The Political Whore

Right off the bat, let’s get the disclosure out of the way: as a political consultant in the late ’90s through about 2002, I represented the original developers of Centro Ybor. I remember vividly the big PR launch we did, with Ferdie Pacheco and then-Mayor Dick Greco in the old ballroom of the Centro building, a magnificent space with great history. We had to pipe in air conditioning from huge portable units to make the event possible in summer. The center had great promise. (Yes, taxpayer-subsidized promise.)

So it is with great sadness to see the passing of another of the original restuarants in Centro Ybor, the one that landed that beautiful ballroom space, Big City Tavern. It was a smart and classy place, steeped in history and floor to ceiling windows. Sure, it wasn’t a perfect restaurant, but it was a great addition to this area. Now, it’s gone, as Flashpoint reports:

Three days after shutting down his dream, Brian Cornacchia sounded tired, but upbeat- like a boxer who lost the fight but gave it his best shot. Cornacchia praises his staff. He says his landlord, M & J Wilcow couldn’t have been more supportive. He claims his bar and catering business were very successful.  If there was a medical examiner’s report to identify the cause of death, it might read:   Financial asphyxiation due to repeated news accounts of beatings, stabbings, and shootings in Ybor City.

Cornacchia believes the negative associations people make with Ybor City were his undoing. “‘Dirty, dangerous, tattoos, kids.’ Those are the words people think of when you say, Ybor City. It’s never ’classy, historic, artistic.’”  I asked him if that was just perception or reality. He believes the problems are real and complained that when people dine at Sideberns in South Tampa, they’ve got lots of places to go and things to do after dinner. His clientele, he says,  just isn’t interested in the loud and sometimes rowdy clubs and street scene.

One of the original problems in Ybor after the Centro project was built, I think in retrospect, was the attempt to quickly Disney-ize the historic district to make it appeal to tourists and well-heeled folks. Lots of the things that made Ybor great — its eclectic population, its collection of artists and creatives who could only afford lower rents — seemed driven out. The huge late-night crowds were knocked down from the tens of thousands who used to come to relative handfuls today. It seems to have left Ybor not crowded enough to be safe, the destination (largely) for locals who seek trouble. And the killings and muggings continued and seemed to increase.

Today, Ybor City is left to its own devices to find some kind of equilibrium between the type of people who want to eat at good restaurants and the “tattooed” crowd referred to above who want to club and party into the late night hours. Who knows if Ybor will reconcile its two sides, although it seems there is plenty of room for both if certain things could occur. First and foremost, wet zone the entire historic district and let folks wander from restaurant to bar to restaurant with a drink in their hands. Second, find a way to streamline the development process, especially in front of the historic-minded Architecture Review Commission. It’s one thing to preserve our past, but if there is not an economical way to reuse those historical buildings, they simply rot and decay and give nothing back to that neighborhood.  Third, the city must immediately remove all the parking meters from the district and encourage people to come back for lunch and dinner. La Gaceta publisher Patrick Manteiga has railed for years about the bad impression that the parking enforcers give to the historic district, and he’s right.

Ybor City is worth saving. Again.

(Photo credit: Kathleen Conklin  / Some Rights Reserved)

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