Category: Tampa Bay

In a previous incarnation, I was a teacher in the Hillsborough County School District — at what is now Young Magnet in East Tampa. During those tough, challenging initial years of court-ordered desegregation.

In the process, which even included a charity basketball game, I got to know James Gatlin. He was then dean of boys at Buchanan Junior High. I wish I had known him better. I envy those who did.

Gatlin, whose legacy is 45 kid-caring years in teaching and administration in Hillsborough County, died last week at age 69. He was special.

As a 6-foot-5, black administrator in those early days of integration, Gatlin was necessarily high-profile. Central Casting couldn’t have sent anyone better. As intimidating as he appeared, his most notable traits were a defusing sense of humor and an empathetic sense of fairness.

He was liked, loved and respected. And he will be missed.

Here’s hoping, of course, that the South Carolina arrest of two Middle Eastern, Muslim USF students doesn’t turn out to be a Sami sequel prompting jihad-expert Steve Emerson to set up local shop and fan more flames. May it be no more than the perfect storm of foreigners being in the wrong place, at the wrong time with the wrong mien.

Indeed, we hope that the “pipe bombs” were truly a form of fireworks; a quickly shut down lap top a generically nervous gesture; proximity to Goose Creek Naval Weapons Station a coincidence; oil canisters in the car trunk a function of an auto-restoration project; and an itinerary seemingly without precise destination the modus operandi of 20-something college students on a weekend whirl of sightseeing.

Two points.

First, in this post-9/11 era, when we’re all asked to pay more attention to anything suspicious, it was well within the purview of a Berkeley County (SC) sheriff’s deputy to write more than a speeding ticket for Ahmed Abda Mohamed, an engineering graduate student at USF. He was accompanied by USF undergrad Yousef Samir Megahed.

Whatever the ultimate outcome, the officer did the right thing.

Law enforcement is on the de facto front lines of homeland security. And, yes, common sense profiling is a legitimate tool. It can be utilized without being ugly or turning our police into ethno-centric storm troopers.

Not that it takes reminding, but we are not in a civilizational war with Jews or Hindis or Buddhists or Shintos or Confucianists or Calvinists or animists or atheists or Marxists or Trotskyites or Rotarians. But jihadi Muslims with death wishes – ours and theirs.

Second, nobody owes anyone an apology if it turns out the way we want it: an unfortunate misunderstanding in the context of America under attack by extremist, suicidal Muslims.

In fact, the ultimate apology is still due the U.S.

Iconic, 81-year-old Tampa Theatre, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is one of those hometown gems that can easily be taken for granted by locals.

So, any reason to experience the architectural archetype for “Florida Mediterranean,” your basic pastiche of Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Spanish, Mediterranean, Greek Revival, Baroque and English Tudor, should do. In fact, any excuse to ensconce yourself amid the alcoves, tiles, mirrors, statuary, stairways, history and ambient light — and under that star-bedecked ceiling — should suffice.

And as good a vehicle as any would be the (3 p.m. Sundays) Summer Classic Movie Series, now in its 14th year. It began May 27 and runs through Aug. 26. The featured fare ranges from “Top Hat” and “The Thin Man” to “Gone With The Wind” and “The Great Gatsby.” The last three are: “Casablanca” (Aug. 12), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (Aug. 19) and “The Thief of Baghdad” (Aug. 26).

Basically, something for anyone wanting to escape unforgiving humidity, bad indoor baseball and too many contemporary movies obviously aimed at a target market of 14-year-old boys.

If you’ve never sampled the summer series at Tampa Theatre, consider putting it on one of those sempiternal “to do” lists. Especially when it’s sub-Sahara hot around here.

“It transports people back to another era,” explains Tara Schroeder, now in her 15th year as Tampa Theatre’s community relations manager. “It’s one of our best draws; we love it.” So much so that for the last six years Tampa Theatre has even added an “Audience Costume Craze,” which encourages patrons to dress in period fashion. “The Great Gatsby” and “Blazing Saddles” were so designated this summer.

And Schroeder also loves the attendance figures. Whereas an average screening in the balconied, 1,446-seat “specialty film house” would attract an audience of 75-100, the summer series’ movies average 700-800.A prime example was last Sunday’s “Hard Day’s Night,” the recently restored print of the 1964 Beatles mockumentary. Attendance, which included my wife Laraine and I, was 714. (That evening’s indie film, “Crazy Love,” did about 700 less.)

We are reminded that rare Grand Dames such as Tampa Theatre were built for cinematic grandeur and must not be relegated to museum status or commercial conversion. They must be experienced collectively — with the life force that is a critical-mass live audience.

Which is certainly the case on any give summer Sunday, including this one. And, yes, we were transported. Alas, murder and cancer have halved the Beatles over the years, but this was 1964 — for everybody. We were all young and carefree and immortal and at the freeze-frame pinnacle of our young adulthood, including those of us who were spastic on the dance floor. And who cares that we didn’t realize then that “Hard Day’s Night” could have been retitled: “The Beatles meet Benny Hill.”

Frenetic and silly worked much better then, to be sure, but the music remains timeless. The Beatles were generational avatars who were gifted musicians and lyricists, a parlay that is much less in favor today.

And even when the sound system malfunctioned, as it did several times, the baby-boomer crowd was more than understanding. Way more.

Fortunately, these brief outages were mostly concert scenes and the crowd responded by seamlessly singing along — “

It’s now official. The Heritage Square at the Armory group has signed a deal with the National Guard to buy Fort Homer Hesterly Armory on North Howard Avenue near Interstate 275. The $98-million project includes an anchor 300-room hotel, a day spa, restaurants, boutiques, a cultural arts center and a farmers market.

Anyone who knows anything about government bureaucracy, knows why this process has been painstakingly slow. And anyone who knows anything about vacant, prominent real estate proximate to key traffic corridors knows how welcome it is to be this much closer to a revitalized Fort Homer Hesterly property.

But anyone who knows anything about this working-class, West Tampa neighborhood and Tampa’s need to diversify its economy — especially when it comes to the creative sector — knows that the Heritage Square scenario is probably not the best way to redevelop the Armory property.

The runner-up developer was Armory Partners Group of Tampa, which had plans to build a video, film and sound studio and develop creative arts businesses. APG’s scenario also included apartments, retail and a grocery store, pragmatic neighborhood complements.

Those in the know already know that this decision has and will continue to cost Tampa creative business, precisely what this city covets and recruits. It’s certainly put a governor on the prospects for being more attractive to the movie/video production industry – beyond the usual “location shoots.”

But West Tampa will get a luxury hotel and a spa.

Since there have been neighborhoods and developers, there have been conflicts and compromises when it comes to new projects. It comes with the territory of developers dealing with municipal governments and their politics and their codes as well as civic associations and, around here, Community Development Corporations.

Developers, understandably, want to max out on their investment, whether it’s higher, wider or pricier. Neighborhoods, of course, want the right fit. Proportion counts, as does infrastructure impact. In the end, enlightened self interest should carry the day.

Tampa’s developer-neighborhood nexus, however, has a quirky CDC component. City Council gave two of them, in East Tampa and West Tampa, special status. They’re de facto development-review players with some leverage. That can lead to the perception of quid pro quo scenarios and accusations of “side deals” or worse — extortion concessions.

Hence, City Council’s recent move to give all registered neighborhood groups the same status.

Predictably enough, the West Tampa CDC, in the cross-hairs of community/developer scrutiny over affordable housing and rehab programs, objected. The board chairwoman, Margaret Fisher, said her group holds no influence with developers, which seemed an overly modest stretch. Fellow board member Joe Robinson, however, nailed it. “This is a racial issue to take us out,” he said.

The irony was palpable.

In striving to make all registered neighborhood groups equally accountable, City Council had made them all equal in standing. Imagine that as a racial issue. Moreover, there’s the matter of the city and groups such as the WTCDC being in compliance with Florida’s open government law.

That’s as black and white as you can get – but not racial.

In 2004, the city of Tampa began enforcing a teenage curfew in Ybor City. The usual reasons: a lot of stuff can happen when teenagers are cruising around in the wee hours, and none of it is good. The curfew currently prohibits those under 18 from hanging out in Tampa’s historic/entertainment district between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday.

Now some Ybor-vested interests — officials and activists — are suggesting that it might be worth adding Wednesdays as well. The usual reasons.

Not everyone agrees.

City Councilman Tom Scott thinks Curfew Wednesdays – absent facts to underscore the need — smack of “Gestapo” tactics. City Attorney David Smith didn’t resort to such hyperbolized blather, but conceded he would need data — the Tampa Police Department kind that would show youth-oriented criminal activity — to warrant adding another curfew day. To date, there’s not enough. Verbal warnings and the off-putting scene of 16-year-olds milling around past midnight don’t count. Neither does common sense.

Just a na

According to Kipplinger.com, the Tampa Bay Area ranks number one as the best “city” for retirees and number six for the retiree-empty nester parlay. “This is Florida’s finest venue to kick start a second or third act,” notes Kiplinger.

It cites St. Petersburg for its mix of “good living, arts, culture and entrepreneurship.” Tampa notables include: the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, “downtown condos (springing up),” “riverfront development (reshaping the city),” “chic Hyde Park” and “sprawling ‘burbs” that offer sizable, reasonably priced homes.

It also quotes Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership: “We’ll have that urban vibe in five to 10 years.”

Some accidents are more preventable than others. Topping any list: those involving motor vehicles and trains.

How’s this for some simple rules of thumb concerning night clubs in Ybor City?

1) Drink specials and nonstop hip-hop are incompatible. Not with each other, necessarily, just with this city’s historic/entertainment district, which doesn’t wish to be known as Tampa’s epicenter of rap.

If this well-Fueled powder keg should explode, instead of merely propelling violence piecemeal, Ybor – and Tampa by extension — will be years recovering from the national notoriety.

2) If a business needs to pat down its customers for weapons, it doesn’t need to be in business.

When it comes to the environment, Florida has earned its reputation for preferring pavement over paradise. Faustian deals for strip centers, malls, condo corridors, cul-de-sac enclaves and exigent infrastructure are legion.

But increasingly so are growth compacts that bring necessary economic development – from jobs to affordable housing to a broadened tax base. Not unlike nature itself, smart growth is not a zero-sum game, but a balancing act.

Which brings us to the recent action by Hillsborough County Commissioners. Sitting as the Environmental Protection Commission, the commission voted to eliminate local control over wetlands protection by disbanding the 22-year-old wetlands management division of the county EPC. Without public discussion. From a script for smart, enlightened self-interest growth to a scenario that smarts.

First of all, the EPC is chaired by riparian renegade Brian Blair. That’s like having Rosie O’Donnell emcee the Miss America Pageant.

The procedurally maladroit, fact-challenged Blair has had the wetlands management division in his budget cross hairs for a while. He characterizes it as an unnecessary expense and a redundant hurdle for developers – given that there are federal and state regulations.

That it protects wetlands of a half-acre or less, which the state doesn’t, is of no ecological relevance to one who thinks mitigation projects are nature’s equal. In effect, if you’ve seen one marshland, you’ve seen them all.

That the net savings would be less than $800,000 on a county budget of $3.8 billion is immaterial. In fact, additional cost cuts should result from EPC Executive Director Rick Garrity’s proposed “one-stop” permitting process.

Moreover, the proposed budget cuts of County Administrator Pat Bean didn’t even reference wetlands regulation at all. Obviously she recognizes the difference between a wildlife-friendly investment in flood and erosion prevention and county commission sophistry at its counterproductive worst.

Hillsborough County, however, still must hold another hearing before the county’s commitment to wetlands is officially watered down. That means a turnout that isn’t comprised largely of the narrowly self-interested is paramount.