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By Manny Leto
PoHo contributor and editor, Cigar City Magazine

You may not have even known it was happening, but “Rapprochement With Cuba: Good For Tampa Bay, Good For Florida, Good For America,” a conference sponsored by the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation and held Saturday at the Italian Club in Ybor City, was, by its very existence, a milestone in repairing the tattered relationship between Tampa and Cuba.

About 150 guests, panelists, professors and local politicians filled the grand, neo-classical Italian Club, once the social, cultural and political epicenter of Tampa’s Italian community. Whether the speeches, panel discussions, and networking sessions will really accomplish much toward ending the 50-year-old U.S. embargo, no one is really sure. However, to get a sense of where the Cuba barometer is pointing, you could start with the venue itself.

In 1955, a young, verbose Fidel Castro arrived in Ybor City. This was no accident, no anomaly. In fact, it made perfect sense. Castro, in a bid to gain popular support for his uprising against CIA-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, he followed — literally — in the footsteps of an earlier young, charismatic Cuban revolutionary, Jose Marti.

Marti was the ideological voice of the first Cuban Revolution; the one American school children call the Spanish American War. In the 1890s, after an earlier 10-year conflict between Spain and native Cubans, Jose Marti rose to the fore of a new effort to oust Spain from the island of Cuba. Like Castro, Marti was an intellectual, a writer, poet. He traveled extensively throughout Florida between 1891 and 1895, raising money for Cuban independence. He visited Tampa some 20 times, giving speeches to Tampa’s cigar workers and strategizing with the exiled leadership headquartered in West Tampa and New York City. Marti’s revolution began in 1895. Teddy Roosevelt and the U.S. Army showed up a couple years later, in 1898.

So, 60 years later in 1955, Castro was on a PR tour of sorts that would take him to New York City and the cover of Time magazine but first, he spent some time in Ybor City. His choice for a speaking venue: The Italian Club. He met with then-club president Phil LoCicero at La Tropicana, where the two reportedly talked for hours. Castro’s request to rent the Italian hall was denied, as was his request to speak at the Cuban Club. Castro eventually rented the AFL-CIO Union Hall on 7th Avenue and 13th Street, which is today home of the Marti-Maceo Social Club.

On Saturday, 54 years after Fidel Castro was denied use of the club and 114 years after Marti rallied Tampa’s cigar workers to action, nearly 200 people, Republicans, Democrats, entrepreneurs, cattle ranchers, and exiled Cubans, gathered in Ybor City to talk, once more, about Cuba.

Rain drove the only five protesters away, even though Al Fox, the event organizer, invited them to come in for coffee and doughnuts.

Fox, president of the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy, assembled an impressive lineup of experts including an adviser on Cuba policy for the Kennedy Administration, Dr. Wayne Smith; former head of the Democratic Party of Florida, Alfredo Duran; and, via conference call, U.S. Congressman Bill Delahunt, D-MA, who has sponsored a bill to lift restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba. The bill has several co-sponsors including Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican; Rosa Delauro, Jo-Ann Emerson, a Missouri Republican; Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican; Ron Paul, a Texas Republican.

Locally, Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who was conspicuously absent on Saturday, has expressed her support for establishing direct flights between Tampa and Havana, to compete for business with Miami International Airport.

“Every time a flight leaves Miami for Havana, the airport collects roughly 50 dollars per passenger and other assorted baggage fees,” said local business owner Jason Busto, adding, “People who are opposed [to increased contact and trade with Cuba] are using a playbook from the 1980s.”

Business interests were in full force at Saturday’s meeting, eager to capitalize on reestablishing trade with the island.

“We’re exporting democracy and capitalism,” said Richard Waltzer, head of the Havana Group, a “facilitator” for companies looking to do business in Cuba, who says the two are linked. “We buy more products from China than any other nation. What’s the difference between China and Cuba?”

John Parke Wright, a cattleman who traces his Tampa roots back to Capt. James McKay and James Lykes, was also on hand. Donning a suit, cowboy boots and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, Park Wright wants to see Tampa and Cuba’s cattle trade “back on the map.”

Indeed Tampa’s connections to Cuba extend beyond Castro’s 1955 visit, beyond cigars and Jose Marti. In the 1840s, Captain James McKay (He of McKay Bay) began shipping cattle to Cuba from Ballast Point in Tampa. The still-prominent Lykes family was, by 1906 firmly established in Havana, operating one of the largest cattle ranches on the island. They also operated the Lykes Steamship Company, which shipped cattle and other goods between Tampa, Havana, and New Orleans.

In the 1880s and 1890s, Henry Plant operated a steamship line, which traveled weekly between Tampa, Key West and Havana. Ironically, at the very center of Tampa’s city seal is the Olivette, a one of Plant’s steamships that traveled regularly to Cuba.

The connections are even deeper. When the Spanish sold Florida to the U.S. in 1824, they may have taken groups of Cuban fishermen with them back to Havana.

In the 1500s Spanish conquistadores “governed” and explored Tampa Bay via Havana.

Havana is our sister city, said City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena. “Economically, socially, culturally, we are kin.”

By Manny Leto
PoHo contributor

Most Tampa folks believe there are tunnels under the streets of Ybor City. People say they criss-cross 7th Avenue and were used by bootleggers in the 1920s to smuggle booze between establishments or stash cash in hidden vaults. Sounds sexy. I’m not sure whether it’s true. I met someone once whose family owned a grocery store on 7th. Apparently, she played in the tunnel under the family store when she was a little girl.

Maybe. After last week the only thing I know for sure is hidden under the asphalt in Ybor City is Augusta Brick.

After the city worker pounded on my door at 8:30 a.m., telling me to move my car or he would tow it, he and his crew from the Public Works department began “resurfacing” 4th Avenue, the street I currently call home.

When I came back during my lunch hour I was surprised to see red brick – and a lot of it – peeking out from cleared-away sections of asphalt.

I know this may not seem like a big deal. But it’s significant for several reasons.

For starters, the city has for years maintained that there is no brick under the asphalt streets of Ybor. Every now and again, neighbors will ask if our local TIF funds – tax dollars that, rather than going into the city’s general fund, are instead spent in the neighborhood in which they are collected – could be spent on “re-bricking” some of the area streets. The neighborhood is usually rebuffed in this effort, the usual answer: “we don’t know how much brick is left under the asphalt.”

Well, this week we got an answer. A lot. A lot of brick is left under the asphalt.

Over the past few years there has been talk of replacing the asphalt on 7th Avenue with brick, a massive and costly undertaking since, 7th Avenue is the only street everyone definitively knows has no bricks (they were removed in the 1960s). And, at the request of the Historic Ybor Neighborhood Civic Association, bricks have been added to about a half dozen cross walks south and north of 7th Avenue.

But this week, in one afternoon, 4th Avenue from 21st Street to 13th Street was almost completely “re-bricked.”

Not just aesthetic, bricks are a traffic-calming mechanism. Cars travel slower on brick streets than they do on asphalt. Brick streets also improve property values.

Along with the preservation of historic structures and maintaining the established street grid, brick streets contribute to the look and feel of historic Ybor. It is, after all, the historic character of Ybor that keeps visitors enthralled (I wish I could say the same for locals). People don’t book international flights to Tampa so they can visit the Brandon Town Center. They come for the brick streets of Ybor City.

Workers return on Monday. In the meantime, the Ybor City Development Corporation has asked Public Works to look into the issue. If the bricks stay, it could represent a huge chunk of change that won’t come out of the neighborhood TIF funds in the future. The plan, though, is to cover the bricks with asphalt.

Meanwhile, one neighbor has vowed to take a crowbar to some of the asphalt in front of his house just to prove how easy it is to remove.

So, if you’re not busy this weekend…

By Manny Leto
PoHo contributor

It’s 8 a.m in Ybor City, and there’s not a construction worker in sight at Hillsborough Community College’s new Student Services building on Palm Avenue. Pillars for the fourth floor reach skyward, while exposed rebar twists in the wind.

For weeks now, a group of influential Ybor City property owners, the Barrio Latino Commission, the city’s Office of Historic Preservation and the Cuban Club has battled HCC over the design of it’s new Student Services Building which by anyone’s standing is clearly out of place along the brick streets of Old Ybor.

There’s a reason why the architecture of HCC’s Ybor Campus, including the design for the new Student Services building, has never really jibed with what the Barrio Latino Commission considers the “historic patterns” of Tampa’s National Historic Landmark District: It doesn’t have to.

At least, that’s what college officials say.

A bit of history might help. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the City of Tampa’s Urban Renewal Agency embarked on an ambitious plan to “revitalize” several inner-city neighborhoods. Using the power of eminent domain, the agency demolished more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Ybor City. Central to Federal Urban Renewal policy, both locally and nationally, was the belief that cities could improve deteriorating urban centers by clearing away old structures and building new ones. With grant funding from HUD, Tampa’s Urban Renewal Agency demolished, cleared, and assembled large parcels of land, offering them for sale to private developers.

Between about 1965 and 1974, land acquisition and demolition in Ybor proceeded quickly. Once this initial phase was completed, however, federal funding dried up, the Urban Renewal Agency closed its doors and Ybor City was left with acres and acres of barren lots. Ironically, Urban Renewal only exacerbated the perception that the Latin Quarter was a “slum area.”

Unable to attract private investment, city leaders looked to Hillsborough County for a solution. Already concerned about the lack of private-sector interest, in 1968, then-Mayor Dick Greco proposed an “urban campus” of Hillsborough Community College to be located on what were now acres and acres of empty city-owned parcels. HCC was at the time looking to open a campus in Tampa and was considering Dale Mabry Highway and Plant City. Initial plans for a branch campus called for the acquisition of 33 acres of land in Ybor City. The college would eventually own as many as 53.

Because the land was cheap and abundant, other county agencies followed suit. Today, Hillsborough County is the largest single property owner in Ybor City. HCC alone owns around 40 acres of developed and undeveloped property in the Historic District.

But since the first building was constructed in 1973, HCC has rarely appeared before the Barrio Latino Commission. For new construction, they skip the process entirely.

The reason for HCC’s exemption is difficult to pin down.

One argument, offered by HCC, is that they’re located outside of the National Historic Landmark District and therefore exempt from Barrio review. Not so says Joe Howden, chairman of the Barrio , which has jurisdiction from Columbus Drive to Adamo Drive. Yet another reason, explains the City’s Historic Preservation Manager, Dennis Fernandez, is that state buildings are “self regulating” and therefore aren’t required to pull building permits. Fernandez says that HCC is only required to abide city land use and zoning requirements, not design review. A 1976 Tampa Tribune article seems to back this up. However, the Barrio is empowered in Chapter 27 of Tampa’s zoning codes so, even by this logic, HCC still falls under the Barrio’s umbrella.

Yet another theory is that HCC was exempted from local design review as a concession for agreeing to build a campus in Ybor City back in 1970, an idea the college was reluctant to support.

Whatever the reason for the exemption, once the student services building went beyond 45 feet they triggered a zoning review, which required them to appear before the Barrio, the very group whose scrutiny they have generally avoided.

“When they decided to add the 4th story, they actually violated their own zoning classification,” said Fernandez.

They also raised the ire of key Ybor players. Since at least January the Cuban Club and La Gaceta publisher, Patrick Mantiega, have challenged the school to comply with local standards. Surrounding property owners, Joe Capitano and Alan Kahana – two guys you don’t mess with around these parts – also got involved. Why should they comply when HCC gets a free pass? Why should a homeowner or a small business spend extra money to restore their property when a big player like HCC thumbs its nose?

The last two weeks have seen a sea change in HCC position.

The school has agreed to reduce the height of the Services building from four to three stories (absorbing what is undoubtedly a huge expense that may trigger legal action). In exchange, surrounding property owners have agreed not to challenge HCC’s variance request for additional height, a nominal two feet above what is allowed. The school has also agreed to a variety of aesthetic enhancements outlined by the city’s historic preservation office.

Most significantly, HCC has agreed to enter into an inter-local agreement with the City of Tampa requiring that they seek Barrio approval for all future projects.

In light of the recent fracas, it might be easy to overlook the fact that HCC actually has a good track record of restoring historic buildings in Ybor City. Just a few years ago, they restored the La Benifica Clinic on the corner of 15th Street and Palm Avenue for use as its dance studio and child care facility.

They also restored a 4-story brick building, originally built in 1905 for use as administrative offices.

The question is, why doesn’t HCC employ this model more often? Any casual observer would easily note the glut of empty storefronts throughout the Historic District. A 2002 vision plan commissioned by the city suggested both HCC and Ybor City would benefit by expanding the campus further out into the District. A campus bookstore on 7th Avenue, maybe? The school’s T.V. and radio production classes in a second floor Ybor loft? Heck, call me crazy but, how about a theater class at the Cuban Club or the Centro Asturiano, which boast 300 and 1,200-seat theaters, respectively. Some historic buildings, neglected for years, are looking for saviors. Why not HCC? Filling empty storefronts would not only provide more visibility for the school but it would go a long way towards making Hillsborough Community College a bigger part of the community.

Ultimately, the controversy surrounding the Student Services building could become what educators call a “teachable moment.” HCC should use this moment to teach its students about the value of Historic Preservation, about Ybor City’s place in Florida history, and about the challenges of community development, planning and politics. HCC should comply with the standards the Barrio enforces not because it has to but because, as a learning institution, it should lead by example.

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.

From ABC Action News:

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….”

No, you don’t. And that’s exactly what Kevin Beckner’s campaign manager, Mitch Kates, predicted. He’s currently slightly ahead of incumbent Brian Blair, who has yet to concede as early votes are still being counted.

Check out Kates’ prescient concerns from this video, shot at 10:30 p.m. on Election Night at Gaspar’s Grotto in Ybor City:

Nader will hold a rally at 6:30 p.m. at the Ybor City location. Suggested contributions for the rally are $10, with students suggested to give $5.

Info at (804) 678-9203 or events@votenader.org.

Taking the meters off Ybor’s streets might improve its foot traffic, shown pitifully here during a recent afternoon (photo credit: Wayne Garcia)

This just in from Mayor Pam Iorio:

The City of Tampa has been working with the Ybor Chamber, the Ybor City Development Corporation, residents and members of the Ybor business community regarding many of the parking concerns in Ybor City. Yesterday, I met with staff and asked that they begin work to remove the on-street parking meters in Ybor. The meters will be transitioned to two-hour parking spaces.

It is my hope that the removal of the on-street parking meters will encourage more people to visit Ybor City.

Employee parking in the two-hour spaces will continue to be prohibited. The removal of the meters will require city staff to work with the business district to ensure there is an understanding of these parking policies.

The City’s parking system is funded entirely through user fees. It is anticipated that some amount of tax increment financing revenue collected from Ybor City will go toward reimbursing the Parking Fund for lost revenue. Additionally, there may be a personnel savings through the reduced need for enforcement. Therefore, while the possible revenue loss to the Parking Fund is estimated at $200,000, the amount will likely be far less given these two factors.

The new parking plan for Ybor is expected to take effect within the next few months. Until the meters have been removed, all current parking policies will remain in effect. New signage will replace the meters that will indicate the two-hour parking limitations and the prohibition of employee parking.

The last time we discussed Ybor’s draconian parking meter enforcement, the comment line lit up.

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)