

Here Ostenson finds it useful to reframe visitors’ questions: rather than asking why this area doesn’t look like a typical “garden”, she encourages them to ask why these plants are useful, what purpose they serve. She believes the Certified Wildlife Habitat signs from the National Wildlife Federation will help to make this point.

“I think it is a great way to communicate to guests and prospective students about Eckerd’s environmental mission.”

Bloom Where You’re Planted

As for the current Eckerd community, she says, there seems to be a strong desire for this kind of engagement with the campus-as-ecosystem. At least one student she has worked with has shifted her major in order to go into community agriculture work, and Eckerd will be bringing a new alum on staff this summer to serve as a native plant specialist. Ostenson herself recently received Eckerd’s annual Staff Member of the Year award in recognition of the positive changes she has made — quite literally — to the campus.

“It’s so amazing to be in a place where people want me to be doing the work I want to do!” she enthuses. Countless birds, insects, and plants would surely agree.