Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 20, 2009, at 6:22 am
Late yesterday, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio weighed in on a movement to perhaps lift her city’s lawn-sprinkler ban and water restrictions, the toughest in Tampa Bay.
In a letter to city council members, Iorio said the recent torrential rains have helped — but not enough to lift the sprinkler ban. She set a goal of a flow of 60 million gallons a day in the upper Hillsborough River before lifting the restrictions.
Going forward, the best way to decide when water restrictions should be eased is by the level of our reservoir and the rate of flow in the river. This is an approach that is scientific in nature, not subjective. Our staff indicates that when the reservoir level is at 21 feet or higher, and Hillsborough River flows exceed 60 million gallons per day at Morris Bridge, we will propose that our watering restrictions be relaxed to the Southwest Florida Water Management District Phase 4 modified level, which will allow customers to irrigate once a week on their watering days.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 19, 2009, at 9:04 am
There is a lot of talk about the 2011 Tampa elections, how all or almost all of the City Council could be turning over, due to higher ambitions, term limits and (in the case of Joseph Caetano) susceptibility to being beaten.
Caetano has had his hair styling business in Chapter 11 bankruptcy court (just like my own publication!) since November, but now comes a headline that surely will be on attack mailer ads in 2011: Caetano bought pricey Super Bowl tickets despite his financial straits.
Meet Tampa City Councilman Joseph Caetano, who has fallen on tough times. But, despite the fact Caetano closed his Bostonian Hair Studio and Spa and filed bankruptcy in November, he took advantage of the offer to elected officials and bought two Super Bowl tickets for $1,000 a piece.
Caetano says it was one of those last minute decisions that he debated whether he should or should not buy the tickets. In the end, Caetano decided he should buy the tickets.
Caetano says he worked hard all his life and he felt he deserved it.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 13, 2009, at 2:17 pm
From the recent Florida Humanities Council “A Tale of Two Cities” forum featuring Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker, here are the two mayors answering the question: Who is your favorite mayor from your city’s past?
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 8, 2009, at 2:14 pm
The evolution of a mayor, 1974-present?
In Tampa these days, playing “Will Dick Greco run for mayor in 2011?” is getting to be nearly a full-time sport, the rumors are just that hot-and-heavy. So I picked up the telephone and gave him a call and asked him, “Are you getting ready to run for mayor – yet again?”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 7, 2009, at 12:04 pm
They are an unlikely pair: She’s a lifelong Democrat, and he’s a conservative Republican. Their cities are known for decades of feuding and rivalries, a history that seems remote in these days of regionalism. But Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker both share a passion for history; Iorio was a history major at USF and earned her master’s in the subject, while Baker has written his own history of St. Petersburg.
In “A Tale of Two Cities,” a forum held last night at the historic Centro Asturiano building between downtown Tampa and Ybor City, Baker and Iorio showed off their historian chops in front of a crowd of a few hundred people. USF historians Gary Mormino and Ray Arsenault moderated.
I was asked to join La Gaceta publisher Patrick Manteiga and St. Petersburg Times columnist Ernest Hooper in questioning the two mayors on historical matters, and I asked both: What one historical building that no longer exists in your city would you like to have back, and why?
Their answers, and pictures of those two buildings, after the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 5, 2009, at 7:34 pm
From tonight’s Green 100 party: Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena says she is a candidate for mayor in 2011, when Pam Iorio has to step down due to term limits. The field is already crowded: On Monday, her council colleague Tom Scott announced his candidacy, former Councilwoman Rose Ferlita is already in and others (Bob Buckhorn, Dick Greco and Ed Turanchik) are rumored and in various stages of likely. Saul-Sena said she won’t formally announce for some time, believing that opening a campaign two years before actual balloting is not smart.
Saul-Sena said she is hiring Democratic consultants Mitch Kates and Larry Biddle to assist her in running the campaign. Kates-Biddle are currently busy running the Scott Wagman St. Petersburg mayoral campaign.
Disclosure: Saul-Sena was a client of my former political consulting firm in the 1990s.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 30, 2009, at 1:10 pm
Scott, now on City Council after a stint on the Hillsborough County Commission, says he will make his future plans known at a Monday news conference. The Times’ Janet Zink reports that it is widely expected to be a mayoral campaign:
Tampa City Council chairman Tom Scott will announce plans “about his political future,” at a news conference Monday. Scott is widely expected to run for mayor in 2011, though he declined to confirm that today.
“A lot of people have been asking questions about my intent. I look forward to sharing that on Monday and put everybody’s mind to rest,” he said.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 22, 2009, at 12:58 pm
City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern has put green jobs on her board’s monthly workshop agenda for this Thursday. Details for those who want to attend are on the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 21, 2009, at 11:37 am
How bad are things at Centro Ybor, the entertainment and restaurant destination in Ybor City (that, disclosure time, I once did PR for)?
Even the Starbucks there is looking at shutting its doors. As part of a nationwide closure of the ubiquitous coffee shops, the coffee monster wants to shutter the Centro store, but the neighborhood association is not taking this lying down, according to TBO.com:
It isn’t a full-fledged protest yet, but an Ybor City neighborhood association has launched a modest campaign to persuade Starbucks to stay at Centro Ybor.
The Historic Ybor Neighborhood Civic Association is encouraging Starbucks fans to call the Seattle-based corporation and urge it to stay put at the Ybor City entertainment center. Starbucks revealed earlier this month it plans to leave Centro Ybor, but hasn’t given a time or date.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 20, 2009, at 11:00 am
Tampa is expanding its recycling efforts, with an assist from the Tampa Downtown Partnership. The city is providing 20 recycling receptacles in downtown and the Channelside area; the Partnership will provide the labor to collect the recycled good from those receptacles and take them to a collection point.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 14, 2009, at 11:44 am
Tampa, as a government, has done better than some in its handling of private nonprofits that it supports over the past three years of tightening budgets. Two years ago, it cut funding to city-owned partners like the Florida Aquarium by 10 percent and other nonprofits by 20 percent. Last year, no cuts were made.
But in the upcoming budget, Mayor Pam Iorio says she will be forced to cut funding to both categories by the same formula as two years ago, 10 percent cuts to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Lowry Park Zoo, Florida Aquarium, Tampa Theatre, Tampa Museum of Art, and H. B. Plant Museum, and 20 percent cuts to a dozen or so other nonprofits.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 2, 2009, at 11:37 am
FreedomWorks Foundation is putting together a Tea Party of Tampa’s own, for April 15, after a similar protest of the bailout and government spending drew 4,000 in Orlando. I’ve talked with one politico who plans on being there and he said he was told to expect 5,000-10,000 people at the twin rallies at noon and 5 p.m. in downtown Tampa’s Gaslight Park.
Here’s the details from FreedomWorks, plus a Tea Party video after the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 31, 2009, at 3:10 pm
Yes, my droogies, there was a time when having civic pride in Tampa Bay meant a whole lot. When we were innocent enough to care that Tampa was awarded the “All America City” designation. When the meaning of civic involvement was broader than just whining on a blog about local government.
That time was 1990, to be precise.
Now, less than two decades later, civic involvement and (more importantly) the idea of learning more about civic involvement seems nowhere. Sure, you hear a proposal from a politician every once in a while for more civic engagement between the people and their government (such as St. Pete mayoral hopeful Bill Foster’s call for more business and civic groups to adopt maintenance in parks or requiring that neigborhood associations put in service hours in exchange for city grants).
For local elected officials, the repository of knowledge about improving your community’s civic health and democracy was the All America City awards’ custodian, the National Civic League (on Facebook, as well). The NCL was founded in 1894 by my fave president, Teddy Roosevelt, and other Progressives of that era.
The chairwoman of the National Civic League this year is former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, who was mayor of Tampa in 1990 when the city won its designation. “Civic democracy is what I call it,” Freedman said over coffee in a South Tampa shop recently. And the National Civic League is bringing its annual community awards conference to the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina June 17 -19.
So why has there been so little said or written about this killer opportunity for local civic activists and politicians to attend and not only get some good training but hear some ideas that worked in other communities. Ideas we can steal.
During her first term in office, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio had the luxury of an up-market, sunny days and lots of people interested in building new condos and offices in her city. But for the past two years, in her second term, Iorio has spent her annual State of the City Address trying to reassure city workers that they wouldn’t be laid off and discussing how to live within the new boundaries that local governments in Florida are facing with the so-called tax reform measure taken two years ago.
On Monday, she stayed with that theme, but added a strong condemnation of Florida’s “boom-and-bust” growth mentality that if not aimed at county and state leaders should have been. And, she said, approving her rail transit plan that will hook up the airport with downtown with the USF area ushers in “an era of smart growth” that could just restore and grow our economy.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 19, 2009, at 1:51 pm
With the regional water reservoir drained dry and a continuing drought with no end in sight, Tampa City Council members voted this morning to adopt the toughest watering restrictions in Tampa Bay.
The changes affect some 140,000 residential and business customers in the city and unincorporated areas served by the water department. It’s expected to save 20 to 30 million gallons of water a week.
Anyone using reclaimed water is exempt from the restrictions.
The tougher lawn-watering rules will allow only hand-watering of turf and lawns one day a week. Watering of plants and other landscaping will also be restricted to weekly hand-watering or micro-irrigation.
The full text of the city’s press release just in, after the jump:
Home furnishings made in Sweden will soon find its way into Tampa Bay homes with the opening of IKEA’s 3rd Florida store. May 6th, 2009 is the target for the official opening of the store that lets the consumer assemble many of the products at reduced prices.
Store officials claim in addition to the 400 to be hired to work for IKEA, nearly 500 construction jobs were created while the store was being built along Adamo Drive and 22nd Street.
Future store manager Monica Varela is excited about the progress, ” We are thrilled at the excellent construction progress made in the summer and fall….”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 23, 2009, at 3:08 pm
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is making lemonade out of lemons, using the down economy to try to snatch up a prime piece of waterfront real estate and put it into public hands: the former Georgetown Apartments property on South West Shore Boulevard.
She wrote to City Council members today:
Dear Council members,
I want to give you more information about the article you may have read in Saturday’s SP Times about Georgetown Property.
Several months ago the city initiated discussions with the Trust for Public Land and the County (ELAPP) about the possibility of acquiring the 160- acre Georgetown Apartment site. Historically this site has housed 600 apartment units however it was sold in 2005 for $125 million with plans to build approximately 1,240 units of single-family and multi-family units. Due to the recession the property has gone into foreclosure and Bank of America will be soliciting bids for the property. This is a beautiful piece of land – most of it undeveloped with great access to the bay. To be able to protect the majority of the land from development forever would be of great benefit to our environment and to the community.
After many discussions and inputs we thought the best course of action would be to have the Trust for Public Land submit a bid when BOA is ready for proposals. The Trust has a successful track record of helping communities around the country to conserve strategic land resources for public use.
I will keep you informed as this progresses and if you want to talk about this further please give me a call.
Sincerely,
Pam
Here is the property from Google’s satellite view:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 12, 2009, at 6:00 am
Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern has an itch for a little civic green-thumbing. Mulhern has organized a community meeting for the hundreds of people she says have contacted her since she raised the idea of the city doing more community gardening.
It will be held Feb. 21 at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm in Tampa. (details below)
Mulhern said, “”Community gardens have been springing up in U.S. cities of all sizes in recent years. Issues such as food security, high cost of fuel, health and environmental benefits are making the idea of growing food locally attractive and likely to be essential in the near future.”
Here is Mulhern’s news release:
Tampa, Fla. (February 10, 2009) – Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern is hosting a community meeting on February 21, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm. Since holding a public discussion meeting in October of 2008 in Tampa City Council Chambers, Councilwoman Mulhern has heard from and met with hundreds of area residents interested in participating in community gardening. Many organizations are already working on community garden projects in the city of Tampa, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
Mayor Pam Iorio will celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Mayor’s Beautification Program on Friday at a breakfast — highlights include an auction for Billy Joel-Elton John tickets — in Tampa. Iorio will meet with individuals and businesses that were notable program contributors in 2008, a year that proved successful for longtime project.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jan. 13, 2009, at 12:10 pm
UPDATE: The developer withdrew the zoning request when it became clear that county commissioners weren’t amenable. (So much for my prognostication.)
By the time you read this it will probably be a done deal. Especially with the editorial support of the St. Pete Times today (“Stadium would be a real kick”), which seems to think that a $17 million minor league soccer stadium is the shit! (If so, how come MAJOR league soccer didn’t make it here??)
The real loss, however, in the case of the Rowdies Waters Avenue soccer stadium is the soil. Rich, fertile soil that will serve as little more than fill for the concrete stands and something to grow a soccer pitch on. Because lost in the story of a neighborhood vs. the noise and commotion from a new stadium is Bern Laxer’s organic veggie farm.
If you ever visited Bern’s in the old days, you know the drill about the veggies:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Nov. 3, 2008, at 12:48 pm
Coverage from throughout Florida’s media. Top line is that Mike Alstott, former Buc running back, introduced John McCain:
Palm Beach Post: John McCain made his final pitch for Florida’s crucial 27 electoral votes here this morning, then planned to hit six other states today in a bid to pull off a come-from-behind presidential victory.
“The pundits may not know it, the Democrats may not know it, but the Mac is back,” a raspy-voiced McCain told a crowd of more than 1,000 outside Raymond James Stadium.
McCain was introduced by Gov. Charlie Crist and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Mike Allstot. He was interrupted at one point by competing chants of “Nobama, Nobama” and “U.S.A., U.S.A.”
Orlando Sentinel: A defiant John McCain made one final plea to Florida voters this morning, imploring supporters at a boisterous rally here to ignore polls suggesting the election may be out of reach and turn out to vote Tuesday.
Nothing is inevitable,” McCain told the cheering and chanting throng of about 1,000 outside Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. “We never hide from history. We make history!”
Resurrecting the slogan that carried him through his improbable, come-from-behind run to the Republican nomination during the primaries, McCain told the crowd, “The pundits may not know it, the Democrats may not know it, but the Mac is back!”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Oct. 24, 2008, at 10:00 am
The fifth in our series, to be published in print next Wednesday in Creative Loafing. Take our online survey yourself, after the jump.
l.i.f.e, professional poet in Tampa
He’s voting for: Barack Obama
Why? “His vision for the future of the masses of people in this country is clear, logical, and more in line with the best interests of the masses of people here than any of the other candidates.”
What he would say to a McCain supporter: “I’d ask the same question Sen. Obama’s campaign has been asking, ‘Can us everyday people in this county afford four more years of government run with the same or similar policies as those that have caused people here, and around the world, distress and crisis?’”
Local candidate who most interests him: “The local candidate that interests me most is current Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Buddy Johnson. I’m also quite interested in the race between Doug Belden and Beverly P. Harris.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Oct. 8, 2008, at 2:39 pm
What a monumental screw-up at the Joe Biden speech at the Sun Dome in Tampa this morning. The guy that the Obama-Biden campaign brought in to introduce Biden is a Republican who went over to the Dem side for this election because of the tanking economy. Only problem is that Jim Piccalo Piccillo introduced Biden as … John McCain!
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 31, 2008, at 4:18 pm
TBO.com’s transportation reporter Rich Shopes puts Pam Iorio ahead of the rest of her TBARTA board colleagues this morning in a story about her desire to get a Tampa-centric rail system in front of Hillsborough voters in 2010. From the article:
“I think the city is ready,” she said this week. “I think the people are ready.”
Some members of that regional authority, the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority, or TBARTA, think Iorio is jumping the gun.
“We need the support of multiple counties to make this work,” Clearwater mayor and TBARTA board member Frank Hibbard said.
TBARTA has had a pretty unified front until now, and while this isn’t much of a crack in that facade, it is a crack. But Iorio has increasingly been strident about her desire for a USF-downtown-airport rail line going in front of the voters, given that it will take a decade to build if it is approved in 2010. That puts rail, at its earliest, in the year 2020.
A month ago I sat down with Iorio for a 35-minute interview and she talked about transit as part of her explanation of why she is so methodical (and slow) in her decisionmaking. Here’s that excerpt:
I think being methodical works well because that’s my style, so I can’t be anything different than that. When you bring people in, you don’t make rash decisions. I give the example of the discussion of mass transit. I started three years ago in the State of the City speech saying we need to focus on transit and our bus system is very poor. Well then that started a particular cycle of conversation. Then the next State of the City speech I upped it a little bit and starting talking about, now we have to have light rail and then I produced a white paper on rail and how we had to take the Tampa plan and dust it off and re-do and get the MPO going. So that’s what we did.
Now here we are in 2008, and I think it’s been a pretty methodical approach of introducing the topic, of showing an interest in the topic, getting the MPO engaged to redo their plan, working with the Partnership to get TBARTA. It’s been a methodical process over the past three years. So you can say, well, why not just declare that we need to have light rail and go for it? Because it doesn’t work that way. That’s not how communities get light rail. No one just goes for it. It’s got to be a community consensus. You’ve got to build a dialogue. You have to get to the pont where other elected officials feel comfortable stepping out and saying, Yeah I’ll support a referendum for that.
But they’re not going to get to that point overnight. It’s got to become part of the community debate and consciousness. Now, today, light rail is an acceptable conversation for anyone to have. We’re talking about going to referendum in 2010, and I’m trying to push for a starter line that’s going to be from USF to downtown to Westshore. So there’s an example of something that you start by planting the seed of what should be a community dialogue and you start by taking the steps and it begins to evolve.
It remains to be seen whether Hillsborough County commissioners, who generally seem disinterested in the TBARTA process, would vote to put a transit tax on the 2010 ballot for Iorio.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 23, 2008, at 10:11 am
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has recognized Tampa’s urban livability as follows, from the city’s news release this A.M.:
Tampa, Fla. (June 23, 2008) – The City of Tampa was the only Florida city presented with a 2008 Outstanding Achievement City Livability Award by the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) on Saturday morning, June 21, during the organization’s 76th Annual Meeting in Miami.
City Livability Awards, a program of the USCM and sponsored by Waste Management Inc., recognize cities and mayors that have initiated programs that improve the quality of life in their communities. Tampa was recognized by an independent panel of judges in the large cities category along with Chicago, Honolulu, and Seattle. Louisville took home the first place award and four other cities including Orlando received honorable mention citations. Ten smaller U.S. cities were also recognized for their efforts.
Tampa’s nomination focused on its youth programs including the Mayor’s Youth Corps, Mayor’s Mentoring Program, and the city’s newest youth based initiative, the “Mayor’s Book Talk” program on City of Tampa Television, CTTV.
Now, I don’t mean to piss all over the aforementioned programs; they are good efforts and, coincidentally, all carry the word “Mayor” in their titles. But I have to question any award that also gives Orlando an urban livability honorable mention, as that sprawling mess has got to be one of the least urbanized and livable cities in the country. Traffic. Tourists up the wazoo. A lack of any culture or history. One crappy major league sports team. Not to mention it is too far from the beach.
A Tampa woman who sued the city over an unpaid debt dating back to the Civil War era has dropped her case after lawyers for the city played the U.S. Constitution card.
Joan Kennedy Biddle sued in March for repayment of a promissory note given by Tampa to Biddle’s great-grandfather for military supplies needed to defend against Union troops in 1861. The original note, now a family heirloom, was for $299.58. Biddle just wanted what was fair: the amount of the original debt plus 8 percent. Compounded annually. For a total of $22.7 million.
I mean come on, her family had been carrying that debt for a long time. Fair’s fair, right?
After the suit was announced, the city quickly poked big holes in her case, including citing the 14th Amendment’s prohibition against repaying debts incurred while in rebellion against the United States (see Section 4). Tampa’s chief assistant city attorney Jerry Gewirtz delivered hundreds of documents to Biddle’s attorney Jim Purdy, who quickly called uncle.
Even though she dropped her suit, however, she is surely still seeing dollar signs dancing in her head, although not exactly like she had envisioned when she (or a really bad influence) came up with this scheme. Not only is she not going to be rich like Rick James, but she has reportedly agreed to pay the city $4,000 in legal fees, and she’s surrendering the original promissory note to the city.
Talk about an about-face! Even though Biddle’s case was shaky from the start, they must have some good lawyers over in city hall. Makes you wonder what else was in those documents.
Biddle should consider herself lucky. The feds could have gotten in on this and pulled some serious Patriot-Act-aiding-and-abetting-the-enemy stuff. She could have ended up at Gitmo.
Four thousand dollars and a family heirloom seems like a small price to pay for freedom. Then again, couldn’t the city at least have offered to give her family back the $300 it borrowed those many years ago, even if it couldn’t afford the interest?
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 7, 2008, at 5:06 pm
New feature time: I’m going to point out great conversations that occur on our comments, as well as the comment of the week. You win nothing except your 15 minutes of fame.
This week, the best conversation occurred in response to my latest post about the doings of Sen. Ronda Storms, and an anti-city law that would limit the finances of urban redevelopment districts, between Chris, Chris W, Bill Peak and Can’t We All Just Get Along. Here’s a sample:
Chris W Says: March 5th, 2008 at 6:07 pmeMaybe it’s time for Tampa and points west to form West Hillsborough County and leave the rest of it to the social conservatives so they can form their own inbred utopia.
I grew up on the “west side†and to me anything east of US 301 was foreign territory.
However, many younger, up and coming families have moved into Brandon, FIshhawk, etc in recent years (b/c of jobs and waning affordbility of home in Tampa proper)…give them some time to stay and get acclimated (unless the market drives them right back out first), and you might see a “moderation†across the county in a few years.
And Tampa, the city, could stand to do a better job of moving itself out of the bubble for which it has viewed the world for years…Wayne was right in the aritcle, there’s 3x as many unincorported residents than city denizens…that’s a political fight the city lost 2 decades ago and will never get back.
BillPeak Says: March 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pmeOf course Help me Ronda would want to renew the city-county wars, these kooks thrive on dissension and the “us against them†attitude that is killing our county. Ronda and her master Hughes simply would never let the city and the county unite and heal towards the common goal of making the area a better place to live…â€them gays is wikedâ€. In the united world of ideas and creativity they’d be lost and insignificant. They are only head honchos when they can mis-inform, play dirty politics, and buy off politicians….i.e. make things shitty for the rest of us.
Without the “us and them†theatrics these losers would be exposed as the short-sighted cowards they really are.
Can’t We all Just Get Along Says: March 6th, 2008 at 1:11 pmeBill, I don’t disagree with your vew ont the policy issues.
However, it’s not like the City of Tampa is brimming with gracious comraderie as well.
The fact is the County – by nature of the role of local governments and by electoral facts – will always politically and fiscally hold the upper hand.
That puts the city in a position of “suck it up and deal with it if you want to accomplish anything†that it frankly has never embraced, nor gotten past the denial that it is no longer top dog.
And at the end of the day, perhaps the BOCC is representing their constituents well. Have you ever asked residents in the unincorporated county what defines their quality of life?
If it comes down to 3 county residents opposed to mass transit versus one city resident in pro, you know how that vote is always going to go.
And the more shrill you get calling those residents names like hillbilly, rube, ignorant, etc., the more they will glady exert that 3:1 power they have to strike you down in opposition.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Feb. 13, 2008, at 3:05 pm
From CL intern Jason Kushner:
Racing downtown to a Tampa City Hall conference room before coffee and amid stormy weather warnings isn’t normal hump-day protocol at the Creative Loafing Intern Affairs Desk. But Mayor Pam Iorio had called for an informal budget meeting with key staff and members of the Tampa City Council, so Florida’s Sunshine Law allowed us local media to sit in. As Council members John Dingfelder and Charlie Miranda shuffled in to join Gwen Miller, Tom Scott, Linda Saul Sena and Mary Mulhern, Iorio waited along with Revenue and Finance Director Bonnie Wise to outline 2008’s post-Amendment 1 budget.
Her message was optimistic: Tampa will fare better than many cities during this period of economic downturn and property tax cutting mania. By creatively transferring a portion of spending from smaller capital projects to operating funds, the city plans to eliminate $8.9 million from a possible $16.8 million deficit without further stressing public services such as parks and recreation. For example, shifting the city’s “Clean City†program to the Solid Waste Department alone could save up to $3.2 million (albeit by increasing garbage fees by 2.2 percent to cover those news costs, rather than increasing property taxes).
“It’s gonna take a lot more than Amendment I to stop us from making progress,†Iorio said.
Of course, progress is subjective. Dingfelder clearly disagreed with some elements of Iorio’s approach. He favored retaining about 100 threatened janitorial and security jobs slated for elimination-by-outsourcing by reducing a $15 million plan for a new Curtis Hixon Park downtown.
Iorio diffused Dingfelder’s confrontational inquiries and suggestions by reminding the Councilman that he could reflect his opinion when it comes time to vote on the contracts for the Hixon Park or outsourcing agreements for the janitorial and security jobs. He continually fired back with extended sighs and eye-rolling. It was, no doubt, jolting for the politically naïve to witness tangible friction in such an intrinsically mannered environment. Iorio and Dingfelder exchanged arguments, cameras rolled and press pens scribbled until Wise emerged from the Mayor’s corner with concrete figures that torpedoed one of Dingfelder’s fiscal proposals.
Meanwhile, resident old-timer Miranda diplomatically took everybody on a nostalgic tour of Tampa’s previous developments (Channelside, the elimination of the “skid row†label from Franklin Street, etc.). His simple declaration: “This is like putting together a puzzle…some pieces are still missing.â€
Final budget numbers typically aren’t available until the late summer as the city adopts its 2008-2009 spending plan by Oct. 1. The Tampa City Council agreed to meet with Iorio again in three weeks to look at other parts of next year’s budget. (photo credit: Wayne Garcia)Â
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jan. 23, 2008, at 11:10 am
It’s always hard for me to tell which is more embarrassing and horrendous to have to live through in Tampa: Guavaween or Gasparilla. But Gasparilla is much bigger and more widely known, so I gotta go with that one. I’m not a fan; sure, I’ve been a handful of times over the years, and sure, I’ve caught some beads. Never got real drunk or pissed in somebody’s yard or attended a big, lavish Gasparilla Day bash at somebody’s Bayshore Boulevard home, so I know that doesn’t make me much of a South Tampan.
I got off on this tangent after reading a helpful prep list over at Sticks Of Fire:
Here are my top ten tips for successfully getting through Gasparilla Day:
Eat a decent breakfast. You never know where your next meal might be.
Pack light. Leave the coolers at home.
Hide a $20 in your sock. You will need it later.
Sunscreen. Trust me on this one.
Charge your cell phone the night before.
I’ll let you wander over there to find the other five suggestions, one of which is to take it easy on the kids and seniors as you drunkenly blast over them to grab a set of $0.002 beads. Which is why I hate Gasparilla; it brings out the worst in people, which is saying something when you consider this is Tampa Bay so the bar isn’t set real high anyway. I have not attended one of the piratefests at which I didn’t see exactly that happening, kids getting mowed over or shoved aside from idiots in pursuit of the prized beads.
(Photos: Jimmy theSuperStar/flickr.com)
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jan. 18, 2008, at 10:11 am
Yes, I know, the furniture retailer Ikea is a phenom; people line up for days to get in when it opens new stores, as was the case recently in Orlando. But still, given some of the response over at Tampa City Hall to Linda Saul-Sena’s criticisms of the planned Ybor City Ikea, you’d think that landing Ikea was our make-or-break moment.
Saul-Sena (full disclosure here: I did political consulting work for her before returning to journalism in 2004) rightly points out that Ikea’s design is not real green. She lost a city vote to force the retailer to up its game, so she has sent a letter with a more pointed message, threatening to post a critique of Ikea’s plan on YouTube.
You go, digital girl.
This, of course, has some in the city in a snivet. Here’s the Trib’s account:
As Thursday’s council meeting wound down, Councilman Joseph Caetano requested that the city council attorney write a letter to Ikea reaffirming the council’s approval of the company’s plan to build a store in Tampa.
Caetano is upset that Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena wrote a letter on council stationery to Ikea last month threatening to post a video on YouTube about the project.
During rezoning hearings last summer, Saul-Sena cast the lone no vote, saying the project wasn’t environmentally friendly.
“It was a 6-1 vote,” Caetano said, clearly annoyed. “It’s a dead issue.”
The city’s economic development butt-smoochers (at least when it comes to large, out of town companies; when it comes to local businesses, it’s a different story) already have sent an abject apology to Ikea for Saul-Sena’s stridency, but Caetano wanted Council members to join in apologetica. His motion failed to get the required four votes as two Council members were absent. So it appears the Council will be about the only folks not to pile on Saul-Sena; the Tribune editorial board, never noted for its commitment to change, blasted her as well:
Ikea is an economic powerhouse that creates jobs, stimulates other businesses and attracts out-of-town visitors. Landing one of the chic Scandinavian furniture mega-stores causes most any city official in America to jump up and down with joy.
But Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena is stomping her feet, threatening to embarrass the company that plans to build a store on Adamo Drive near Ybor City.
In doing so she is embarrassing herself, the city and her environmental cause.
Hogwash! This kind of attitude begs the larger question: How long do we have to wait in Tampa for the public to demand its city government be something better, something innovative, something sustainable? How long do we continue to accept mediocrity and laziness? Having an Ikea is fine, and it will offer a new retail option and draw some shoppers here. But the larger principle remains: if the hipper, cooler businesses won’t go green, won’t try innovation, how in the hell can we expect to force the Wal-Marts and chain restaurants of the world to do likewise?
Saul-Sena and colleague Councilman John Dingfelder have been more strident than the Pam Iorio administration about moving toward greener, more environmentally friendly designs in urban planning and construction. They may be ruffling some feathers, but from what I hear out there in the neighborhoods and among activists, there’s room for a little ruffling.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 14, 2007, at 10:54 am
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.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 28, 2007, at 2:47 pm
Newser is in 15 minutes. Former journalist Paul Wilborn’s job, creative industries manager, is among about 200 or so positions (some are vacant already) that will see Mayor Pam Iorio’s budget cleaver. More as story develops.
UPDATE: Trib’s Ellen Gedalius has more details here. JZ confirms Wilborn, even further detail.
After the suit was announced, the city quickly poked big holes in her case, including citing the 14th Amendment’s prohibition against repaying debts incurred while in rebellion against the United States (see 
and seniors as you drunkenly blast over them to grab a set of $0.002 beads. Which is why I hate Gasparilla; it brings out the worst in people, which is saying something when you consider this is Tampa Bay so the bar isn’t set real high anyway. I have not attended one of the piratefests at which I didn’t see exactly that happening, kids getting mowed over or shoved aside from idiots in pursuit of the prized beads.
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 
