Newtown Native has Plans to Help Redevelop the Historic Community
Jessika Ward
SARASOTA— Surrounding areas around Sarasota’s Newtown community is continuously being redeveloped. Development near Ringling College is giving the Newtown area a new look. A new Starbucks coffee shop is located on U.S. 41 and new housing is coming to the area as well. The Strand Condominiums are under construction on Whitaker Bayou and there are plans for a residential complex called Whitaker Lofts.
Newtown receiving a new look brings concern to natives of the community. The main concern being gentrification and loss of communal history. Many are worried that the neighborhood will go from a predominately black neighborhood to a community with very few black people living in the area.
In other words, community members fear the future of Newtown may be similar to Overtown. Overtown was the first black community in Sarasota. It is now known as the Rosemary District and there are very few black people living in the area. The Rosemary District is now a boutique neighborhood with homes, condos, and apartments with market values from half-a-million to over 1 million dollars. According to a census conducted by BestPlaces.net, the average income of a Sarasota resident is $29,969 a year.
Terrill Salem, an appointed member on the City of Sarasota Planning Board who is passionate about redevelopment and preserving the history of African Decedents of Slaves (ADOS), is one of those concerned community members. He wants Newtown to keep dollars in the community.
“If you look back in history every thing owned by African American people or ADOS has been torn down and it is not by accident. It is to make us forget who we are,” said Salem. “We are assuming other people’s identity.”
Salem is a native of Sarasota, an active officer with the Sarasota County Fire Department, and the owner of T. Salem Construction. T. Salem Construction was set to build Miss Susie’s, a restaurant owned by TableSeide Restaurant Group, in the Newtown area at 1741 Martin Luther King Way. Though TableSeide is not a black owned company, Salem believed this project would be good for the community because it would bring jobs and dollars to the neighborhood. Salem says the Miss Susie’s project is uncertain at this time since the passing of Steve Seidensticker, the owner of TableSeide.
As 1 of the 5 members on the Planning Board of the City of Sarasota, he handles issues around zoning and development in the City of Sarasota. In his role, Salem wants to focus on ways the Newtown community can revise and survive itself, making Newtown an economic base around Ringling College.
“My next step is to develop a relationship with Ringling College because I personally believe that there is a missed opportunity,” said Salem.
“The dollars are bypassing the Newtown area. Because there are no entities to capture the revenue even though Ringling is so close to Newtown. If the Newtown area had businesses and entities that these college students could do business, then that money would in turn filter into the community. It would uplift the whole community.”
Salem says he loves living in the neighborhood he was raised in. He graduated from Manatee County Community College and left home shortly to attend the University of Central Florida. He returned home after graduating from UCF because he wanted to add value to the Newtown area. He’s proud of his community and the work his elders have done to build up the community.
“Fredd Atkins he broke down the barriers. On a national level you have Dr. King, but too often we don’t focus on the ones on our front doorstep. I like to pay homage to him because he is very passionate about our community. Willie Shaw he is an extension of what Fredd started. He picked up the torch and marched miles beyond. I value them for standing in the paint,” said Salem.
He wants to see commercial properties on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, a main street that crosses through the Newtown community.
“Let’s say there was a coffee shop or a smoothie shop in Newtown, the Ringling students would come and spend money,” said Salem. “Newtown can be a nice safe flourishing economic environment.”
Terill Salem says he’s preparing for a career in politics, but he says he only wants to do politics if he can carry out the people’s will.
