Gertrude Stein once chided Oakland, where she spent her childhood, for its identity-challenged ambience. Her observation: “There is no there there” remains a classic. Residents of Tampa, which has long lacked a readily identifiable, central gathering, celebrating, rallying, entertaining, communing venue, understand.
Which makes the prospect of what Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park can be truly special.
The $12-million project, funded mostly via Community Investment Tax dollars, will be completed next year – and is expected to be its own destination along the downtown riverfront.
Because of budget cutbacks, however, plans for iconic fountains had to be initially scrapped. But now they’re back – thanks to a philanthropic gift from the non-profit F.E. Lykes Foundation. The $1 million donation will underwrite a giant misting fountain at the Ashley Drive gateway and two smaller ones along the riverfront.
The fountains are precisely what the park – any prominent park worth its municipal charge – needed. Moreover, the critical role of the private sector has been underscored in a dramatically aesthetic way – one that will assure that there will, indeed, be a “there” right there in downtown Tampa.