Category: Tampa Bay

Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg publicly revealed recently that the team’s top five regional stadium sites were no longer under consideration for various reasons. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman took the news well. That’s because he sees Sternberg’s announcement as a de facto reaffirmation that the Trop site is now the leader in the clubhouse.

In a marketplace that is so asymmetrical, so corporate-headquarters challenged and so populated with those of non-Tampa Bay allegiances, the variables that matter most in retaining the Rays are spot-on, centrally-located stadium site and modern facility as well as meaningful mass transportation.

The reality is this. If the Trop site is seen as a favorite and rail-less transit remains status quo, the franchise-relo folks in Montreal are even more pleased than Kriseman.

Once again we seem fixated on the future of Tampa’s TECO Line Streetcar. It remains underused and oversubsidized. City Hall and the Florida DOT are now funding a study to find viability beyond convention-center marketing to visitors. Will it become a “new urbanism,” transit tool for the residents and workers in downtown and nearby neighborhoods?

I can’t help hearkening back 15 years when the updated version of the original trolley was launched. The wink-and-nod word from insiders was that, while this looked like a nostalgic tourist amenity, it was really a “starter set” for light rail. It might yet be.

Hillsborough County no longer uses peer evaluations. This, in effect, is the upshot legacy of all those millions of dollars locally invested by the Gates Foundation–dollars subsequently matched by the now financially-strapped school district.

Once again it’s time for Hillsborough County to select its “Teacher of the Year.” And once again we’re reminded that fairness is a problematic part of the assessment. This is not a criticism of the six finalists, four from K-6 grade, a high school English teacher and a high school science department chair. They all seem qualified, caring and creative. This is a criticism of an incongruous process that is inherently flawed because you are not comparing comparables.

There are, of course, constants in teaching, whatever the grade. Being prepared, being motivational, being creative–and getting results. But the variables–from instructor skill sets and subject-area expertise to age-appropriate, student motivation are too disparate.

As expected, speculation is well underway about those who might succeed Bob Buckhorn as Tampa mayor.  He’ll be term limited in about two years. There is, of course, no lack of potential candidates, but realpolitik has a way of shaping scenarios.

I can recall when Bob Morrison, the politically-savvy, high-profile, executive assistant to former Mayor Bob Martinez, was a consensus pick as Tampa’s first black mayor. That was in the 1980s. It never happened, although Morrison has gone on to be a formidable regional player as co-founder of TOBA (Tampa Organization of Black Affairs Inc.) and long-time executive director of the Hillsborough County Hotel & Motel Association.

The right thing is usually the smart thing.

We saw it the other day when Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in response to an invitation, paid a high-profile visit to the Islamic Society of  Tampa Bay. Its executive director, Mahmoud Elkasaby, had invited Buckhorn out of concern for those in his community who were “living in fear for nothing that they had done or caused.”

Buckhorn, sans shoes but not sound bites, spoke to a packed mosque about Tampa’s demographic mosaic and the infamous executive order that is an unacceptable, Islam-targeting “ban.” He underscored that it is “an attack on Islam as a religion.” He told the congregation that “This city has your back. … You are us.”

In a way, this was right in Buckhorn’s wheelhouse. Mayors can make a difference, a key reason why he likes his job. Whether it’s recruiting businesses and events, lobbying state and federal governments, rallying residents about transit and social issues or having a vision for tomorrow and the day after. He likes the theater; he likes the crowds; and he dislikes anything that would tear at the fabric of his city.

Major-city mayors are CEO-cheerleader types. They do retail politics and get out among the people. They are hands on.

Buckhorn knows what a visceral issue like this can do. It can harass and scare and stigmatize a segment of Tampa’s residents. It’s not morally right. It’s not our values. It’s not who we are as Tampa–or America. He also knows that it makes security more problematic if you, in effect, insult and intimidate a class of society that is uniquely positioned to help–as only American Muslims can.

* I’ve seen enough Gasparillas–from a ground-zero perspective–to have noticed the changes. There’s a reason arrests are in single digits–not in the hundreds.

A few years ago, law-enforcement word was sent–to schools and parents–that this was no longer a day without rules or consequences. And then it was enforced. Plus, literally more surveillance and more police–some 2,000 officers–now checking alleys where the action has always been. And a longer parade route with crowds attracted to Curtis Hixon Park also helps.

And two other factors. Liability and the Boston Marathon.

Sooner or later some kid sent to TGH in an alcohol-induced coma is not going to make it. And Boston was a reminder of what a soft target this is. Leave it at that.

If there’s a downside, it means that triage policing remains a reality. Terrorism, public health and old-school safety and crime surveillance are the priorities. So, yes, you still have trespissers.

* Mayor Bob Buckhorn yielded the key to the city to the marauding pirates, but not without the day’s best ad lib. “You know what I think we can do? Build a wall and make the pirates pay for it.”

Hillsborough County’s rookie state attorney, Andrew Warren, is off to a good start. A lot of interest was directed at his office over how he would ultimately handle the high-profile case of activists arrested for feeding the homeless in downtown Tampa. They were without a license, but not sans good intentions at Lykes Gaslight Square Park. The fact that it happened while national championship football fans and assorted VIPs were ogling Tampa–while the city was putting on the visitor Ritz–was hardly incidental. Warren dropped the trespassing charges while noting that “prosecuting people for charitable work” is hardly a part of his mission to make the community safer and promote justice.

It wasn’t exactly a Solomonic decision, but still one that required common sense. Warren directed the group, Food Not Bombs, to work with the city to resolve the matter–Gaslight park is arguably not an ideal venue for food-sharing events–and to remain nonviolent.

The Gasparilla Children’s Parade, a major event with a huge gathering, underscores a relevant reality. It’s really a celebration of Tampa–with black, brown and white families. Spanish is as prevalent as English. TPD officers work logistics instead of punks and drunks.

It’s a reminder that, however challenged by an overflowing, 6-figure crowd, it works because it’s the right people for the right reason.

Tampa lost a good one with the recent passing of Thom Stork, who had been president and CEO of the Florida Aquarium for 14 years. Stork was instrumental in getting the Aquarium to pivot from a loss leader with good educational intentions to a community leader that could entertain, educate and protect the environment. His marketing savvy was second to none