Blurbex

As you’ve no doubt read by now, the Pinellas-Pasco State State Attorney’s Office has cleared St. Petersburg police officer Terrence Nemeth in the shooting of 17-year-old Gibbs High School student Javon Dawson after the young man allegedly pointed a gun at Officer Nemeth when police arrived to break up an out-of-control graduation party.

Officer Nemeth is still on leave. Dawson’s family is calling the decision a travesty of justice. The Uhurus are making veiled threats of “consequences.” Just yesterday, after protesters descended on his office, Gov. Charlie Crist asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to do its own review of the case. But, if everything reported so far is correct, there’s probably enough evidence here, including DNA and gun residue, to show Dawson did fire a gun at the party.

But there’s an interesting aspect of the case that could have larger consequences for St. Pete in the future.

Take a look at the St. Petersburg Times’ special report on the shooting, and you’ll find a copy of Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe’s memo to St. Pete Police Chief Chuck Harmon that outlines the results of the investigation. In that memo are the names of witnesses that came forward and talked to the state attorney’s office about the shooting.

If you recall the climate surrounding the shooting in June, police and investigators had an extremely difficult time finding witnesses for the case, despite the fact that some 250 kids were present at the graduation party where Dawson was shot. This spurred all types of commentary on the no-snitching code that’s prevalent in many black communities here in Tampa Bay and across the nation.

The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office finally convinced some witnesses to talk, and now, their names are splashed on the Times website for all to see. That includes any Internet-savvy gang members that investigators say Dawson was affiliated with.

I’m not sure how I feel about that.

As a rule, I always err on the side of “the more information, the better.” Sometimes revealing names and confidential information on a subject might be uncomfortable, but that’s our job as journalists.

But if I look at this from another point of view, as someone who regularly goes into communities that are hostile to fact-finding folks like police investigators and journalists, I worry this could have a negative effect on future investigations. If witnesses know their names will end up in print (or on the Web), will they still come forward when the next shooting happens? I’m not faulting the Times — I can’t say for sure if I would or wouldn’t do the same thing — but I am surprised the state attorney’s office didn’t redact any names from the report. Just two weeks ago, I was stonewalled by the SPPD for just trying to get a police report of a 2-year-old art theft. Now, a state agency has released the names of witnesses and perhaps put them in danger.

Again, I’m not passing judgement, only curious on the conversations that did (or did not) go on about the ethics of publishing these kids names.

What do you think?

(Photo Credit: Beard Papa)

So, it finally happens: Airport security has gotten so ridiculous, and we’ve become such fearful little hamsters, that by the end of the year, we’ll all be submitting to electronic strip searches.

I don’t want to linger on the civil liberties questions raised by the Tampa International Airport’s purchase of four body imaging machines. It wouldn’t do much good anyway, TSA already purchased them.

But if you still believe TSA’s good intentions, let me point out three things that seemed to slip by St. Petersburg Times reporters.

First, a quote by our local Transportation Security Administration spokesman John Van Dyke:

“Our goal is to be proficient with them before the Super Bowl,” in Tampa in February, he said.

Mr. Van Dyke seems to imply that these will help keep Tampa and her tourists safe during the Super Bowl. But those scanners would only scan travelers leaving Tampa, not those coming in for the event.

Second, another TSA spokesman, Christopher White, tells the Times that they will protect passenger’s privacy:

Images are deleted after viewing, and officers can’t “save, store, print or transmit” them, said TSA spokesman Christopher White.

Then tell me — how did the Times get a photo for the front of their Metro section? This is not even going into the fact that nearly everyone has cell phone cameras these days.

Third, White claims the images are detailed, but do not show nudity:

He describes the images as robotic, like someone in a tight-fitting leotard. “You can see detail, but it’s not a naked picture,” White said.

So, do you mind telling me what those nipple-like dots are on the breasts of the woman pictured on the Times website?

That’s the question progressive District 55 voters should think about before they vote in their August 26 primary. Human rights activists uncovered a 2-year-old video of State Rep. Darryl Rouson on a local talk show and sent it out to media this week that shows the former NAACP president making some inane comments about same-sex adoptions and gays and lesbians in general.

From the video, which CL’s PoHo posted here):

“I think it is wrong to allow adoptions of children by gay and lesbian couples. It sends a wrong message early to a child during formative years that’s hard to overcome just by sitting down and talking to them. …”

“I think lesbianism and homosexuality is morally wrong. The law is supposed to discriminate sometimes, in some respects, it is supposed to discriminate against social order and anarchy.”

In a response to the video, Rouson told the Times he’s “evolved” since that 2006 taping of Florida This Week.

In an interview with me last month, I asked Rouson if any of his values had changed since he changed from a Republican to Democrat to run for the Florida State House seat 55. Here’s an excert:

Did you switch parties for political expediency or a change in your values?

My values have remained constant and consistent for the last 20 years. The ones who are most harping about the political party change are those who feel the most threatened by it. And that is my opponent. No one in the Democratic Party is angry or criticizing the 50,000 change in registrations that’s been occurring over the last several years. In fact, the Democrats are celebrating that, for the first time in 50 years, because of the influx of new registrations of Democrats, we now lead in party affiliation in this county. So, to me it’s a little disingenuous to try and attack me only on that.

In contrast to Rouson’s past comments, his primary opponent, the Rev. Charles McKenzie, has long advocated for gay and lesbian rights. In my interview with him in May, McKenzie did mention his position on human rights. He’s a longtime fixture in progressive circles and also sits on the board has been involved with the Florida ACLU, which supports same-sex adoptions.

So back to the main question: Do you think Rouson’s newfound tolerance is heartfelt, or just a political ploy?

Someone should’ve told that to Erotic Lounge owner Bill Schramm (left), who was arrested this weekend by St. Petersburg Police after they found a naked man suspended (quite happily) from the gallery’s ceiling during a risque art show.

According to the Times article, Schramm’s bad day started with an enormous penis statue he had installed in front of his Grand Central District gallery. Responding to a complaint, police told Schramm to remove the penis. He refused, citing “art.”

Fast-forward a few hours: gallery patrons are drinking beer and viewing various erotic paintings and sculptures when police descend upon the storefront. Schramm tries to prevent an officer from entering and he’s slammed to the ground and arrested. The police walk inside, demand identification from patrons and then discover a nude model hanging from the ceiling in some sort of harness.

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Despite the efforts of some community activists, it looks like the huge Confederate Flag  at I-75 and I-4 will still fly.

As the Confederate Flag Dude himself told me last month: “The flag is going to be flown. As long as I have breath in my body and am able to function and articulate. And even if I’m gone, it doesn’t make a difference, the flag is going up.”

So, I think those opposed to the flag need to think beyond trying to change the minds of those proclaiming “Southern Heritage.” They need to think of a suitable response.

Enter: the Alleycat Players.

The local arts group wants you to submit your own flags that define the South.

From their website:

We’re accepting artists’ submissions in both digital format and as physical fabric art creations. We’re going to create an art exhibit that combines displaying the fabric art flags with large-scale projections of the digital creations.

We will be accepting artwork and forming alliances with other artistic/cultural groups for this project through May of 2009, and will be arranging our exhibition for June-July 2009.

Create flags that are representative of our better selves and our varied traditions, and we’ll fly them all!

Something tells me the Confederate Flag Dude is not going to like this …

(h/t to Calebism)

In case any of you were hanging on the edge of your bungalow, tossing and turning in your sleep, at the mere possibility that the (mostly) loved Seminole Heights Starbucks might close …

You can stop holding your breath. It’s not closing. (h/t to Seminole Heights Blog.)

Whew.

(And here’s a few words from someone who really could care less.)

I’m a little late on this post, but I can’t ignore it. Last night, at the St. Petersburg Council Of Neighborhood Associations monthly meeting, neighborhood leaders voted on an issue I first brought you back in December: the split of the Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association.
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There’s some good news on the preservation front:

The City Council has approved a proposal of Saint Pete Preservation Inc. to preserve some of the Crislip Arcade, one of three arcades left in the city.

From my earlier story on the nine most endangered buildings in St. Pete:

Over the decades, St. Pete has lost many of its early commercial arcades, or open-air shopping corridors. The Crislip Arcade — one of only three left in the city — may be next. The 82-year-old arcade was built during St. Pete’s ’20s boom, and like other arcades, is regarded as a precursor to pedestrian malls and modern shopping malls.

In 2006, 601 Central LLC bought the entire north side of the block and moved out several small retailers in order to build condos. Soon after, the housing market tanked and the block has sat empty since. But on May 1, the developer requested a demolition permit from the city, which is pending.

But due to the efforts of SPP, the developer now must follow some strict rules on how they go about demolishing the building, including:

• No demolition permit will be issued until the developer has financing and has submitted their full development plans.
• The final development will include a ground level arcade that replicates the original.
• Preservation groups must be noticed before demolition so they can grab any historic tiles, blocks, etc.
• A historical marker will be posted on the site.
• An American Historic Building Survey must be completed that documents the history of the building, archives blueprints and photos.
• The Crislip Arcade logo will be remain on the new building.

In an e-mail to supporters, SPP president Will Michaels points out that the application they filed helped halt the demolition process of the Crislip Arcade. He writes:

Saint Petersburg Preservation originally filed an application to landmark the Crislip.  We were advised by City staff that this was the only way to stop the imminent demolition of the building. Although demolition procedures had been initiated, the owners and buyers did not have the permitting or financing in place to actually begin
construction.  Too often in the past historic buildings have been demolished, only to leave a vacant lot in place for years to come.  While SPP has agreed to withdraw the landmark application, were it not for filing it the demolition would have proceeded and none of the ten points in the agreement would have happened.

And though SPP wishes the whole building could be saved, they’re happy that some concessions were made. Plus, since a new demolition permit could take years to procure, perhaps there is hope that another investor will come in, buy the building and find a profitable re-use for it.

This good news comes after the owners of the First Baptist Church announced they would retain that downtown historical building’s facade instead of demolishing the whole structure.

Maybe we’re finally getting somewhere with preservation after all …

Now that the Rays have abandoned plans for a waterfront stadium at the Al Lang Field site (for now), preservationists and community leaders are once again petitioning the city to preserve the site as a park.

At tomorrow’s 8:30 a.m. St. Petersburg City Council meeting, councilmember Jeff Danner plans to introduce a resolution to designate the Al Lang Field site as “Downtown Center Park.” The resolution is supported by the city’s Council Of Neighborhood Associations and St. Pete Preservation Inc.

Will Michaels, a CONA board member and president of St. Pete Preservation Inc. sent out an e-mail to members today:

Designation of Al Lang as part of the park zoning will prevent condos and other large buildings from being built on the Al Lang site. It would still allow a Ray’s major league regular season stadium to be built on the site, although that would require a referendum to be approved. The current small spring-training Al Lang stadium may remain on the site. This could be used for high school, college, or Little Leagure baseball, or for cultural activities (plays and concerts), or a new permanent location for the popular Saturday Morning Market, etc. The small Al Land Stadium fits the site and still provides green space and views of the bay for the public. One of our most precious assets is our Downtown Waterfront Park. Placing Al Lang under the downtown park zoning will further help to preserve the Waterfront Park for future generations.

Last year, I reported on residents’ push for this waterfront protection. But the day after I filed my story, the Rays came out with their own plan for the site, completely changing the narrative.

CONA president Barbara Heck already wrote the City Council supporting the resolution, but Michaels says all concerned residents need to contact the City Council to show their support.

(Photo courtesy of Tim Baker)

Remember last month when the crack investigative news team at CL debunked the myth of cell phones being able to pop popcorn? For those who missed it, here’s the vid again:

Now, CNN finally gets to the bottom of this viral marketing hoax, including an interview with the CEO behind it all. Their video is here.

Back in May, I looked at water taxis/ferries as a mode of public transit for Tampa Bay. It’s an innovative idea that has been resurrected many times locally, but always fell flat to finances or bureaucracy.

Well, we just might see one in the near future.

As Times correspondent Alan Snel reports, developer Darren Booth wants to create a water taxi service based out of his Heights project on the city’s riverfront. The water taxi, which would cost $5, would ferry passengers to venues in downtown Tampa.

All in all, it looks like a good plan. But only if people use it.

So, my question is this: If Booth initiates this water taxi to service places like the Tampa Convention Center, St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and Channelside, would you use it? Is $5 a good deal for not having to worry about parking at each venue?

Here’s a sneak peak at my news story running in next week’s Creative Loafing:

Don Kobasky is losing sleep over recycling.

The St. Petersburg resident lives across the street from one of the city’s 22 drop-off recycling centers, and from sunrise to well after sunset, he hears the crash of glass.

“There’s nothing worse than working 10 to 12 hours a day and waking up at 3 a.m. to glass exploding,” says Kobasky, a large, tattooed artist who inhabits an apartment across from Crescent Lake Park’s recycling center. “It’s enough to make your brain snap.”

Kobasky doesn’t know what the answer is. He’s called the city’s solid waste department to complain; they responded by putting up a bigger sign informing residents the center closes at 9 p.m.

“But it won’t do much good,” he says.

Though he’s worried about the possible costs, he’s open to a county proposal to fund curbside recycling in St. Pete and the rest of the county.

“It seems like a win-win for everyone,” he says.

But if St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has his way, Kobasky may be hearing glass break for the foreseeable future. As the county picks apart Baker’s arguments against curbside recycling, the mayor is digging his heels in.

When asked if the city is open to the county’s plan, Mike Conners, the city’s internal services administrator and the Baker cabinet member who has taken on the county over their proposed program, replies flatly: “At this point, no.”
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That word comes up a lot in my interview with Beth Littrell, the Lambda Legal attorney who is representing Janice Langbehn in her suit against a Miami hospital. As I mentioned in a previous post, Jackson Memorial Hospital denied Langbehn access to her dying partner, Lisa Marie Pond, because Langbehn was not a “family member” — even though she and Pond were in an 18-year relationship, were raising four kids together and had the paperwork to prove it. The fine folks at ImGay.TV taped my conversation with Littrell during the opening-night reception for last week’s St. Pete Pride weekend. Besides proving once and for all that stripes aren’t slimming (on me, at least), the tape offers useful detail, as explained by the articulate Ms. Littrell, about the background and status of the case. See if you don’t agree with both of us that what happened to Langbehn was “outrageous.”

Last day for Salvia, folks. The ban on the psychoactive substance takes effect tomorrow; if you’re found in possession of the mild hallucinogen, you could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

I know at least one retailer is staying open until midnight to sell his stash of the soon-to-be-illegal weed. Perhaps you can convince some store owners to give you an eleventh-hour deal.

By the way, if you don’t know what Salvia is, or what it’s like to smoke it, check out my story on the subject here.

(Photo Credit: Randy Heine)

“And words, you know the seven don’t you? Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, huh? Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war. Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, wow.”

(Crossposted from The Political Whore)

This week’s edition of Creative Loafing includes a story by Megan Voeller on Chicago marketing guru Patricia Martin and the “Renaissance Generation.” From the story:

Some of Martin’s rhetoric sounds familiar. Instead of a “creative class,” a la Richard Florida, she speaks glowingly of RenGen — short for Renaissance Generation — a multigenerational group of savvy cultural consumers who “constitute the country’s best chance for continued intellectual and economic relevance as workers.

Martin’s visit to Tampa was part of a national tour sponsored by MetLife Foundation and America for the Arts, and was hosted locally by the Tampa Bay Business Community for the Arts. You can watch Martin’s presentation for yourself in the video window below, or check out Megan’s story on the CL Tampa website.

[kml_flashembed movie="

Patricia Martin on RenGen (Tampa, 6/10/08) from Art Squeeze on Vimeo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]425/350

If you haven’t had enough of the 140-year-old argument over the Confederacy, hop on over to my interview with Marion Lambert AKA the Giant Confederate Flag Dude. It’s getting heated in the comments …

Last night, I had to recycle something fierce.

I was on vacation in Iowa all last week, and when I came home there was a mound of soda cans, plastic jugs, beer and wine bottles against my back door. (Thanks roomie!) For the rest of Pinellas County, this wouldn’t present a problem: you just carry the items a few feet to the curb.

But, alas, I live in St. Petersburg, where the only thing lacking more than curbside recycling is police officers.

As the last bit of light left the sky, I loaded the recyclables in my car and trucked them to a nearby recycle center at Crescent Lake. I pulled in just as another guy in a red Jeep threw his last beer bottles in a huge green dumpster and left.

I parked and began throwing my own recyclables in. The cans clinked. The paper swooshed. And the beer and wine bottles crashed. Loudly.

As I strolled back to my car, I heard a disembodied voice yelling about “smashing glass.” It was dark and I couldn’t find the man with my eyes. I called out, “Where are you yelling from?”

“Right here,” he replied. I looked behind a dumpster toward the street and spotted him: A hefty, middle-aged man. Despite the lack of light, I knew his face was beet red.

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It’s all about preservation and the Rays’ stadium proposal in this week’s Creative Loafing.

Be sure to check out the cover story on the nine most endangered historical buildings in St. Pete. Even if you already read the print edition, there’s some new information about the fate of the First Baptist Church and the older homes along Fourth Avenue North.

(David Warner has a related short piece on a book of postcards showing buildings of St. Pete’s past.)

Also, Wayne Garcia and I tackle the latest news on the Rays’ stadium proposal.

And blending the two topics together, St. Petersburg Preservation Inc. released a statement yesterday on the historical significance of not building a stadium on the waterfront. Download that letter below.

spp-statement-on-preservation-of-waterfront-park-and-rays-owners-proposal-052108.pdf

Last night, St. Petersburg Preservation Inc. held an awards ceremony for property owners who have shown a dedication to the city’s historical structures.

As promised, here is the list of the winners (after the jump):

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