Much to Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s credit, he has publicly prioritized–and effectively lobbied for–the Riverwalk.
If you’re a city with some appeal but noticeably unrealized potential, and you’re fortunate enough to have a river running through, you’d be remiss–no, actually, you’d be dumb–if you didn’t try your hardest to take advantage of that natural resource. Ask San Antonio. Or two cities where I used to live: Philadelphia–on the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers–and Evansville, Indiana–on the Ohio River. It matters, whether industrial, Northeastern city or smaller, Midwestern berg.
For years, as we know, the Hillsborough River was treated as the gritty, industrial waterway that it was. Eras change, but makeovers take time, enlightenment and commitment. Buckhorn is the acknowledged beneficiary of a Riverwalk project that was, after years of aesthetic and developmental neglect, finally well on its way when he took office in 2011. He has consequently ratcheted up the momentum.
That was evidenced by the recent official launch of the Riverwalk section from MacDill Park to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park that goes under the Kennedy Boulevard Bridge and will sit atop pilings on the Hillsborough River. It’s scheduled for completion late next year. (The last segment–from the Straz Center to Water Works Park–is targeted for completion by spring 2015.) To underscore the significance of the occasion–and recognize those who’ve played leadership roles–all living mayors (Buckhorn predecessors Pam Iorio, Dick Greco, Sandy Freedman, Bob Martinez and Bill Poe) partook of the celebratory ceremony. It was an inclusively classy move. “This is not my accomplishment,” said Buckhorn. “This is ours.”
And the finished product, well within sight, will be ours. The river that runs through this region’s hub city is, in effect, everybody’s front porch. It will energize an area that was merely tolerated for too long, and it will further identify us to visitors looking for the “there” there in downtown Tampa.
Bob Buckhorn and the company he keeps should, indeed, be proud. And Santiago Corrada is surely thankful about the timing.