Blurbex

I’m sure you’ve read the sad accounts of Whaley’s Market closing in South Tampa. (Our own CL music critic Wade Tatangelo even devoted a Top 10 to them). But one neighborhood is not content to wallow in pity over the independent grocery store’s demise.

Residents of Seminole Heights are begging Whaley’s to relocate to their side of town. Seminole Heights doesn’t have a neighborhood market — it’s something they’ve wanted for years. So, the Official Unofficial Seminole Heights blog bought Whalley’s website address and is promising free advertising on its website. They’ve also put a call out to other residents and blogs to spread the word.

Check out the call to action here.

 Shout outs to some local bloggers:

• St. Petersblog rips into Progress Energy CEO Jeff Lyash and the “community” effort to find the Tampa Bay Rays a spot for their new stadium.
• Want to see some more theater shows, but your wallet is empty? David Jenkins has an idea on how you can get in for free.
• Pelicans’ Last Supper on Sticks of Fire.
• Lenny Bruce recollections over on Pushing Rope.

A few days ago, I ripped into TBO.com’s commenters as the worst in the area. I (quietly) received a few whispers and e-mails from people agreeing with me. Yes, differing opinions — even caustic ones — are great for media, but out-and-out libel, racism or cruelness? Those kind of commenters can quickly turn readers off from a website or blog.

I’m not the only one to think so. Time writer Lev Grossman recently editorialized on these hostile trolls, highlighting a guest blogger for the Stranger, an alternative weekly out of Seattle, who abruptly quit her gig because commenters had become too cruel. But it’s not just newspapers, he writes, but everything on the web from Flikr to YouTube:

A random example: on June 11, a user called way21337 uploaded a video to YouTube. It’s titled My new gerbil, and it shows, in fact, a black-and-white gerbil snuffling around cutely in somebody’s hand. It is 11 seconds long. By press time, it had acquired 102 comments. Let’s take a look! They begin with NewTyhuss, who writes, “sweet!” Things start going south with comment No. 4: “id hit it.” (Good one, ZRace67!) After a week, we’re down to eldergod: “why dont u shove that gerbil up yur ass and quit posting stupid videos.” bwalhof writes, “kill yourself. fast.” And so on.

Grossman sums up my feelings fairly well:

The horribleness of commenters isn’t really a mystery: Internet anonymity is disinhibiting, and people are basically mean anyway. Nor is it a mystery why the people who run websites put up with commenters: the economic model for Internet content is based on advertising, which means it’s based on traffic volume, and comments mean traffic. They’re part of the things that make online publishing work. TIME.com enables comments on its blogs, including mine.) It’s just hard to tell whether they’re ruining the Web faster than they can save it.

(As for the Stranger blogger, looks like she’s back up with a little extra dough from her employer …)

Just a quick shout-out to a few local blog posts that caught my eye recently:

Was “The Twist” born in Tampa? Sticks of Fire says yes.

What could possibly be more infuriating than a giant Confederate Flag off of Tampa’s interstate? A billboard proclaiming Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. Pushing Rope has details.

Nabob of Nothing faces off against Facebook.

I got some props from St. Petersblog today over my cover story about the most endangered buildings in St. Pete. It’s good to hear people still appreciate an article on history; not exactly the most sexy material out there, you know.

One of the blog’s writers, Casey, makes a good point about the planned demolition of part of the 600 block of Central Avenue:

In fact, Alex points out a very disturbing fact about the city block in question (you know the awesome old store fronts on Central at 6th): “on May 1, the developer requested a demolition permit from the city, which is pending.” The assholes who bought that block kicked all of those shops out almost 2 years ago, leaving them as a horrible reminder of failure and now it appears their demolition is finally imminent – sad day.

The Central Avenue situation is one of the most infuriating spectacles of St. Pete development. That little strip was one of the most eclectic in the whole city and they moved those retailers out … for what? A vacant block on the city’s premiere entryway decorated with spraypaint and “no loitering” stenciling?

One of the interesting pieces of info I came across in my research is this clause in the preservation code: If a developer wants to tear down a building that has local historical landmark status, they must prove their financing before the City Council will approve demolition. This is not the case with buildings without landmark status, which is why you have several vacant lots downtown right now.

Why can’t they do that for all buildings in St. Pete? Doesn’t it make sense to actually have the money for a project before you start demolishing whole blocks?

The guys over at St. Petersblog continue to push the St. Pete curbside recycling issue in their own snarky way. Yesterday, they posted a link to a form letter you can use to write Mayor Rick Baker urging him to adopt curbside recycling. Today, they’ve added a scathing response to a form letter they received after e-mailing Mayor Baker.

Particularly galling to the bloggers is this paragraph written by Sanitation Coordinator Bill Sundstrom:

A curbside program would have an annual operating budget in excess of $3 million dollars; generate environmental detriments associated with additional fuel consumption (20,000 gallons per year), vehicle air emissions and potable water usage, with minimal impacts to extending the life span of the Pinellas County Landfill. The high cost of operating a curbside program must be compared to the low resource return, typically from a 2%-4% reduction of the waste stream. This imbalance represents a negative influence on resource conservation, which is the goal of recycling.

That’s my bold up there, because I’m calling bullshit on this one, too.

Last December, during a tour of Pinellas County’s Bridgeway Acres, I interviewed sanitation technician Rick Clarke, who told me recycling is crucial to the longevity of the county’s landfill.

“Seventy percent of this doesn’t need to be here,” he said as we stood on top of an 80-foot mound of trash (the highest point in Pinellas County, I might add). “If all we did was recycle paper, we’d chop a third of it right there.”

When I questioned him on his feelings about the lack of curbside in St. Pete, Clarke didn’t want to comment, though he did say, “Where cities have curbside, there is a lot less recyclables [at the landfill].”

The fact is, St. Pete adds a disproportionate amount of recyclable trash to the county’s landfill. Even the county has recognized this: they’re considering taking care of St. Pete’s recycling themselves.

I don’t blame St. Pete officials for not wanting to start an expensive program when the county might go ahead and pay for it. But tell citizens that and don’t spoon us bullshit like the letter above.

In the meantime, maybe environmental types should take a look at St. Pete Recycling Solutions.

(photo credit: Peter Kaminski on Flikr)

Remember Alan Snel?

He’s the bicycle enthusiast I profiled last August. Snel, a former Tampa Tribune reporter, is the director of the South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD!).

This week, Snel was one of 500 bicycle activists attending the 2008 National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. to lobby Congress for pro-bicycle legislation. 500 bicycle lobbyists? That’s a lot of spandex!

Check out Snel’s report here.

Way to go, Alan. A good portion of Tampa Bay’s congestion problems could be solved if we used bikes, even if just for those small two-minute trips to grab a six-pack or lunch. St. Pete has already done a great job creating a bicycle-friendly city, but Tampa still has a long way to go.

What’s the biggest obstacle for bicyclists in Tampa?

(photo via LightMash on Flikr)

UPDATE: Another example of Pinellas County’s innovation.

During last week’s extensive media coverage of a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy dumping a quadriplegic out of his chair at Orient Road Jail, you might have missed the widely viewed video of a Baltimore cop berating a 14-year-old skateboarder. It’s quite possibly the best YouTube video I’ve seen since the Gainesville tasing incident.

Last week, the Baltimore Police Department suspended Officer Salvatore Rivieri for taking down a skateboarder in a headlock and scolding him for “disrespect.”

Here’s the video:

I’m officially inducting the cop’s quote, “I’m not ‘man.’ I’m not ‘dude.’ I am Officer Rivieri!” to the YouTube Phrase Hall of Fame, joining “Don’t Tase me, bro!” and Mitt Romney’s ”Who let the dogs out? Who, who.”

The whole episode reminded me of a Sticks of Fire post from last week that  pointed out the arrests of a few Tampa skateboarders. Really, why do cops hate skateboarders so much?

But if you thought Officer Rivieri’s 15-minutes of fame was over, check out this new video where the plump police patroller goes ballistic over an art student’s use of a remote control car:

Out of control cop? Abuse of power? Should the Baltimore Police Department institute diversity training?

Naw. After seeing the second video, I’m blaming Officer Rivieri’s anger on having to ride in that dorky little car all day.

We’re still receiving more comments over last week’s Urban Explorer, which profiled Pass-A-Grille gallery owner Evander Preston’s gifts to the homeless this year (hint: they’re alcoholic and smokey). I was curious what may have sent the traffic over there and found Jackie Dowd’s Orlando-based blog The 13th Juror. Check it out: She has a wealth of info about the homeless situation in Pinellas County and Florida. But what’s choice is this YouTube video she posted:

UPDATE: Looks like a California radio station picked up the Evander Preston story, too. Check out the audio here.

Another missive from prison by George Martorano, the inmate serving life with no parole that CL profiled last month:

Bunk beds are cute in the free-world home, especially for children. Try sleeping on one for 20+ years as an adult. After years of it, one’s lower back can be ruined, unless, upon waking you stretch and exercise. Those who don’t usually end up in wheel-chairs.
For half of the prisoners “aging” in prison, a wheel-chair awaits. All sorts of illness’s call a prisoner as he ages.

Read more …

Dan Mathews is the Vice President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the man responsible for the “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. He stopped by the offices of Creative Loafing this morning to chat about his book, Committed: A Rabbel-Rouser’s Memoir.

The most obvious question to me was the way celebrities adopt causes like Angelina Jolie adopts babies. I had to ask which celeb was a flip flopper on animal rights. To my surprise, he only had one.
“Naomi Campbell. She thought we were the coolest thing to come along, but when her career faltered, she went back on her word. She’s a glaring example of someone greedy.”

Otherwise supermodels and actors have stuck by PETA and were a stepping stone into the world of fashion. Mathews, a former model himself, explained that engaging designers behind the scenes was more important than the passing era of supermodels. The designers were the ones after all making the decisions about whether or not to include fur in their collections. “PETA’s about keeping an eye on what people are paying attention to,” Mathews says. “Like fashion.”

Just last week Mathews was invited by the Liz Claiborne Company, which sells a high quantity of leather shoes and bags, to do a presentation to the staff. He says it was “a great sign of things to come. 15 years ago the only way to get attention was to take over their office. Now we get invited in. Most of the time.”

Committed spills the details of Mathews’ numerous times behind bars, among them for protesting without a permit in Harvard Square in his drawers for a “fur-out, love-in” in a mock bed with four other activists.

“Part of the point of the book is that you can devote your life to a cause without becoming a total bore. You can do serious work and still have a good time,” says Mathews. He’s learned that people want entertainment, not education. An energetic, mostly in-house team comes up with PETA’s campaigns with creativity that rivals any Madison Avenue advertising execs. They know they have to compete for attention with cable TV, celebrity headlines and myriad other distractions to get people to pay attention.

Which is why Mathews and PETA are so successful at reaching out to youth around the world. PETA2.com has a few hundred thousand street-teamers. At PETATV.com, pop star Pink narrates a video on wool. Mathews says of the video: “Most people don’t want to watch a sheep being mutilated. But her loyal fanbase will.”

Mathews is ever optimistic and only let defeat creep into conversation once. He says PETA focuses primarily on reaching the younger generations because breaking habits of someone who’s eaten a steak a week for the last 50 years is nearly impossible. “I ask the kids to look at how unhealthy their grandparents are and if they want to end up like that,” he says.

Dan Mathews will do a book reading and signing Tuesday night at 7 p. m. at Barnes & Noble, 11802 N. Dale Mabry, in Tampa at 7:00 PM.

Ah, I love how big business takes care of the little guys.

Who cares if it’s safe? “It still sells,” said an employee of the biggest child-care car seat manufacturer in the U.S.

According to Oprah, “doctors found that men who stopped smoking experienced a rise in sperm count of up to 800%!” Conversely, guys who stopped drinking stopped knocking up ugly Betties 2000%.

Also for those trying to get preggie, a study says many home cleansers are linked to fertility problems, especially because the mood kinda gets lost when watching ones’ spouse on bended knee scrubbing the toilet.

This underdog is barely back from a brief retirement – and is not only already in trouble — but ready to upset the champ.

That’s so gay! Almost. Well, depending how you look at it. OK, uh, maybe not.

Steven Spielberg wrote a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao to put the smack down in Darfur, reasoning that the Sudanese oil that fuels China’s economy is like “pocket change compared to what you’ve made off of pirated DVD copies of E.T and Indiana Jones.” (I paraphrased there just a bit.)

The headline: Republicans Like Giuliani’s Electability. The story: They hate him for everything else.

“I’m not a child, Madam. I’m a midget with bad habits!” — from the 1966 film The Trouble with Angels.

After being held in Libya for eight years, the Bulgarian medical staff accused of intentionally giving Libyan children H.I.V. are freed.

Then there are those adventurous Americans trying hard to get into Libya…

Adults really should pay more attention to what their kids have to say.

On the other hand, let’s not forget Lord of the Flies.

Speaking of reading, an old Atlanta CL article popped up on digg.com this weekend. Proceed with caution!

“It may only be a matter of time before bloggers start to have a major influence in local politics and policymaking.”

LL Rocks. Make that powder.

“In the morning I’d awake and couldn’t remember/What is love and what is hate?” –The Flaming Lips, “In the Morning of the Magicians”

Senator Robert C. Byrd, wearing a tie with puppies on it, chews Michael Vick on the floor of the House like a beef-flavored rawhide.

Daniel Radcliff speaking about his 18th birthday today: “I just think I’m going to be more sort of fair game.” Mrs. Robinsons, start your engines.

Ad-libbing journalist pulls number out of ass.

Upon discovering larvae living under her husband’s skin, a devoted wife says: “I will love you through your maggots.”

Hip-hop and theology: as long as it sounds better than Christian rock.

Boy’s Don’t Cry, unless “breaking with the party line and movingly acknowledging the real costs of this war.”

Last night in a 60 Minutes interview updated from February, Anderson Cooper lets Kenny Chesney tell the world he’s still not gay as they hang out in an alley behind a bar.

“The HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled” in Africa and Asia due to unavailability to condoms and sterile syringes. It’s a good thing we’ve got abstinence, abstinence and abstinence being taught in our schools.

Back in April, I wrote a piece on the gentrification of the Bartlett Park neighborhood in St. Pete and the tensions simmering in the community. In one of my subsequent blog posts, I mentioned a blog written by a Gulfport Gabber reporter and Bartlett Park resident, Cathy Salustri. Her entry “I Had A Dream,” in which she admits that living in the majority African-American neighborhood has turned her into a racist, is now a front-page story in this week’s Gabber. The 15,000-circulation Pinellas County weekly has recently begun reporting on Midtown issues, and I have to wonder if this piece will come back to haunt the paper’s main scribe. On her newest personal blog entry, Salustri says people have told her she has courage for writing such a potentially inflammatory piece.
I’ll let you make up your own mind. Read it here.

Where the hell did Morning Roundup go? And why no music news? Politics? What the hell is going on with Blurbex? And what does Blurbex mean anyway? (Blog for Urban Explorers, but I digress.)

For those who missed our switchover to a new server two weeks ago, let me quickly restate that we have created three new blogs so that what little productivity you have at work can fly completely out the window. The trio are:

Political Whore. The blog will be here, and you can get your RSS feeds from here. I’m going to move Morning Roundup over to Political Whore. so make sure you check there for your AM dose of snark.

Second, we’re starting a new music blog, focusing on the best shows coming to Tampa Bay and our area’s great local acts. Wade Tatangelo will helm this blog, likely with some help along the way. Tampa Calling will be found here, and RSS feed here.

And third, our killer food writer and restaurant critic Brian Ries has his own blog, Eat My Florida. You’ll get the inside scoop on where he’s been eating — and what he’s been eating. The new blog is here, and the RSS here. Once Brian recovers from eating all that pizza he will be up and running on Eat My Florida.

Just another reminder:

Sometime this week, we are going to flip the switch and move our blog, Blurbex, over to a new server inside our CL website. (This is not exactly the exciting part.) You can find the new Blurbex here, with RSS feeds here.

As part of this move, we’re creating three new blogs.

First, we’re spinning out our political coverage to its own blog, Political Whore. The blog will be here, and you can get your RSS feeds from here. I’m going to move Morning Roundup over to Political Whore but will crosspost it to Blurbex for those used to getting their fill of AM snark.

Second, we’re starting a new music blog, focusing on the best shows coming to Tampa Bay and our area’s great local acts. Wade Tatangelo will helm this blog, likely with some help along the way. Tampa Calling will be found here, and RSS feed here.

And third, our killer food writer and restaurant critic Brian Ries is getting his own blog, Eat My Florida. You’ll get the inside scoop on where he’s been eating � and what he’s been eating. The new blog is here, and the RSS here. Once Brian recovers from eating all that pizza he will be up and running on Eat My Florida.

I’ve got some exciting Creative Loafing blog news for you all. Sometime this week, we are going to flip the switch and move our blog, Blurbex, over to a new server inside our CL website. (This is not exactly the exciting part.) You can find the new Blurbex here, with RSS feeds here.

As part of this move, we’re creating three new blogs.

First, we’re spinning out our political coverage to its own blog, Political Whore. The blog will be here, and you can get your RSS feeds from here. I’m going to move Morning Roundup over to Political Whore but will crosspost it to Blurbex for those used to getting their fill of AM snark.

Second, we’re starting a new music blog, focusing on the best shows coming to Tampa Bay and our area’s great local acts. Wade Tatangelo will helm this blog, likely with some help along the way. Tampa Calling will be found here, and RSS feed here.

And third, our killer food writer and restaurant critic Brian Ries is getting his own blog, Eat My Florida. You’ll get the inside scoop on where he’s been eating — and what he’s been eating. The new blog is here, and the RSS here. Once Brian recovers from eating all that pizza he will be up and running on Eat My Florida.

I’ll let you know when the switchover occurs, but in the meantime, adjust your browsers and newsreaders accordingly. And let us know what you think about the new blogs. Just click “post comment” below.