TAMPA, Fla. — For some like John Ross, a Tuesday night meeting at the City Center at Hanna Avenue was a chance to vent about a multi-year headache.
“The city has to take control of what it’s paying for with our money,” an impassioned Ross told the room.
Ross is just one of many whose lives have been disrupted by the City of Tampa’s Southeast Seminole Heights Flooding Relief Project, an ambitious effort to replace underground infrastructure in the historic neighborhood to prevent flooding.
As ABC Action News has reported for years, the lengthy project has turned streets into ugly construction zones and has triggered complaints from frustrated neighbors and businesses.
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However, in the meeting, a representative for the city’s contractor, Nelson Construction, said crews are making progress and have mostly finished up work on portions of Florida Avenue, Central Avenue, and Hanna Avenue.
Some neighbors like Kristen Brown, the founder of TRIBE Seminole Heights, are finally breathing a sigh of relief.
“I ask you all to have patience and understanding,” she told others in the room.
However, the work is not done.
Work is happening along neighborhood streets just east of Nebraska Avenue. And next month, the city will close two lanes of Nebraska Avenue (from approximately Hillsborough Avenue north to Hanna Avenue) to install water mains.
The work is expected to last three months, and that has Danielle Sweet worried. Her business, Jai Dee Yoga & Wellness, is located along that stretch of Nebraska Avenue.
“The amount of extra time that it takes to get to the studio, the extra maneuvers they may have to make to get into the studio may keep them from coming,” she said. “And if they’re not coming to my business, then I’m going to have a hard time paying for the roof over the business.”
“It is really upsetting to me, and it has me very concerned for the future of my business,” she continued.
Sweet wants the city to provide financial aid to small businesses that will lose costumers and revenue because of the work.
“Keeping a small business open has been a struggle as it is,” she said.
In the Tuesday meeting, the city did not promise anything like that but did promise better communication with businesses that will be impacted.
“What the project manager and I will actually do is go to the different businesses to get an idea of what their needs are,” said Audrey Clarke, a project spokesperson.
Clarke also reminded neighbors who believe their homes and cars have been damaged by the work to file claims online. They may be eligible for a payout.
“If we don’t know about it, we can’t respond to it,” she said.
You can learn more about the project and sign up for alerts at this link.
Report property damage by emailing projectinfo@seminoleheightsstormwater.com, calling the project hotline at 813-580-5313, or visiting this website.
