When Linda Phillips left her post as president of the Central Oak Park Neighborhood Association in 1999, the group had a healthy budget, more than 300 members and met monthly.

When she checked in on the group earlier this year, the St. Petersburg, Fla., code enforcement officer found the association's numbers had dwindled to 10, its budget had nearly evaporated and the group had stopped meeting.

"I just couldn't believe it," said Phillips.

At its peak, the association organized regular neighborhood cleanups, hosted computer classes for senior citizens and installed a fountain in the lake behind the St. Petersburg Main Library. In the years she has been away from the neighborhood association because of health problems, Phillips says some people have let their yards and homes go.

Weeds and bushes go untrimmed, front yards serve as personal parking lots and back yards as heap piles. But it isn't always because homeowners don't care, said Phillips. Many residents are elderly or on a fixed income, and simply can't keep up with yard work. Others are young newlyweds who don't have experience maintaining a household. That's where the neighborhood group could come in, she says.

It's not unusual for a neighborhood to fluctuate in concert with the vitality of its neighborhood association. A vital association enhances the quality of life in intangible ways, said Susan Ajok, director of the Neighborhood Partnership Department in City Hall. But because the associations depend entirely on volunteer leadership, their vitality waxes and wanes. Neighborhood associations have grown in popularity in recent years, Ajok said, as residents come together to forge a common identity.

"People want to return to that old neighborhood feel," Ajok said. "Having a designated person to field complaints and work with the city to improve their neighborhood is facilitating that."

When Phillips moved to the neighborhood in 1997, she joined an already active association. That was how she met many of her neighbors and new friends. Who would bring neighbors together now, she asked herself? Phillips decided she had to do something.

She ran unopposed for president and took office in May. Now she is working to fortify the group's membership, which has jumped by 22 households since last month.

The Central Oak Park Neighborhood sits between 5th Avenue South and 13th Avenue North and is bordered by 34th Street West and 49th Street. Originally named the North Central Neighborhood in 1989, the area was renamed United Central in 1998 when the neighborhood expanded its boundaries across Central Avenue.

Given its current name in 2000, it is the one of just two neighborhood associations in St. Petersburg to cross Central Avenue, the historic dividing line between that at one time legally divided the black and white sections of St. Petersburg. Those racial divisions have persisted long after legal segregation was eliminated.

"We really want to create a sense of community across St. Petersburg, not just in our little piece of it," said Phillips, sitting on a brown plush couch in her Mediterranean-inspired home.

To that end, Phillips and her vice president W.J. Morris have big plans for their neighborhood, which like much of the rest of St. Petersburg is experiencing a revitalization.

A cozy neighborhood of colonial and ranch-style homes dating to the late 1940s and 1950s tucked along tree-lined brick streets, Central Oak Park was traditionally a haven for retirees. Lately many single people and young families are moving in. Homes in the area that once sold for $50,000 are now fetching anywhere from $80,000 to $150,000.

"People are really investing in this neighborhood, and not just to bulldoze and build," said Morris, who is in the process of remodeling his 1958 home in the 4000 block of 7th Avenue North. "That's why it's really important for us to balance livability with progress, because progress isn't going to go away." Phillips and Morris want to get their new neighbors involved, to improve the quality of life by enhancing the environment and, in turn, develop a sense of community.

Phillips wants to revive the association's "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" program, which she helped found in 1997. Under the program, members of the neighborhood association volunteer to paint homes, weed yards and clean up debris. The homeowner then "pays" for their services by calling members to remind them of meetings or helping to prepare the monthly newsletter.

"That way they have some ownership and don't just feel like they are taking a handout," Phillips said. Under Phillips' helm as president during the late 1990s, she wrote and received two grants from the city, one used to survey residents about concerns, the other used to install the fountain and pavilion at the lake behind the main St. Petersburg Library on 9th Avenue North. She is beginning to write another one, which she hopes will be used to refurbish the oversized speed bumps meant to slow traffic in the neighborhood.

Phillips said the 12 large speed bumps installed in the area in 2000 are eyesores and she hopes to work with the city to have them re-paved and painted. In return, the neighborhood association would match the grant with volunteer hours landscaping the intersections near the traffic humps.

Phillips also wants to finish a neighborhood plan, which was started with a grant in 2001 but never completed. The plan would detail resident's goals for the neighborhood, including zoning and development limitations.

The group also wants to resuscitate the neighborhood's crime watch program. At one point, each block had a "captain" who kept tabs on neighborhood activities. But before that can happen again, she needs to get more members. She hopes her group will get a boost at the association's annual picnic, on June 24 at North Central Park.

Because the group is so strapped for cash, Phillips reached out to the North Kenwood Neighborhood Association, the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association and the Disston Heights Civic Association. The groups have agreed to provide food, equipment and manpower.

Morris, head of the group's membership committee, is also planning to piggyback on the city's hurricane preparedness public campaign. He wants to go door to door informing residents while recruiting at the same time. It costs $10 to join the neighborhood association.

Long-time Central Oak resident Gretchen Mook said strong leadership is vital to a successful association, particularly when families are often so busy trying to make a living.

"With the economy the way it is, people are working so much harder to make do and that impacts their lifestyles," said Mook, who has watched the neighborhood group build in strength and then crumble. "Nobody has time, but it's nice to know you have people willing to step up when people don't want to take the burden."

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