Tampa City Council Vice Chair Mary Mulhern certainly gets it when it comes to pushing the envelope on hustling for jobs. Her recent sortie to Cuba on that resumption of direct Tampa-to-Havana flights underscored that commitment.
To her considerable credit, she’s not letting Florida’s notorious, exile-driven politics intimidate her. Nor is she hampering herself–and this area–by being yoked to timid incrementalism in the approach to doing, however limited, business with Cuba. She has educated herself on the issues–and opportunities.
She wants to show the flag–and take advantage of Tampa-Cuba history and proximity as well as changing times. She was the impetus for the letter of greetings and business protocol that the Council finally sent to the Cuban government. She wants to keep advancing the dialogue because that’s how relationships are formed. And business–whether local or international–is always facilitated by relationships.
She knows that TIA-Havana flights, per se, are hardly a bonanza. But they are a means to an end. As in more flights to more Cuban cities. As in sending upgraded trade delegations. As in not ceding potential port business to Mobile or Houston. As in being properly positioned as the economic embargo ultimately goes the way of the Berlin Wall.
This could be one of those rare win-win-win scenarios as America moves inevitably to distance itself from the Cold War relic that is the Cuban embargo. It would be good for the U.S. geopolitically, especially in our own hemisphere. It would be good for the economy of the state of Florida. And it would be good for the Tampa Bay area, notably the port, which stands to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of open trade and travel to Cuba.
But a lot of difference-making officials have to take the initiative. No, they don’t make foreign policy. Of course they don’t. But they can help bring pressure to bear for a good cause.
Gracias,
Sra. Mulhern.