Groups plan to help Gifford's economy

The Chamber of Commerce, county and Vero Beach have proposed a
5-year plan to increase jobs and investment in poverty-stricken areas.

By Henry A. Stephens
staff writer
August 13, 2005

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The county Chamber of Commerce, county government and the city of Vero Beach have proposed a five-year time frame to beef up the economy of the area surrounding Gifford and the city airport, according to a new strategic plan.

The plan is part of the chamber's proposal to establish the 4.7-square-mile area as an Enterprise Zone.

The designation would give state tax breaks to new businesses relocating there and to existing businesses for expansion in the zone, such as hiring residents who live there, chamber Economic Development Director Helen Caseltine said Thursday.

The plan lists various objectives for improving the Gifford economy, such as expanding business opportunities at the airport, promoting neighborhood property-maintenance associations, eliminating buildings that violate codes and striving to reduce the zone's 25 percent unemployment rate.

In a 7-0 vote, the county Planning and Zoning Commission gave its nod to the plan and recommended approval from the County Commission on the way to Gov. Jeb Bush's office for final action.

Planning and Zoning Commissioner Bob Bruce, however, questioned the zone's boundaries of U.S. 1 to the east, the Main Relief Canal to the south, 43rd Avenue to the west and 49th Street to the north — with parts of it reaching north to County Road 510 and west to 58th Avenue.

That area meets the required state poverty criteria of at least 20 percent, Caseltine said.

Records show the zone has almost a 33 percent poverty rate, compared to 9 percent for the county as a whole.

"How does the (Vero Beach Municipal) Airport fit into this?" Bruce asked. "Is the airport poverty-stricken?"

The surrounding residential areas are in the same U.S. Census blocks as the airport, Caseltine said, and they have the poverty.

"It does look gerrymandered, but that's how Census blocks are," she said.
Victor Hart Sr., a Gifford resident and president of the county's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday he likes the goal of the plan but has yet to hear from Caseltine how it is supposed to work.

Improving Gifford's community profile won't be easy, the plan states. It cites such positive resident-involvement successes as the Gifford Progressive Civic League and the Gifford Front Porch Council.

Despite those efforts, the plan states, many county residents and merchants look down on Gifford as a "rundown area" with high unemployment, poverty, drug crime and dilapidated homes.

- henry.stephens@scripps.com