TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — For almost two decades, the Community Redevelopment Agency has been working on a plan to help rejuvenate the neighborhood.
Now, neighbors are upset that the CRA is deciding to deciding to start over anew. They're calling on the agency to make a plan and stick with it.
"It's a wonderful plan," said Gerry Seay, a Frenchtown Business Owner. "It covers quite a bit."
For many living in Frenchtown, they don't see anything wrong with the plans set in action for the CRA.
"The original plan is a very well thought out document that the community put together in 1999 to qualify to become a CRA district," said Seay.
And in that time, many revisions to the plan have happened. Yet, people like Gerri Seay are growing restless.
Neighbors say that it's been 18 years since the first plan, yet people are still walking in the middle of the roads because there aren't even sidewalks.
At the CRA meeting Thursday night, the committee voted to scrap what's in the plan now, and start over.
"We understand what you're saying, we've heard," said a CRA board member at Thursday's meeting. "Our plan going forward is the plan that the neighbors have emphasized and prioritized."
Members of the CRA say that they've looked at what the independent focus groups around the neighborhood have brought up-- like the need for side walks, street lights, and more safety.
And they're promising that those ideas will be taken into account. But promises aren't enough for some now.
"It's a perfect storm of problems. The blight is not a result of the people's lack of interest," Seay explained. "It's a result of the people's lack of ability to get the money together to do anything about it."
But Seay says there may still be a brighter future ahead.
"I'm just hopeful that this new city council will see to it during their watch that something will get done," said Seay.
Dates haven't been finalized, but there will be two community workshops to jump start the new plan next month.
