Yesterday’s St. Petersburg Times story on Papa John’s lack of delivery service to the Bartlett Park and Old Southeast neighborhoods in St. Pete has ticked some neighborhood leaders across the city.
In what seemed to be a great scoop, Times intern Joseph Schwartz reported that an e-mail sent to the Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association stated crime statistics forced Papa John’s to stop delivery past Sixth Avenue South. But not mentioned, at least not clearly, is that the closest Papa John's — at Fourth Street N and 22nd Avenue — never delivered to the area in the first place.
“There’s this [misconception] that [Papa John's] stopped deliveries,†neighborhood vice president Scott Swift told me today. “But they’ve never delivered here … [Bartlett Park is] way out of their normal area.â€
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2007.