Daily Loaf

What’s the buzz on the latest issues in the Green Community? Check out what you may have missed this last week:

City of Seminole recycling and sustainability discussion - A local activist held a discussion on recycling and sustainability at the Seminole Community Library on Monday, November 9.

1890s Ybor City: Green and sustainable (plus vintage postcards) – Grant Rimbey explores the green and sustainable nature of pre-urban renewal Ybor City.

BPA in plastics linked to aggressive behavior in children – Did you know that exposure to the BPA in the “bad” plastics has been linked to aggressiveness in children, as well as other diseases in humans?

Energy systems 2.0 – We are currently in an energy crisis, yet continuing to rely on old, out-of-date systems of provision that are no longer viable, economically or ecologically.
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This post is about one of my favorite places in Tampa Bay: Ybor City.

The Ybor City I admire is the community pre “urban renewal”: that pathetic time in the 1960s when vast stretches of this remarkable multi-lingual and multi-ethnic historic district were demolished in the name of the mid-century streamlined suburban dream.  I’ve written about Tampa’s planning history in previous Creative Loafing posts: The Tampa That Might Have Been, The roots of sprawl, and Fixing sprawl and redesigning suburbia.

The idea behind urban renewal (a national program) was that it demolish the existing crumbling old historic fabric of cities, and the newly vacant lots would become modern new development that would spur the economy. In Ybor this Faustian new construction never materialized, as I remember the old 1980s “Rough Riders restaurant” in Ybor being surrounded by vacant lots.

The real premise for urban renewal was most likely racial and socioeconomic, with the goal of moving the poor and disenfranchised out of the cities and into the sparkling new modern housing projects further out. Mind you, this re-location scheme is still being pursued by Tampa and the county to this day as these old housing projects are now meeting the wrecking ball and the unfortunate inhabitants are relocated even further out to places like the USF area (aka “Suitcase City”), Lutz, Carrollwood and Brandon (might I add places that largely lack mass transit). Dear readers, please note that South Tampa is not on the list.
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