Sarasota affordable housing project creates jobs for locals

There was some controversy surrounding the first phase of the Janie Poe housing project when the builder hired out-of-towners.

So the city's housing authority made sure the project's second phase had a new builder, new rules and local workers.

"Over 80 percent of the subs (contractors) are local," said Bill Russell, the housing authority's executive director, at today's groundbreaking for phase two of Janie's Garden, which will include 68 apartments and 10,500 square feet of retail space when completed. Russell said the Suncoast Workforce Center helped fill the positions. "Over 93 percent have been filled by Newtown (an area of Sarasota) workers and I think that's tremendous."

One of those on the job is 39-year-old Rhonda Graham, a single mother of five.

"Before I didn't know how bills were going to be paid," said Graham, who works at the construction site at the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Central Avenue. "I don't mind getting out here and getting dirty."

Graham said she spent three years looking for work.

"There's going to be some hard times," she said. "You just have to be strong enough to get through them and have faith in God and he'll come through."

Ruth Richardson said her office job with Tandem Construction, which is the project's new builder, means new hope for a better future -- "Steady job, benefits, my son has benefits."

And when it comes to a long-term career with Tandem, the 22-year-old, who lives in Janie's Garden's now-completed first phase, said, "I hope so, I hope so."

Janie's Garden features affordable housing for a variety of incomes, stores and plans for a new covered bus stop. The new stop will one day bring a Sarasota County Area Transit bus from the University of South Florida and the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport through Newtown to downtown, Sarasota Memorial Hospital and beyond.