The more we ponder the controversy over downtown’s 35-year-old, “historic” “Bro Bowl,” the easier it is to understand how this skate park fiasco happened.
But first, some, well, historical perspective.
Since when is much of anything from the 1970s, including disco balls, platform shoes and bell bottoms, historic? We’re not talking Watergate tapes here. We’re not even talking a ticket stub from the first Ali-Frazier fight. Hell, most of those born in the ’70s are still 30-somethings.
As to the head-scratching inclusion of Tampa’s “Bro Bowl” skateboarding facility on the National Register of Historic Places, this is a function, however well-intentioned, of rhetorical inflation and euphemistic upgrades. We see it played out in society all the time. From our architectural designs and sports celebs to our political posturing and educational rationales.
An inverted, ’70s St. Pete pyramid, for example, is a long-standing “icon.” So also are long-tenured coaches. Athletes, of course, are also “warriors,” “heroes” and “role models.” Foreign policy hawks are uber “patriots.” Bloggers are “pundits.”
Our polarizing politics reminds us that pro-abortion is really “pro-choice.” Anti-choice is actually “pro-life.” Pro-gun advocates prefer “pro-Second Amendment” labeling. Out-of-context, ideological heavyweights are “Founding Fathers.” And liberals are “progressives,” thank you.
Not even death escapes rhetorical overkill when it’s a “negative patient outcome.” Too often an off-putting show of arrogance has become colorful “swagger.” Minimal accomplishments are “self-esteem” experiences. FCAT proponents maintain “accountability” as their mantra. Useless presents are now repurposed and upgraded to “re-gift” status. Virtually any and everything is subject to being assessed as “awesome”–or the more nuanced “like awesome.”
And that’s how a graffiti-enshrouded, concrete bowl off Central Avenue–one that amounts to an aesthetic eyesore amid Perry Harvey Sr. Park renovation plans–becomes iconically “historic.”
The good news is that Harvey Park advocates include Mayor Bob Buckhorn and African-American descendents of Central Avenue’s rich, segregation-era commercial and entertainment roots–and they know a thing or two about negotiating and real history. It will be their job–because federal funds are involved in adding statues, displays and a history walk to Harvey Park–to come up with a plan to “mitigate” the project’s impact on the nearby “Bro Bowl.”
Insiders sense that a “mitigating” compromise is in the offing. Too much is at stake for any zero-sum standoff. An acceptable solution will necessarily involve the federal bureaucracy, the National Register of Historic Places, City Hall, old-school skateboarders and those sworn to honor the collective memory and local impact of Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles. Now that will be historic.
Joe,
I understand the difficulties of a news reporter and the demand from your job to speak about things that you may or may not be familiar with, so you depend on resourcefulness and research to pull together an article for the readers.
However, a columnist forming an opinion on a subject matter should have an idea of what they’re talking about. And you Joe, are no skateboarder. And while the Bro Bowl isn’t necessarily “historical” to you, a skateboarder understands that our sport is extremely young. Skateboards didn’t become nationally popular until the 1960s, and this park was one of the first of its kind (and certainly one of the last to be preserved, albeit with graffiti).
To you, a man who probably remembers wearing bell bottoms and the Watergate Scandal, the skatepark probably shouldn’t be historical. But, to the kids that skate there (and it is mostly kids 10-16 years old), it is ancient. If the park gets bulldozed, revamped or reconstructed, the future generations of skateboarders will not be able to experience the same type of parks that their elders skated on. This is our history, even though it is a young one.
The park brings in skateboarders from all ages that have seen photographs, skateboard videos and video games which have featured the park, who in turn spend the day touring and eating in our city. It’s a tourist attraction by just being a long slab of concrete, which skaters have always appreciated.
And as far as the park being an eyesore, take a look around. This is Tampa, there is a charming grit all over this city. I can appreciate that when you’re leaving downtown to hop on I-4 you may catch this park out of the corner of your eye and the paint may look ugly, but I challenge you to look at the kids riding the park and ask yourself when was the last time you saw kids enjoying a history lesson this much.