Amid the hoopla of Riverwalk’s completion, updates on Jeff Vinik’s live-work-play-stay makeover, the upcoming start of the Heights project and the usual spin about what trendy list Tampa just made, it was well worth noting what the city is doing for kids this summer. Especially kids who are most vulnerable.
The city has expanded its Stay & Play summer program that provides extended nighttime hours at nine recreation centers and five city pools. This is year two of the program that was launched last summer after a surge in shooting deaths in poor neighborhoods.
“We had to do something, because I didn’t want to lose these kids to the streets,” explained Mayor Bob Buckhorn. “These are places where they can come and just be kids. … This saves lives, this builds lives, this shapes lives.”
And this speaks volumes about a priority that has nothing to do with downtown redevelopment.