Several years ago, Gulfport activist Margarete Tober gave up duties co-administrating an alt Facebook group, Gulfport Watchdog, and decided she could do more good for her hometown with Gulfport Neighbors, a charity that cleans the yards of the elderly, helps organize neighborhoods cleanups, and has been the lone voice working to unite St. Petersburg and Gulfport at its mutual border, 49th Street South. Since then, Gulfport Neighbors has cleaned the beach monthly, orchestrated police officer chats in neighborhoods, browbeat officials into co-mayoral cleanups and basically reinforced what it means to be part of a community.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2015.