| 1960-2001:
Urban Blight / Automobile Slum: The
oaks were cut down and the street was widened in the 1960s. The trees
were not replanted because the Department of Transportation (DOT) prohibits
trees next to the road. The wide-open feeling of the road led to much
higher traffic speeds and contributed to the demise of the neighborhood.
Because the sidewalks were no longer shaded from the hot Florida sun,
even the one block walk to downtown became uncomfortable for half the
year. Almost all the houses on both sides of the street in the next
block were demolished and replaced with parking and empty lots. The
destruction of the trees and the houses, the exodus to the suburbs,
and the national War on Drugs resulted in this neighborhood becoming
a crime infested "Cracktown." The buildings on the right,
abandoned by their owners, turned into hangouts where drug dealers and
prostitutes plied their trades. The crumbling buildings were condemned
and slated for destruction when I bought them and much of the surrounding
neighborhood in 2001. |