Whirlpools

The injustices of the past reverberate through Tampa’s Black and low-income neighborhoods. Decades of negligence to the plight of our most vulnerable citizens have concentrated vacant, abandoned, and deteriorating property in these communities. The City’s code enforcement approach has fallen short. Our residents deserve better.

The Center for Community Progress cites St. Louis in this example from their publication, Reevaluating Code Enforcement: A New Approach to Addressing Problem Properties:

“After completing process maps of their code enforcement approach, City officials and stakeholders found that many enforcement actions were dismissed because the corporate owner never showed, or cases were closed with a nominal fine against the owner. In both outcomes, the property languished in violation for months. Months later, the code inspector was out responding to another complaint at the same property for the same violation. Local leaders called this a “whirlpool,” an apt term for an ineffective cycle that endlessly drains resources without ever achieving compliance.”

How many of these “whirlpools” exist in your neighborhood? Is the status quo serving your neighborhood’s needs? If you live in East Tampa, West Tampa, Sulphur Springs, or University Area – probably not.

Tampa’s code enforcement does some good work, but there’s room for improvement. Learn more here:

“Reevaluating Code Enforcement: A New Approach to Addressing Problem Properties,” Washington DC: Center for Community Progress, 2024, http://www.communityprogress. org/code-enforcement-report.