Anyone who has lived in Indian River County for more than few years knows what Gifford is – predominantly black, mostly poor, too often the source and scene of criminal activity.
Likewise, longtime county residents know what Gifford isn’t – gated communities, upscale and upper-middle-class homes and ranch-style properties owned and occupied mostly by more-affluent white people.
So why does the latest version of the well-intended Gifford Neighborhood Plan, developed by county officials in conjunction with the Gifford Progressive Civic League and Gifford residents, still include the area west of 58th Avenue on its 2014 map?
“It’s basically the same map we had in 2002,” said Sasan Rohani, the county’s chief planner and one of the primary architects of the 2014 plan. “Before then, there really was no map defining Gifford’s boundaries, but when we met with residents and the Progressive Civic League in putting together the original plan, they told us that area was part of the Gifford community.”
That sector, from 58th Avenue west to 66th Avenue and from 41st Street north to 49th Street, is called “West Gifford” in the 2014 plan, just as it was 12 years earlier. It’s clearly marked on the map, part of the county’s version of Gifford.
It doesn’t seem to matter that West Gifford bears little resemblance to – and has almost nothing in common with – the rest of Gifford. Or that most county residents, including those who live in that area, don’t consider it part of Gifford.
Even some longtime Gifford residents don’t understand why the west-of-58th area is part of the plan.
“The people who live there are not black and they’re not poor,” said Donald Hart, whose father, Victor, founded the Progressive Civic League in 1961, served as president of the Indian River chapter of the NAACP and led an effort to incorporate Gifford in the 1970s.
“Ask them where they live and they’ll say Vero Beach, not Gifford.”
Fact is, Gifford – the real Gifford – might not be going away, but, as the county’s historically black community, it is shrinking, both geographically and demographically.
The community, based on the county’s map, doesn’t cover nearly as much area as it did decades ago, when its boundaries reached north from the Vero Beach city line to southernmost Winter Beach and east from 66th Avenue to the Indian River Lagoon.
According to the county, Gifford now has a population approaching 5,500, and 69 percent of its residents are black – though those numbers are distorted because of the inclusion of West Gifford.
There’s no denying, however, that Gifford – even the sectors east of 58th Avenue – has become more racially diverse as upwardly mobile blacks have moved out while whites and particularly Hispanics have moved in.
“A lot of black people have decided to leave the community, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” said Benny Rhyant, pastor of the New Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church and president of the county’s Gifford-based Pastors Association.
“We have to accept the fact that integration has affected the way black people think about things,” he continued. “They’re not forced to live here. They’re free to seek better areas to live in, if they have the financial means, and they’re moving to places like Sebastian, Wabasso, the Oslo area and even Vero Beach. Some of them, especially the young people who go off to college, leave the area entirely.
“Likewise, we’ve had white people and Hispanics move into our community, so there’s more of a mix here now,” he added. “Gifford has become a more racially diverse place. You also see more interracial relationships.
“Society is changing, and Gifford is changing with it.”
There is one troubling statistic, though, that hasn’t changed – nearly 30 percent of Gifford’s black population resides below the poverty line.
That sad reality, which has contributed mightily to the shoddy living conditions, high crime rate and poor quality of life in too many neighborhoods in the once-proud, economically depressed community, is what prompted the 2002 plan and its reincarnation last year.
“Going all the way back to when we developed the original plan, the goal was to help the people and neighborhoods in Gifford that need it most,” County Administrator Joe Baird said, adding that it covers everything from street paving, sidewalks, drainage and street lights to crime, housing, education and commercial development.
The 2002 plan, which stalled during the recent economic recession, was evaluated by the county staff and updated last year, when the commission adopted the 2014 version and promised to push forward with projects that had been placed on hold.
Though state and federal grants have helped defray the costs of some previous improvements in the Gifford community, “a lot of them have been locally funded,” Baird said, adding that the county is “committed to moving forward” with projects outlined in the updated plan.
In fact, County Commissioner Bob Solari said that while he believes delaying some of the work promised in the 2002 plan during the recession years was wise – “We would’ve had to raise taxes to fund it,” he explained – he’s eager to embark on both the 45th Street beautification and resurfacing projects identified in the 2014 plan.
Hart, as do most Gifford civic leaders, endorses the plan and remains cautiously optimistic that the funds allocated for their community will not be diverted to projects elsewhere in the county.
He also supports the grass-roots efforts of longtime Gifford civic leader Freddie Woolfork and others to restore Gifford residents’ hometown pride through volunteer projects such as community cleanups, anti-crime neighborhood walks, vocational programs and T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “I’m Still Gifford” and “Nice People Live in Gifford.”
Everyone’s goal, it appears, is the same – to save Gifford, to improve the quality of life there and make it a community residents can be proud of.
For that to happen, Hart said, the public’s perception of Gifford must change. And he believes that can’t happen until enough residents are generating enough income to boost the community’s dismal economic standing.
“You need to develop economic opportunities, and that includes home ownership, which gives people a stake in their community,” he added. “There’s nothing wrong with having racial diversity in a community, but you need economic diversity, too.”
Just as important, though, will be Gifford’s ability to regain its fading identity.
Three decades ago, for better or worse, Gifford knew what it was, and so did everyone else in the county. It was a poor-but-proud, predominantly black community led by the influential pastors of neighborhood churches that tried to make life better for the people who lived there.
“People who’ve lived here a long time remember when we had our own ZIP code, our own Post Office, even our own high school,” he added. “Gifford has always had its problems with crime and poverty, but there was a lot of community pride, too. People identified with Gifford.
“You don’t see that much, anymore.”