Judge not lest ye be judged

Nothing like taking a story out of context and jumping to the wrong conclusions. The St. Pete Times latched on to a discussion back in February about the encroachment of latino-oriented restaurants upsetting the neighborhood. Of course it didn't take long for someone without all the facts to pull a Johnny Cochrane and immediately cry foul, and claim we're all a bunch of stuck up racists in Seminole Heights. Funny thing about calling someone a racist, once you call it, the assumption is of guilt and it's pretty difficult to argue to the contrary. The other thing funny about it is that the connotation nowadays is that only non-hispanic, and non-black folks can be racists even when discrimination is practiced by everyone, excluding folks just because they aren't like you is wrong no matter what color you are. A couple of problems with the racist scenario amigo. First off you ought not assume that everyone posting on that there blog is from Seminole Heights. Though I imagine most are, there's been plenty of evidence that commenters often come from elsewhere. Second, there are plenty of anonymous posters there that get their rocks off posting all sorts of trash regardless of topic. Third if you followed the underlying discussion, the problem expressed is the excess of a single type of restaurant that have left those who tried them feeling excluded and undesired, the businesses just happened to be hispanic. In the neighborhood we've got about three, maybe four types of restaurants. Home-cookin' diners, latino, pizza, and the new deli. Technically I reckon, there's a couple of fast food joints but do we really want to call that a choice? If the majority of new restaurants coming in were any single type we'd be bitching. The one thing that Seminole Heights is desperate for, old-timers and newcomers alike is local businesses that keep us close to home. That outsiders comment indicated that it the businesses were aimed at people outside the neighborhood, while excluding folks within, not that it brought in outsiders. Enclave comment aside, my street has seen only a few newcomers in the past 3 years or so, most have lived here 10 years or more. As far as gentrifying and stereotypes the most "suburban white bread" neighbor we have is a latino fella that moved in a little over a year ago. His kin all have Cadillac SUV's and the like, boat, trailer, etc.
You shouldn't even mention Angelica in this conversation, it's, what do they call it, non-sequitur. Do your homework on that one. Her failure was poor management and poor execution of what could have been a pretty good idea. Folks that ate there could count on nothing but half-assed service and hit or miss food. Occasionally folks would sit for half an hour and never even get acknowledged by a waitress. That and the outdoor concerts pissed off near about every neighbor within a 1/4 mile.
You should read the Seminole Heights blog on the Cappy's thing too for some background before you hurt yourself making the racist leap. If you just read the blog with all the pissin' and moanin' you'd think that most folks hated the pizza place even though a fair number of them turned out to City Council. Feel free to call the neighborhood a bunch of gripes, bitchers, piss-and-moaners, whiners whatever. If anything thats more what this issue is about than race and gentrification. Folks here definitely like to gripe. The Times just latched on to a discussion to try to illustrate what thinks is citywide feeling, and someone else just latched on to a small part of that article to jump to the wrong conclusion