The majority Black community inSt.
Petersburg, Florida, contained hundreds of single-family homes and locally owned businesses.
Interstate 75 is a product of the1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act.
Those who could do so relocated.
The Gas Plant community faded away.
Nearly 1,000 jobs and economic resources were promised.
AARP:What was it like to grow up in the Gas Plant community?
Mayor Ken Welch:It was a community in every sense of the word.
And by the time I got to the church, they’d have all heard about it.
So, I’d end up having to go back and apologize and rake Miss Brown’s yard.
That sense of community helped raise all the kids and instill those values.
Folks were looking out for one another.
When people were dispersed and sent all around the city, you lost that sense of community.
AARP:Tell us about your grandfather and what happened to his business.
Welch:He had a topsoil and firewood business called Welch’s Woodyard.
He was born at the turn of the 20th century.
All the boys in my family worked there during the summer and after school.
I still have an axe handle from the woodyard right here in my office.
There was a class of Black entrepreneurs when I was growing up in the Gas Plant neighborhood.
My uncles sister had a restaurant across the street.
The Brown family, who were in-laws, had a dry cleaning business.
There was a full gamut of doctors, dentists and other professionals living in the Gas Plant.
The entire African American community lived there because ofredlining.
When the highway came, he moved from 16th Street, which is where Tropicana Field is now.
He kept most of his client base, but he didnt have the same foot traffic.
Many businesses were impacted that way.
Some didn’t recover.
I don’t believe his sister’s restaurant ever recovered, for example.
It was very personal, and I didnt understand as a kid why he was moving his business.
The interstate highway was just a few blocks from our church.
The highway prevented some people from going there, but folks persevered.
My dad was on the city council at the time.
So the Trop project moved forward.
Nearly 40 years later those promises have not come to fruition.
I know our St. Pete community will stay engaged and informed as this project takes shape."
Learn more about the neighborhood plan atStPete.org/GasPlant.
AARP:Did the history of the Gas Plant community impact your decision to run for mayor?
That uprooted a thousand residents, businesses and churches in the Gas Plant area.
For me, the Gas Plants history informs what equitable development is.
Some folks come in and look at 86 acres and think it’s a blank slate.
I would argue that it’s not a blank slate.
I live that life.
That is my history.
Later, that just happened to be the area where there was the least resistance.
Folks who were pursuing professional baseball needed a large area where a baseball stadium could be placed.
The number one driver was the pursuit of baseball.
A disparity study of St. Pete showed an underutilization of minority business enterprises.
A structural racism study showed the clear pattern of structural racism and its impacts in St. Petersburg.
Among those obvious impacts was the redlining, and then the dislocation of the African American community.
AARP:Neither your grandfather nor father are alive to see you lead this redevelopment effort.Welch: Yes.
My father passed in 2013.
When I ran for mayor, the question came up.
I would always answer, This is personal for me.
Its not just another project.
I’ve seen the impacts on the community.
Its about equitable development and shared progress.
They are very vocal!
The community is highly engaged.
As a child of the Gas Plant, thats the only way to move forward in my eyes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jimmie Briggsis a documentary storyteller, writer and advocate for racial and gender equity.
