ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — They were vibrant neighborhoods rich with culture in St. Petersburg.
They no longer exist after officials destroyed them to make room for new development, including Tropicana Field in the 1980s. The developments came with empty promises from officials about jobs and help.
Residents from the Gas Plant and Laurel Park neighborhoods reunited to honor the neighborhoods' history Sunday.
It comes amid a recent announcement from an official developer for the city who will help reimagine the 86 acres around the Trop in the 1980s, along with the city's first Black mayor being sworn in.
"The reason why we have to celebrate them is typically you only hear the negatives," Gwendolyn Reese, African American Heritage Association of St. Petersburg president, said.
"You hear them described as blighted neighborhoods," Reese said. "All the reasons used to justify demolishing the neighborhoods."
But Reese said the neighborhoods were rich with culture and vibrancy.
"We’re here to celebrate the people," Reese said. "The businesses, the churches and the neighborhoods."
Mayor-elect Ken Welch said the broken promises from the past will be fulfilled this time. Former residents said they hope to keep the stories of the past alive.
"[It] gives us the opportunity for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren to realize what we really had," Rev. Watson Haynes, II, Pinellas County Urban League president and CEO, said.