As a Bay Area journalist who signed on with the Tampa Bay Business Journal in its start-up year of 1981, I’ve been positioned to witness and chronicle a lot around this region and this city we all call home.
Amid the transition from “Next Great City” puffery to an area that has hosted four Super Bowls, a national political convention and is in the midst of a downtown renaissance and an Ybor City revival, I have been privileged to meet and cover a number of its key catalytic personalities. Both in the business community and in the political arena.
One of my favorites, a Tampa original who overlaps both business and politics, is former Mayor Dick Greco. He’s a four-time mayor–as well as the youngest (34) one ever (1967).
The city integrated and professionalized its workforce on his first watch. When he drove, he always had his police radio on–the better to see first-hand what TPD was encountering on Tampa’s meaner streets. He was no arm’s-length, City Hall CEO.
He has dined with presidents and generals. He was among those who welcomed John F. Kennedy to Tampa’s International Inn in November 1963 and had a memorably marathon conversation with Fidel Castro in Havana in 2002. The Ybor City native has iconic status and a downtown statue. He’s lived–and made–history. He’s proud of his city, bullish on its future–and candidly concerned about when mass transit will finally happen.
At 81, he still has his weekly radio show, makes all the VIP short lists, remains in demand as a graduation and after-dinner speaker–and will celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with Dr. Linda McClintock-Greco this fall. He’s still got game, operates on schmooze control and is wired in with the business community as vice president/development for Westshore-based Gries Investment Funds. He has kept the minutes of previous meetings; he knows stuff.
And he’s always accessible, anecdotal, amiable and amusing. So, it was time for another update. Some recent Greco musings:
* Health: “I’m a little slower than I used to be, but, overall, I feel fine. You’re reminded that time is heading by when your son (Dickie Jr.) is 61.”
* Social life: “Almost every day, every night, we’re around people. Once you stop, you won’t be starting up again. I believe that.”
*That “Last Hurrah” run for City Hall and his old-school campaigning style that took a dim view of PACs and attack ads: “Politics is important. But I’m not going to be a different person because this is a different time. That would have bothered me forever.”
For added emphasis, he still quotes Grantland Rice. “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, he writes–not that you won or lost–but how you played the Game.”
* Core beliefs: “I believe in this country. In giving back. In caring.”
* Memorable piece of advice: “‘Never become a prisoner to the boundaries of your own ego.’ That was from–actually he typed it out and showed it to me–Blythe Andrews Sr. (the publisher of the Florida Sentinel Bulletin).”
* Family and public service: “It’s hard to be the wife of a politician. It can be painful. It can dominate your life. I know. When I ran the first time for mayor, my son told me he was afraid if I ran and won, he and his mom would never see me again. I get that. It’s easy to be married to the job. It’s almost like having two families, including the one you represent that voted for you.”
* Mayoral MO: “I always talked individually to (city) council members on the big stuff. You work together. It’s what you do. I never vetoed anything.”
* Post 9/11: “I remember the SWAT team on the roof of International Plaza at its (Sept. 14, 2001) grand opening. I remember getting a call from Jane Castor of TPD saying they had word of a nuclear weapon coming into the port of Tampa. As it turned out, it wasn’t true, but I never dreamed we’d be facing something like that.”
* Notable Achievement: “The (30-year, 1/2 penny) Community Investment Tax. I think it won by six points (1996). It was for police, fire, schools and a new stadium. The previous one, without the stadium included, had been voted down. That’s what it took. If all our schools were on double sessions, do you think any company worth recruiting would have come here?”
* Voting: “More than 60,000 voted when I first ran for mayor (1967); it was about 42,000 last time (22.3 percent). A couple of days before the (March 3) election, there were people who didn’t even know there was one. It’s a shame. You can’t force them. Maybe nasty campaigns become an easy excuse. Many people in the U.S. have never traveled. They don’t realize that, for all our faults, how lucky we still are. I don’t know the answer.
“Maybe teaching more civics in school would help. Maybe the press could help sell it more. But people have to participate. You have to take inventory of what you have.”
* Social media: “We connect and stay abreast of what we care about. But I wonder if we notice what’s around us. You can not know a lot even with access to so much information. We don’t join civic organizations and churches like we used to. I’m not discouraged, but I am concerned.”
* Gaybor branding: “We’re all in the same ship together.”
* Mayor Bob Buckhorn: “Bob’s done a great job. It makes me feel good looking at what he’s done.”
* Role of Tampa in Tampa Bay: “Tampa is the heart of the Tampa Bay region–with the airport and the port. And downtown is everybody’s front yard. It’s what people see first. But let’s never forget that each part contributes to what makes the whole great.”
* Mass Transit: “We now have everything to offer but that. It has to be done. The sooner, the better. We need for people to think beyond themselves. What do you want your community to look like? There will come a time when it will be two hours to get here from an adjoining county. Is that what we want? It’s a competitive disadvantage. It’s insane to think we can continue to grow by just adding highway lanes. High-speed rail from Orlando to here would have been a start.
“This area is phenomenal. Why would a start-up or an expanding company not want to be here? We know the missing piece.
“We have to sell it, mass transit, like the CIT. I spoke about that every day. I’m hopeful that the new (1.4 mile) people mover from TIA to the rental car center will open some eyes. Sort of like a demo project.”
* TIA: “You could never duplicate that now. Anywhere. That passenger-friendly priority, that inside-the-city location.”
* Jeff Vinik: “I just saw him the other night over at Mad Dogs & Englishmen. And I thank him every time I see him. He’s doing it right.
“It used to be that when you asked for a show of hands of those who were from here, it was almost everybody. Now, it’s typically just a handful. A lot of people from other places–Vinik and (John) Sykes and (Frank) Morsani and (David) Straz and others–are making things happen here. They bring a perspective: ‘This is ours, not mine.’ We can never lose that view.”
* The Rays: “It’s a business. And they’re on the periphery of their market. If I’m the owner, I want to be central to my fan base. A new stadium will be helpful, but it’s not the end of the story. Look at Miami’s attendance.”
* Jeb Bush: “I’ve known him for years. He’s more comfortable speaking to a group than his brother. He’s comfortable with the big speech. He’s smart. Speaks perfect Spanish. He has a good chance.”
* $17 trillion: “I’d never even heard of the word ‘trillion’ growing up. Now it’s our deficit.”
* Global Take: “Someone once said ‘You can’t fight ideology with bullets.’ It’s a different world.”
* Cuba: “I went there (in 2002) because I was obsessed with doing something to bring people together. I have Cuban friends. They lost their country. Their home. I’ve always felt for them. I wanted to do something. That’s what that was about.
“When I went there, it was not about business or the Port. It wasn’t for tourism or agricultural sales. I just wanted to do something with the relationship. I told (Fidel) Castro that. I said, ‘I’m being honest. I’m not here to sell you anything. His last words were: ‘Please come back.’
“Cubans are hardworking, wonderful people. I’d love to go back. I’ve been asked probably 50 times why I don’t. Well, it bothers me to see those kids without a future. I couldn’t stand that.”
What Greco has wanted, once he had seen for himself the reality of what a dysfunctional system–arguably the world’s best-educated cab drivers–had wrought on the lives of good people, was an America-initiated mission. An actual agenda. Something to negotiate that would make a tangible difference for good, deserving people. Something that could improve lives that were sad to witness.
He never got that call. You know it still haunts–and probably hurts.
Quoteworthy
* “Two years is too short a time to make (Congressional) officials and staffers wait before they cash in on the personal connections and expertise they acquired as public servants. They should have to wait at least six years, the length of one Senate term. … Without a longer waiting period, the democratic system as a whole will pay.”–Suzanne Dovi, author and associate professor at the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona.
* “We’ve all become so accustomed to the tide of money washing through politics that we just assume all candidates to be equally (and thoroughly) wet. We give in. And we stop acknowledging frequently or urgently enough that American elections, which should be contests of ideas and character, are as much (if not more) contests of cold, hard cash.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.
* “The debate has started that will have monumental consequences for Muslims. The old establishment won’t accept change easily, but I think gradually it will happen as women assert themselves…Women cannot play second fiddle anymore.”–Aslam Abdullah, the imam and director of the Islamic Society of Nevada.
* “When all factors are considered in the evaluation of professional sports facilities, one can conclude that supporting sports venues through performance-based incentive programs is a positive investment for the state and integral to enhancing the quality of living of Florida residents.”–Tony Villamill, principal of the Washington Economics Group and formerly Florida’s Director for Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.
* “Film and television productions make money for the state. There is no doubt.”–Dale Gordon, Tampa-Hillsborough Film and Digital Media commissioner.