A Stroll Through South Brooksville

BROOKSVILLE - To hear activists say it, their community is contaminated, saturated with sludge and overdue for a more modern sewage system.

Hernando County Administrator David Hamilton was seeing South Brooksville up close for the first time Saturday and he agreed. But he also left with the impression that residents crave revitalization. There is history in the neighborhood and he wants to find a way to preserve it while improving the quality of life.

"We need to correlate activities between the government and the community," he said. "We need to get together as a working group and get some renewal of infrastructure that's needed without damaging the integrity of the community."

Hamilton's hair was drenched in sweat from the 95-degree weather and palpable humidity. He spent most of the two-hour tour nodding, listening and taking notes.

Most of the time he listened to community activist Richard Howell discuss the history of the neighborhoods and how they have been neglected.

Fire hydrants do not work. Murky rainwater sits in spots along the long drainage pipe that cuts through the yards along Twigg Street. Street signs are toppled over and ignored for months.

The tour, which included more than 20 people, was led by Brooksville Vice Mayor Frankie Burnett.

He showed where a rusty metal walking bridge stretched across one of the widest sections of the drainage pipe near Josephine Street. It was built there approximately 40 years ago when the pipe's undercurrent caused a young girl to drown.

Some noticed the odor of propane emanating from the brush a few feet from the bridge.

When asked whether any additional improvements have been made in the last few years, Burnett scoffed.

"Every 10 years they'll be a crew down here," he said. "They'll clean up about half and then leave. They'll never finish it."

Fifty feet up the road Burnett showed Hamilton where a house had to be abandoned nine years ago because the drainage ditch flooded the property and forced the people out of their home.

The tour began at 9 a.m. at Kennedy Park off East Jefferson Street.

From there, the group marched along the main road and turned onto Easy Street. Mitchell Heights was the first destination.

Howell pointed to a picnic table sitting on top of a mound bulging from the ground. Underneath the grass was a septic tank.

"That's not a healthy place to have a picnic," Hamilton joked.

Howell told him the community was assured the tanks would be taken out two years ago. Nothing has happened, he said.

"They never include this area in capital improvements," Burnett said when asked of the importance of giving Hamilton a tour. "I want him to see this area and improve it."

Most of the tour was along the south side of E. Martin Luther King Boulevard, which is the county side.

One of the most startling sights came along Public Street, where a 25-foot wide drainage pool was open and filled with muck, garbage and other debris. Burnett said he could picture a child running along the road and slipping into the ditch.

County Commissioner Chris Kingsley, who joined Hamilton during the tour, said a contractor has been selected to put a fence around it.

"It's a mess," uttered Hamilton as he stared into the ditch. "We can get some crews in here and at least pick up the debris."

Hamilton said he hoped to appoint someone who will oversee the revitalization of South Brooksville.

He wants to make a recommendation to the board by next month.