FOLLOWING UP ON DRUG MARCHES

For years, Chloe Coney, president and CEO of the Corporation to Develop
Communities, has been a major force in revitalizing east Tampa.

She has worked hard to improve housing and bring in businesses to blighted
areas. She also has led efforts to reduce one of the biggest impediments to
community improvement: crime.

The other day Coney helped organize another Taking Back Our Neighborhood
March. The demonstrations send a message that the area will not be an open
drug market for locals or outsiders who view east Tampa as a place to score
some narcotics. They also target businesses that allow loitering and drug
sales to take place with regularity.

Drug marches are good for community morale and they allow residents to
vent. But the marching is the easy part. The hard work will be keeping the
police informed of suspicious activity, showing up at police headquarters
to identify suspects and - hardest of all - appearing on a witness stand
and testifying, even when threatened.

Still, east Tampa's future is made brighter simply by residents coming out
in force to let the bad guys know their activities will not be tolerated.
And intolerance of crime is mandatory if real economic development is ever
to take place in that section of the city.