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.

• 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.

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 …)

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.

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.

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.

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

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 …