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manager, says he understands the anger of the black
community and wants the city to repair its trust.
He has called on the Justice Department, which is
investigating Trayvon's death, to look into other cases
where residents have raised concerns about police
treatment. He also wants people to contact the federal
officials with their complaints.
"We need to address this head-on," Bonaparte says.
"The shooting has had a polarizing effect … but it's
based on something that's been going on longer than
the Trayvon Martin case."
Bonaparte, a transplant from Topeka, is still getting to
know Sanford. He was on the job for five months when
Trayvon was killed. He was smitten when he came for
a job interview in July.
"I drove down this beautiful waterfront, people were out
walking, there were people of all races," he says. "It
was a weekday and they were all out enjoying
themselves. It seemed idyllic."
He doesn't want the negative publicity to shatter that
image and the city's small-town charm. The city has
hired a crisis management firm to help deal with the
fallout from the shooting.
"What happened between Trayvon Martin and George
Zimmerman was tragic, (but) these are two individuals
out of a community of 54,000. Let's put that in
perspective," Bonaparte says.
Nicholas Mcray, the city's economic development
director, who is white, says, "It's obviously a
tumultuous time."
He says the attention brought by the shooting "doesn't
help" efforts to build on the growth the city has seen in
the past decade. The population grew 40% since
2000.
Bonaparte and Mcray point to the downtown
redevelopment that rebuilt the river walk along the
southern edge of Lake Monroe, the refurbished park
across the river walk that hosts 90,000 people every
July 4 and the redeveloped downtown with its brick
sidewalks, benches and new facades.
The park, with new basketball courts, jungle gym and
USA Today/ - News, Seg, 02 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
swing set, fountains and football field, is a hub every
day of the week.
Mcray says more redevelopment is under discussion
along the city's main thoroughfare, French Avenue, a
busy boulevard of check-cashing places, fast food and
take-out Chinese restaurants, boarded-up businesses
and vacant lots. The housing authority has met with
federal officials to figure out how to redevelop land
where now-closed housing projects sit in Goldsboro,
one of the city's historically black communities. That
part of town has boarded-up houses and storefronts
and homes in need of repair.
Mcray says the city strives to live up to its slogan, "The
Friendly City." The city even posted on its website a
map of downtown and places to stay and eat for
out-of-towners attending the rallies.
"I think the characterization of our community has not
been as broad as it truly is," he says. "We are a
welcoming, open and safe community."
Kruckemyer and family friend Hank Dieckhaus
discussed the case last week as they sat outside the
Taste of Thyme Café downtown.
Dieckhaus, who is white, moved to Sanford from
Philadelphia nine years ago. He says he's attended all
the meetings and rallies for Trayvon Martin. "I wanted
to go to show support," he says.
Still, he says Sanford bears no resemblance to the Jim
Crow towns of the Deep South.
"This is not 1965; this is not Selma, Alabama, or
Birmingham. This is Sanford, Fla., 2012, and we'll get
through this," says Dieckhaus, 64.
Yet the stigma of the case is strong.
Molly Meyerholtz, manager of The Treehouse Fine
Furniture and Antiques, which has been on First Street
about five years, says the Trayvon Martin case
exploded just at the end of the January-March tourist
season.
"It's very overwhelming," she says. "If the city of
Sanford wanted to put itself on the map, they certainly
didn't do it in the right way."
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