The Political Whore

On the surface, a proposal by the latest owners of Hyde Park Village to construct more condos, office space and other retail amenities seems crazy, smacked right down in the middle of an established, if not the highest profile, historic neighborhood in Tampa Bay.

But the issue of urban redevelopment goes beyond just the well-bungalowed streets of Hyde Park in Tampa. This is a lesson for every government and every neighborhood in Tampa Bay — if we really want to solve our problems in transportation, the environment, urban sprawl and (most importantly) rebuild a sense of community and the social capital that comes with it.

Unfortunately, some Tampa City Council members who understand that lesson are just too close to this proposal (living in and representing South Tampa) to see their way past the angry neighbors who jammed last night’s council meeting and took the meeting well past daily newspaper printing deadlines. As we find out this morning, the council was split and did not make a final decision. This from tampabay.com:

TAMPA — After listening to deliberations for six hours on Thursday night, City Council was unable to reach a consensus on a controversial Hyde Park Village rezoning.

The meeting, which ended around 1:20 a.m. Friday, resulted in an indecisive 3-2 vote in favor of rezoning. Councilman Charlie Miranda, who was absent from the meeting, will cast the deciding vote. City Council will revisit the unfinished business on Dec. 20.

Councilman John Dingfelder recused himself from voting because of a possible conflict of interest — his law firm is located in Hyde Park. And councilwoman Mary Mulhern vehemently opposed the development, shunning the high density of residential and retail space in a historic district.

Linda Saul-Sena initially moved to approve the project, then withdrew her motion.

“This is so hard,” she said. “I have gone back and forth about ten times. It’s not that I’m tired. I’m just conflicted.”

I’m sure we could nitpick some parts of the proposal, but it is exactly the kind of urban development Tampa Bay needs: close to food shopping, restaurants, entertainment and jobs. Residents could walk to all of those instead of choking the roads with cars. If they do need to drive, the new condo towers would be within spitting distance of the Selmon Crosstown Expressway, in an already urbanized shopping village that was once the pride of Tampa Bay’s retail scene and a hip place to gather.

That’s the way Hyde Park Village was viewed when I first moved to Hyde Park in 1989. I lived there a year, and it was the first near-urban living experience I found in Florida. It was sad to see it decline, its shops empty, its restaurants close, its movie theater shuttered in favor of the stadium-seating megaplexes at the mall or in the ‘burbs.

If we are going to revive the hope of such an urban landscape, and all the good civic and community benefits that come from it, we must take the pain of building upward, of changing some established neighborhoods, not to ruin them but to strengthen them. West Tampa needs 5-6 story buildings lining Howard and Armenia avenues; Channelside has made a good start but needs more life and shops and restaurants; Westshore and Feather Sound need to develop better living communities as an option for the untold office workers who now toil there but get on the highways to drive home to FishHawk Ranch or Pasco County or Palm Harbor.

I know the neighborhood leaders are going to hate to hear this, but our survival depends on change — urban change.

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