To Ross Fabian, the loss of $15 million meant to revitalize some parts of the University Area showed him the federal government doesn’t care about his neighborhood.
He’s lived in the unincorporated 6.6 square-mile section next to the University of South Florida Tampa campus since 1986.
“We’re no matter to them,” Fabian said. “The University Area is no matter to them.”
In March, the University Area Community Development Corporation received the grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to improve stormwater systems, increase connection to city water and sewage systems and add a community center to the area.
Two months later, all of that was put on hold.
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The University Area is one of the lowest-lying spots in the Tampa Bay region and frequently sees dangerous flooding, as it did during last year’s hurricanes.
Many residents aren’t connected to city water and sewage and are instead forced to use wells. They’ve reported brown, contaminated water coming up through their pipes.
Poor water quality
Fabian has to use bottled water when he brushes his teeth at his dentist’s office because he doesn’t want to use what he described as smelly, brown water.
Erica Moody, the chief community development officer with the University Area CDC, said around 400 EPA grant recipients received notice their funding was suspended because their projects no longer aligned with the agency’s priorities.
The University Area CDC was not told what specific part or parts of its project were a problem.
“The University Area has been underserved chronically for many years, especially when it comes to jobs and business growth and redevelopment overall.”Christian Wells, director of the Center for Brownfields Research and Redevelopment at USF
"But we're working with the EPA contract managers and their offices to see what we can do to bring it up to the standard and alignment with their funding goals,” Moody said.
She said this means adding more details about what the long-term benefits of the project are.
Christian Wells, the director of the Center for Brownfields Research and Redevelopment at USF, said this area is chronically underserved.
“So if protecting human and environmental health is not the EPA’s priority, then I really don’t know what their priority is,” Wells said.
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If federal funding isn’t restored after appeals and other lawsuits going on across the nation, the organizations would have to turn to private funding.
And Wells said getting $15 million that way won’t be easy.
While Moody is hopeful the funding will be restored, Wells said the loss could set the efforts back a decade.
He said area organizations already spent the last five or six years getting shovel-ready before they could even apply for the funding.
“We’re still there,” Wells said. “We’re still at that place of being ready to move in an instant. We just had the resources cut out from under us all of the sudden.”
The project also was going to connect around 75 more residents to city water and sewage systems.
While he said it was a simple goal, Wells was looking forward to getting them access to clean water through nature-based solutions.
“I’m just really worried for those folks,” he said.
Community park plans up in the air
There were also plans to convert Aaran’s Pond at North 15th Street and East 131st Avenue to a community park.
“Once you get the stormwater cleaned up to a higher quality of water, you can then begin to add different kinds of recreational amenities around that and really turn what was once a polluted pond into a thriving park,” Wells said.
Fabian said the water issues are more than just bad smell, color and chemicals. He’s even heard of dead dogs being found in the pond.
And while water quality is a leading issue in the University Area, Fabian said the community really needs a center that would have educational and health resources within walking distance.
“There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be in there to benefit our community,” he said.
The new, grant-funded community center would have brought workforce development and training opportunities to residents as well.
“The University Area has been underserved chronically for many years, especially when it comes to jobs and business growth and redevelopment overall,” Wells said.
Fabian is a football coach and president of Mid Florida Youth Football and leads around 170 athletes.
He said neighborhood access to these kinds of resources are important because some of these young people don't have the ability to travel outside the area to find them.
“We’re Americans too,” Fabian said. “If that’s [how] they’re going to make America great again, we’re part of that America too.”
