Tampa's Doby House to get historic designation
TAMPA — The home of a prominent early 1900s Black entrepreneur who donated land for a school and cemetery for Black residents received additional protections from future development last week.
The Tampa City Council passed a measure to give a local historic landmark designation to the former home of Richard Doby.
The West Hyde Park home at 1405 W. Azeele St., which was constructed in 1912, is a remnant of a once 'thriving community in the early twentieth century, home to many of the Black Americans.' They worked as cooks, servants or nannies for the white families living in Hyde Park, according to a proposal from the city.
The neighborhood, called Dobyville, was built on land purchased and in part developed by Doby, a businessman in ice delivery and trash collection and later real estate. He donated land for the West Hyde Park Grammar School for Black students and Zion Cemetery, the latter north of city limits, during a time when Black citizens were forbidden from being buried within the city.
A proposal presented to the council last month said Dobyville was estimated to have around 3,000 residents in the 1920s, and 'was considered one of the finer segregated Black neighborhoods.'
The school along with a 14-block strip in the neighborhood were demolished to make way for the construction of the Leroy Selmon Crosstown Expressway. Zion Cemetery was built over and erased after a developer wanted the land.
Tara Nelan, who bought the home in April 2020, was the applicant. Nelan said she was familiar with the history of the neighborhood, but didn't realize her home belonged to Richard Doby until she began doing research with more time on her hands during the pandemic.
Nelan said she's honored to play a small part in keeping Doby's story alive within Tampa's history.
'Mr. Doby was known to have been a pioneer in the Black communities in Tampa over 100 years ago,' she said.
City Council member Bill Carlson commended Nelan for taking on the project in a neighborhood where several homes have been torn down and mansions built on top.
Dennis Fernandez, manager for the city's architectural review and historic preservation said, some of Doby's relatives are still in the area.
'Dobyville is such a significant part of our history,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Meharry Medical College to expand into Memphis, partners with Mississippi Boulevard church
Meharry Medical College is set to expand into Memphis with a new medical training facility. The historically Black, Nashville-based medical school announced the formation of its 'Office of Memphis Programs' at a ribbon-cutting on June 9. The new program will be housed on the planned 23-acre mixed-use campus of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in the Medical District and will support students during clinical training. 'I see this as a wonderful opportunity to turn the tide on and bring about better health care outcomes in the city of Memphis,' said Rev. Jason Turner of Mississippi Boulevard church. The expansion is part of Meharry's long-term goal of building a second campus in Memphis, said CEO and president James Hildreth. The college often has to send students to hospitals out of state because major hospitals in Nashville have commitments to training students from other schools. 'One of the things that the branch campus in Memphis will do for us is to allow us to have two major training sites and not have to send our students to so many places,' he said. The new facility will feature classrooms, faculty offices and a student lounge. The quality of education will be the same as at the main campus in Nashville, Hildreth said, but it will lay the foundation for a branch campus and keep medical students in Tennessee. Memphis has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the country and struggles with obesity and diabetes, Hildreth said. He said Meharry plans to focus on the burden of chronic diseases in the city. 'Memphis is a place where we can have a huge impact,' Hildreth said. In April, Meharry acquired four medical clinics in Memphis. A Meharry alumnus, Dr. Joseph Walker, founded Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in 1921. He was its first pastor. 'It's serendipitous that their Office of Memphis Programs would be housed in the church that he founded 104 years ago,' Turner said. Jack Armstrong covers breaking news and the environment for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at and followed on X @jca2902. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Meharry Medical College part of Mississippi Boulevard Memphis expansion
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Atlanta Budget a Safeguard Against Potential Trump Cuts, Lawmakers Say
Atlanta City Council members say proposed cuts to federal aid programs many Black Atlantans count on and concerns about a national recession were on their minds last week when they approved another record-setting fiscal year budget. 'Everyone seems to assume we're going to have a recession,' council member Howard Shook told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday. 'Things are so unpredictable in [Washington] that it's just hard to say what's going to happen.' Council members said they put more funding in this year's budget because they worry an economic downturn related to President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign goods will have a domino effect on Atlanta's economy, and as a result will impact the city's tax revenue. They're also concerned about the effects anticipated reductions to federal aid included in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have on city operations. 'The budget is trying to grapple with the potential that some federal money is going to go away,' council President Doug Shipman told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday. The federal budget bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 22 still has to be approved in the U.S. Senate and signed by Trump before becoming law. Major cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other critical programs many low-income Black Atlantans rely on for medical coverage and for paying their bills are included. More than half of Georgia SNAP benefit recipients were Black in 2020, according to the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. Roughly 25% of Black Georgians were enrolled in Medicaid in 2023, according to the State Health Access Data Assistance Center. Only about 10% of white Georgians were on Medicaid the same year. In its current form, the Big Beautiful Bill would also cut funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's rental assistance programs by more than $26 billion, or roughly 43%. Shipman said those cuts could have a devastating impact on federal funding for affordable housing efforts in Atlanta, which is one reason the City Council voted to increase funding in its next fiscal year budget. 'The city is having to take on more of the burden of the programs that have historically been federal in nature,' Shipman said. 'We're going to try to do our best to continue to support folks [with] rental assistance, affordable housing, [and] new units.' Capital B Atlanta has reached out to Mayor Andre Dickens' office for comment. Shook and other council members voted unanimously in favor of the estimated $3 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, which begins on July 1, despite concerns about running a deficit next year, which includes a general fund budget of about $975.4 million. The city was already projected to have a $33 million deficit for the current fiscal year budget, largely due to lack of attrition and overtime pay for the Atlanta Police Department, according to lawmakers. Dickens' office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that it has already cut the anticipated deficit in half by limiting hiring for vacant city job openings. Shook said the city's workforce was reduced by about 400 positions to help balance the current fiscal year budget. He said the mayor's office has agreed to periodically report to the council the status of department spending next fiscal year to avoid running a deficit again. Balancing the budget has become an ongoing problem in Atlanta, a city of only about half a million residential taxpayers, that is responsible for providing municipal government services to an estimated 6.3 million metro area residents who work in or commute into the city. 'There's a very widespread recognition that FY26 will have to exist in and compete with a time of really unrivaled [macroeconomic] uncertainty,' Shook said. 'We're not going to wait for quarterly budget reports, as has been the custom.' The post Atlanta Budget a Safeguard Against Potential Trump Cuts, Lawmakers Say appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Super positive energy.' Oft short-changed Tacoma neighborhood looks to future
Tacoma is gearing up to finalize a plan that outlines strategies to make South Tacoma more affordable, safe and healthy. The result of an effort that goes back to 2023, the South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan identifies strategies and programs that will help improve quality of life in South Tacoma that fall under five categories: transportation, health and environment, economic opportunity and development, community and affordability. City officials and residents involved with the plan said it sought to build on work community organizers and local businesses have already done to change the character of South Tacoma. Once known as a dangerous, high-crime area, it has in recent years become a hub for beloved local businesses that attract a diverse array of patrons and residents. The South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan is the result of Tacoma's Neighborhood Planning Program, which has facilitated the development of similar plans for the McKinley Hill and Proctor neighborhoods. The 264-page document for South Tacoma will come before the City Council for approval at its June 10 meeting after which the city leaders and staff can begin identifying funding to implement the plan's goals. The plan includes recommendations like pursuing opportunities to build on South Tacoma's tree canopy, improving and creating new parks and celebrating South Tacoma's identity with art and signage. It covers parts of the city southwest of the Tacoma Mall and west of I-5, reaching as far north as the Tacoma Cemetery and as far south as Manitou Park. Council member Joe Bushnell, whose district covers parts of South Tacoma, said he was happy to see such an investment in the neighborhood because South Tacoma residents have often felt neglected by the city. 'There [are] a lot of folks out there that feel really dismayed by some of the industrial activity that's going on down there. There's been a lot of criminal activity that has occurred over time, a lot of poverty as well,' Bushnell told The News Tribune. The plan was developed through a series of outreach efforts, including surveys, meetings, multilingual focus groups, interviews and more. Bushnell said the group in charge of community engagement for the plan had to take into consideration the area's history and tailor outreach accordingly – to go out of their way to reach residents who have likely long since dismissed the possibility of aid from city officials because of the persistent history of criminal activity and poverty in South Tacoma. According to 2023 data outlined in the neighborhood plan, South Tacoma is more diverse than the city of Tacoma — 46% of the roughly 8,000 residents are white, compared to 61% for the city at large. Median household income in South Tacoma at roughly $66,000 a year is about $12,000 less than the city of Tacoma's numbers, and a higher share of South Tacoma's residents are renters compared to all of Tacoma, according to the document. 'South Tacoma residents have lower incomes, are more likely to rent, and have a higher risk for displacement than the city as a whole,' the plan reads. The South Tacoma as residents know it today can be traced to the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s, according to the plan. After the company selected Tacoma as the western end of the transcontinental rail line, people relocated shops from downtown Tacoma to what is now South Tacoma but was then called Edison. By 1891 Tacoma annexed Edison, and the area continued to develop, with a business district emerging by 1896 on Union Avenue — now South Tacoma Way. The plan states that the thoroughfare by 1923 becoming part of a Pacific Highway coupled with the burgeoning auto-related developments like repair shops 'cemented' the neighborhood's automobile character. The character has endured to this day — dozens of car dealerships and auto shops still line parts of South Tacoma Way. Council member Jamika Scott, whose district also covers parts of South Tacoma, said she's looking forward to the implementation of programs outlined in the plan that would build on the neighborhood's tree canopy. 'South Tacoma, that's where a lot of our industrial stuff is,' Scott told The News Tribune. 'We have a lot of cars going through, trucks going through, things like that. The health outcomes for people in that area are not as great as they are for say, somebody living on the North End.' To that end, council members on June 10 will decide whether to set aside $15,000 for a proposed 'green blocks' program, in which the Tacoma Tree Foundation and the city's urban forestry department will help property owners plant trees in the public right-of-way near their properties free of charge. Heidi Stephens, a member of the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council and the steering committee for the neighborhood plan, said improving South Tacoma's tree canopy is her top priority. 'This neighborhood district is one of the most diverse in Tacoma, and also one of the most overburdened due to low-income and poor health from close proximity to industrial zoning and freeway air pollution,' Stephens told The News Tribune in an email. 'I believe the high illness and mortality rates may also be directly related to this area's lowest tree canopy in the city, which was forefront in my mind throughout the process.' According to the neighborhood plan, all of Tacoma's tree canopy coverage as of 2018 came in at 20%, down from the city's goal of 30%. But large swaths of the area that the plan addresses had less than 20%, including the Tacoma Cemetery and Wapato Hills Park which had between 9% and 11%. Building on South Tacoma's tree canopy, Stephens said, could improve air quality, reduce noise and light pollution and improve residents' mental health. 'Our second selected priority is a community event for local youth and seniors, and a cleaner environment with inviting shaded green spaces is meant to add to a healthier neighborhood for these generations and those to come,' she said. Local officials have said that the neighborhood planning process is an effort to build on the work that's already been done in South Tacoma – to make it a safer place for the people who live there. Austin Miller, chief executive officer of Theory Real Estate, is among the group of Tacoma residents who saw the potential of South Tacoma and South Tacoma Way that other longtime local business owners have known about and worked to build on it. The family-owned, Tacoma-based real estate company has over the last eight years bought buildings along South Tacoma Way, remodeled them and rented them out to local businesses. 'We've really been looking to fill them with small local businesses,' Miller told The News Tribune. 'We really have tried to avoid chain restaurants or large corporations. We really wanted it to feel like a neighborhood that was representative of the city and the people who live here.' That evolution and feeling of collaboration has brought business owners like Stephanie Housden, founder of Sober AF, a zero proof bottle shop, to recently open up on South Tacoma Way. The South Tacoma Neighborhood Plan also acknowledges that shift in its findings. 'Many new businesses, from restaurants to retail, have opened in the last decade,' the plan reads. Housden said she first got involved in South Tacoma when she worked at Edison Square, a music venue on South Tacoma Way. Housden knew of South Tacoma's reputation, but she witnessed how the area has changed over the years, the result of Theory Real Estate's efforts but also from the faith and commitment that longtime businesses like music venue Airport Tavern have had in the neighborhood. That's what drew her to open up Sober AF earlier this year, she told The News Tribune. 'It's just an energy, a super positive energy, where there's a lot of us that are from all different backgrounds and races, and we're all super supportive of each other and we try to do a lot of collaboration on our street with each other.'
