When they walked home from Davis Elementary School in the 1930s, Sidney Campbell and his friends would pick guavas from the trees growing in vacant lots. As the children traced footpaths through the old Methodist Town neighborhood, they always knew they were being watched over, Campbell said.
From their porches, the older members of the neighborhood looked after them as they passed.
"They were basically guardians," Campbell, 76, said. "They made sure we weren't getting into trouble."
Today the guava trees are gone. They have been replaced by a strip of palm trees lining the entrance to Tropicana Field. Davis Elementary School is gone as well. In its place stands the 15-story, 494-unit housing complex called the Graham-Rogall Park.
The older people living in Graham-Rogall are still keeping a safe watch. Now instead of watching over children, the residents watch over each other. And they wonder, as developers take greater interest in the land around Tropicana Field, what will become of their home and their neighbors.
Every afternoon and on into the evening, a group gathers in front of the building on the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and Third Avenue South. They sit along the tree-lined sidewalks or under the gazebos, playing the harmonica, scratching their "Cash Jubilee" lottery tickets, catching up and sharing a few laughs.
"We try to look out for each other," said Andrew Smith, 50, who came with his wife five years ago to live in the two-building complex.
Smith lives in the Graham building, an assisted living home for people with disabilities. The Rogall building is income-based, affordable housing. Residents from both buildings share the same corner of grass.
Green Oasis Formed From Sand
Most days, Gladys Mosely zips up and down the sidewalks in her motorized scooter chair with a cigar in her hand. Sometimes she has a hard time keeping still. A license plate with the words "Hot Rod Mamma" hangs on the back of her scooter.
If she does stop for a moment, she might start bickering with someone, often with Johnny James Jones, better known as "JJ."
Jones, 57, moved to Graham two years ago. When he was younger, he lived south of the complex. He used to work in the mornings before school tossing newspapers with his brother and his dad as a paperboy in the Methodist Town and Gas Plant neighborhoods, where the stadium now stands.
A disability has weakened Jones' legs so that he can no longer walk long distances.
"People around here keep me going," he said. "I gotta laugh. It makes my day go faster."
Sometimes they laugh at each other.
"JJ, I'm getting scared of you," said Andrew Smith on Monday evening as Jones rolled up on his scooter.
"Why?" Jones asked.
"You're eating better than me," he said. Jones laughed and rubbed his round belly.
Some nights the residents have to dodge the sprinklers that keep the new grass green. But during the days of Davis Elementary School, the land on that block looked and felt different.
Lois C. Jones, 76, who attended in the late 1930s remembers how the sun would heat the metal slide on the school's playground until it burned her bare legs as she skated down it.
"We didn't have any shade to play in," she said. "It was just all that hot sand."
Development Then and Now
A generation ago, the Dome District was residential. In the 1970s, Interstate 175 divided the neighborhood that was rooted there. Construction on Tropicana Field started in November 1986. The developments displaced people from their homes, moved churches and businesses, and dispersed close-knit communities.
Now, developers are suggesting new projects for the land around the stadium, whose parking lots surround Graham-Rogall on three sides.
The Florida Sports Hall of Fame and a host of condominiums have been proposed for blocks along Central Avenue stretching east of 16th Street. Other vacant lots east of Graham-Rogall may soon become condominiums and businesses.
Some living in Graham-Rogall said they feel as though the development may put their homes in jeopardy, threatening to scatter them.
Vector Properties, Inc., is in the middle of purchasing the Graham-Rogall buildings. The contract may be finalized by September, according to Syl Farrell, communications officer for the St. Petersburg Housing Authority.
Under the new contract, residents will not be asked to leave their homes, said Ken Heretick, president of Vector Properties. The property will be financed by bonds that require the company to maintain affordable housing for up to 15 to 30 years, depending on the final contract.
In November, residents on the Graham side will be given vouchers to move if they would like to, and renovations to the building will begin.
Despite rumors, "We don't want anybody to leave," Heretick said. "We want to renovate [the buildings] and keep them there and keep them occupied."
Along with structural problems such as hallways that are too narrow, faulty elevators and pest control, the buildings have issues with drugs and crime, according to residents. Laurette Patterson, who has lived there for almost three years, said the situation lately has gotten worse, not better.
Tilden Johnson, 43, who has lived in Rogall since March, said he sees the expensive dome and the atmosphere of Graham-Rogall and thinks the combination of the two "doesn't set."
Johnson said he has heard people walking by on their way to Devil Rays games talking about how they are nervous about being robbed when they see the group outside Graham-Rogall.
"What does a poor person have to do but congregate like this?" he said. "They're not bothering anyone."
Farrell said the housing authority has tried to explain to the residents that "they didn't have anything to worry about."
"They want you to move though," Andrew Smith said. "They're going to make it hell until they get you to move." Smith said he thinks the issue at Graham-Rogall is a color issue-green, for money.
Vector did consider the increasing value of the Dome District when looking at the property, said Vector Properties' Heretick.
"You usually don't buy property unless you expect the value of the property to increase over time, whether it be short-term or long-term," Heretick said.
Jones said he heard that one of the renovations being considered is the addition of a parking lot. The lot would pave over the grass and sidewalks where the residents gather.
"But what are they going to do with the trees?" Jones asked.