I am really glad our mayor has the sound bite gene. But it’s more than a matter of media manna. Sometimes, in order to rivet attention and underscore an important point, you have to dispense with the euphemisms and civil code words and be blunt.
Take Club Empire. Please.
Ybor City, as we know, is welcoming neighborhood-friendly Factoria to its Seventh Avenue night-life scene. It’s Latin music within a historic, cigar-factory ambience. And there’s a dress code. More to the point, it’s also the site successor to Club Empire, that notorious, erstwhile magnet for violence. The sort of violence that triggered tragedy–and begot a ripple effect on nearby businesses that unfairly sullied the image of Ybor.
What’s bad for Ybor is bad for Tampa. Of course it is.
Or as nuance-free Mayor Bob Buckhorn phrased it: “Ybor City needs to get rid of the thugs and get rid of the club owners that cater to the thugs.” Of course it does.