Studer Community Institute

Shannon's Window: In Magee Field's backyard

March 27, 2014
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ community-dashboard

There is something familiar about the area around the 3100 block of North Davis Highway.

It is an area where small businesses such as Quigley Lighting and The Fix-It Shop are neighbors to nonprofits like Independence For the Blind. There is Lion’s Motel just down the way, then the U.S. Post Office, places where lots of people come and go. The Red Dot Grocery is nearby, as are several older houses, some looking more worse for wear than others. It is a mix of residential, neighborhood businesses, commercial warehouse properties and churches. It looks a lot like the area around the 1600 block of Palafox Street, if the truth be told. The building at 1625 N. Palafox was supposed to be the new home of the probation and parole office that now sits at 3101 N. Davis Highway. But after Gov. Rick Scott weighed in following vehement protests in person and on social media by North Hill residents who opposed the move, it looks like the parking lot at 3101 N. Davis will still be busy, as it was on Tuesday afternoon, when the front doors were open to let in the fresh air. People in the historic North Hill didn't want the Probation and Parole office in the old Coca Cola bottling plant at 1625 N. Palafox. The old Coca Cola site has two types of zoning: R-1AAA residential and C-3, which allows some commercial and business uses.

In addition to their concerns about how the parole office would have fit into the current zoning for that parcel, North Hillers cited concerns about public safety, adverse effects on their property values and the office’s proximity to parks, churches and homes as reasons to keep the parole office out. Concerns, it would seem, that could be echoed about the current probation office on Davis Highway.

About 0.4 of a mile south of that office is Magee Field, the home of the Baby Rattlers youth football team and named in honor of Dr. A.S. Magee, who owned a pharmacy at Alcaniz and LaRua streets.

[caption id="attachment_10276" align="aligncenter" width="850"]

Magee Field. Photo credit: Shannon Nickinson/Studer Community Institute[/caption] A letter to the editor from 1914 tells that Dr. Magee performed surgery to remove a tumor and appendix in a residence. Jim Crow-era law prohibited African-American doctors from practicing in hospitals, according to the sign at his park. Dr. Magee, assisted by colleagues Dr. M.C. Bevertte, Dr. A.A. Dixon and Dr. H.G. Williams, did well enough to prompt his patient to write to the editor of the Colored Citizen praising his efforts. The field named in his honor is busy many evenings and weekends, with the next generation of football-loving youngsters on the field, who for years it would seem have played with a probation office just a couple of blocks away.

And it seems they will continue to do so for years to come.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman declined to answer questions about plans for the probation office at 3101 N. Davis by phone, saying instead to submit questions by email. Those questions about whether the lease has been renewed were not answered as of Thursday morning. Charles Bare, the at-large city councilmember and mayoral candidate who helped keep North Hill's concerns on the forefront of the City Council’s agenda, notes the Davis Highway probation office is in an area zoned M-1. Bare proposes new language that would put Probation and Parole offices in M-1 zones in the city limits. But that M-1 designation in this neighborhood runs right up to R-1AAA, the kind of residential designation that stirred concerns in North Hill. “Since it’s been there, this one (must) have gone under the radar,” Bare says. “If these people got stuck with it in their neighborhood, I see the same argument in this area that they had (North Hill). “This buts right up against a residential area, and Mathews Park (is not far away), there are definitely some of the same arguments there. In an ideal world we wouldn’t have anything like that near (parks, residences or churches).” [caption id="attachment_6683" align="aligncenter" width="850"]

The current Department of Corrections probation and parole reporting center is at 3101 N. Davis Highway. Photo credit: Shannon Nickinson[/caption] Councilman Brian Spencer says he will put forth an amendment to the ordinance Bare proposes that would subject such facilities to conditional use permits.

Spencer says that would better take into consideration how such facilities match the development that is already in a neighborhood.

Here’s hoping the council gives thoughtful consideration to this issue. Because it certainly merits that, as opposed to the emotion-laden discussion that dominated much of the earlier debate about this project. Because the truth is, the probation office already exists in someone’s back yard. It is already close to churches, and small businesses and homes and parks. If we don’t give the children who use Magee Field, and their parents and families, the same consideration as the children and families who live in North Hill, it sends a powerful message about whose backyard is worth protecting. And whose backyard isn’t.

Back to Blogs

Shannon's Window: In Magee Field's backyard

Recent Posts