Category: Tampa Bay

In her role as president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, Christine Burdick makes many presentations chronicling downtown developments and underscoring priorities of the private, not-for-profit organization. Among those who are regularly privy to her project updates and mantra about the value and impact of a hub city’s downtown: the Hillsborough County Commission.

For all the good it does.

“Some still can’t find relevancy,” she acknowledged at a recent Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon.

“I get not so much a brush-off,” added Burdick, “as a polite finger-tapping and ‘see you next year.'”

The Tampa literati scene now includes Wall Street Journal reporter Theo Francis. He recently included his newly adopted hometown in the Journal’s Travel Page feature: “Off The Beaten Track.”

According to Francis, here’s where to go to:

Commune with nature: Crystal River, Fort De Soto Park

Refuel: Hurricane restaurant (St. Pete Beach), Bern’s Steak House

Cut loose: Weeki Wachee Springs (honest), Ybor City, Columbia Restaurant

Bend your mind: Salvador Dali Museum

Ronda Storms, quite arguably, is the best thing to happen to Joe Redner since nudity was declared a form of speech.

Redner regularly runs for public office, gets on the right side of issues such as environmentalism and works at mainstreaming his image beyond the sleaze-connoting “Tampa’s Strip Club King.” His holdings are as diversified as they are legal.

Now, thanks largely to Topical Storms Ronda, he has high-profile, moral high ground.

Recall that Redner was juxtaposed to the posturing, pandering Hillsborough County commissioner in the embarrassing controversy over recognition of Gay Pride. Now there’s the flap over Redner’s contribution to the Auction for Angels charity. The inclusion of his innocuous “Joe Redner Enterprises” logo set the Arbiter of All Things Moral into another sanctimonious lather that involved phone calls to other sponsors.

Calls to needy children would have put it into a more appropriate context.

Fortunately, cooler, non-grandstanding heads prevailed, and the event was held as scheduled.

Meanwhile, Redner enjoys the view – and the irony — from the moral high ground provided by the dredge-and-fill politics of Storms.

To no one’s surprise, the house arrest-probation-psychiatric evaluation-community service sentence handed Jennifer Porter by Judge Lamar Battles met with a polarizing response.

A case can certainly be made that she got off easy after her hit-and-run accident left behind two dead children and a distraught mother. The racial rationales were as expected as they were understandable.

But of all the factors that mitigated matters in favor of Porter, none was more critical than her counsel. She had access to Barry Cohen. We should all be so fortunate when we’re dead wrong.

Cohen was able to marshal psychiatric testimony that obviously impressed Battles, inevitably cast as a poor man’s Solomon. In effect, the judge was apprised, Porter was traumatized by the accident and was in the throes of diminished capacity when she drove off in an altered state.

In reality, this carried the day – not the color of her skin.

EDAW, the company the city hired to design the downtown Riverwalk, has thrown out some preliminary ideas and listened to input from a public forum. The winnowing process has begun.

What everyone agrees on, however, is that it’s an excellent idea to open up the Hillsborough River. So it can be seen and enjoyed. It’s also acknowledged that the river is as underutilized and aesthetically bludgeoned a natural resource as any city could have ever allowed.

But of all the proposals being aired, one stands out, so to speak, from the rest.

Two words: No mini-golf.

When Al Lopez died at 97 late last month, he left a legacy that few will even approach.

He made it to the Hall of Fame and was, until Wade Boggs, the only Tampa native so honored. This son of Ybor became a source of immense pride to Tampa’s Latinos. But “El Senor” transcended his ethnic roots. Accomplishment on a national stage and a lifelong common touch will do that. How you comport yourself, how you treat people always mattered most. Al Lopez: A gentleman, a caballero.

Many who have come after him — Lou Piniella, Tony LaRussa, Tino Martinez, Luis Gonzalez and Boggs among others — were fortunate to have had such a role model and learned lessons about life away from the field of play.

But a few never took the first note. And Dwight Gooden’s not the only one.

Time was when limousines were the almost exclusive purview of the affluent, the powerful and the celebrated – with allowances for the ritualistic: brides, grooms, prom queens and deceased.

“Years ago, limos were mainly for the rich,” says Julie Herring, owner of Clearwater-based Julie’s Limousines and Coachworks Inc. “Now, it’s much more mainstream. They’re affordable.” For the record, that means an industry range of $60-$160 an hour depending on vehicle, amenities and fuel surcharge.

“There is a decided trend toward a younger clientele,” notes Herring, who has owned Julie’s for 19 years. “Those in their 30’s who have landed the right job, are now making real money and going up the ladder. They rent a lot of limousines.”

Bachelor-bachelorette parties and bar-hopping accounts for a lot of that business, adds Herring (with discounts if a wedding booking results). “They’ll go from the Blue Martini (International Plaza) to SoHo and Ybor,” says Herring. “It’s a familiar route.”

The perspective is no different at Tampa’s Premier Limousine. “We’re seeing more and more young professionals, the up-and-comers,” says sales manager Victor Chambers. “Renting a limo is part of doing business. But when it’s for nights out on the town – they like Hummers. And they like being safe. As one customer told me, ‘$400 is a lot cheaper than a $7,000 D.U.I.'”

And they like the cachet.

“For some people, the luxury limo represents a chance to play a role or indulge in a fantasy,” says Tampa psychologist Alan Lewis. “You get a chance to look like you normally don’t. It’s fun.”

Which helps explain the popularity of Hummers, the latest in “exotics.” It’s not just Cadillacs and Lincolns that are being stretched these days, points out Chambers. If you cut it down the middle, add paneling, reinforce the frame and modify the engine, you can also have a Stretch Porsche or a Stretch Lexus.

On the inside, there’s a lot more than a bar and NBA-style leg room. Premier has the largest H2 Hummer in central Florida. It seats 18-20 and has five flat-screen TVs, a DVD/CD surround sound system, sub-woofers galore, mirrored roofing, granite counters, leather upholstery with snakeskin motif, laser strobe and fiber optic mood lighting, private VIP bar and entertainment system, a lighted disco style floor, lava lamps and 5-passenger VIP seating in the rear.

Not to be overlooked, however, is the chauffeur.

“You know, a great stereo is still important, and the vehicle has got to be pretty and clean,” says Mickey Velilla, the owner of St. Petersburg’s Patriot Limousine. “But the most important factor is the chauffeur. They can make the difference. They have to think like a concierge, be flexible and understand etiquette – and act like a host.”

And, chances are, they are driving to a party near you this holiday season.

“The holidays mean real busy, real fast,” says Herring of Julie’s. “We’re talking company parties, and everybody has Christmas parties. And they get earlier each year.”

For Patriot, which is top-heavy in corporate clientele, the holiday season is a reverse of the normal pattern. “Things change drastically,” explains Velilla. “Probably 70% of the business is parties. It took a while after 9/11, but I think people feel good about spending money again.”

You can, apparently, go home again.

Less than five years ago and approaching his 40th birthday, Frank Sanchez returned to his hometown of Tampa. He was a Harvard grad who had been assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs in the Clinton Administration. He came home to be with his aging parents and to run for mayor.

He lost in a run-off, but remains rooted here. He runs an international consulting firm and is a major player on the Bay Area business, civic and political scenes.

“There are terrific opportunities for entrepreneurs here, it’s an easy place to get involved in and the quality of life is great,” gushes Sanchez. “I still get a smile on my face as I leave TIA and head home.”

His perspective is illustrative of an incipient trend.

The 30-something generation is gradually finding the Tampa Bay market to its liking. The 2.5 million-population Tampa Metropolitan Statistical Area is the second largest in the Southeast. Tampa Bay ranked 12th among “America’s Best Places to Live and Work” in Employment Review’s June 2003 issue. Inc. Magazine recently ranked the Tampa Bay area 14th on its list of the 25 best major markets to start a business. Tampa Bay is the 13th largest TV market and regularly receives national kudos on cost-of-living, unemployment and quality-of-life criteria. Plus, Tampa, the region’s economic hub, is now experiencing rapidly ratcheting urban infill that appeals to young professionals as much as empty nesters.

The last two years have seen urban planners, artists, politicians and chamber of commerce types coalescing around the priority of keeping, attracting – and reclaiming — the best, brightest and edgiest. In fact, the Tampa Chamber of Commerce has established a leadership subgroup, Emerge Tampa, to target the 21-35 demographic.

The following are among those who couldn’t wait to get out of Dodge at 18 – only to return as 30-somethings making a mark in their hometowns.

Ben Older, 34

Few have taken a more circuitous route back home than Tampa Prep grad Ben Older. He returned to Tampa in 2001 — via Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Miami and Europe.

He has an undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Southern California and a law degree from the University of Miami. He also has a cache of eclectic experiences from having played in and managed bands on two continents – as well as having owned an entertainment-management company in Los Angeles.

Older is a practicing attorney, an entrepreneur, and a singer-guitarist-percussionist. He’s a partner in Older & Lundy, a co-owner of the Lotus Club, an Ybor City “ultra lounge,” and lead vocalist in the band “Mobetta” that plays at St. Bart’s Island House in Tampa’s SoHo section.

“My dream was to have my own law firm, and I could do that a lot sooner here than in Miami or LA,” explains Older. “I also love music. Tampa is the perfect place to do all that I do simultaneously.

And then there’s his morning ritual — jogging along Bayshore. “Sometimes I see dolphins,” he says. “Now that’s cool.

“When I came back,” recalls Older, “it felt right. Maybe I was really seeing it for the first time.”

Beth Reynolds, 38

As a kid, Beth Reynolds was fascinated by cameras. As a teenager, she loved meandering downtown St. Petersburg with her Minolta looking for meaning in the mundane.

A photo-journalist was born – one who wouldn’t long be satisfied with the prosaic tableaus of St. Petersburg. “I left when I was 18 and said, ‘See ‘ya, St. Pete, I’m going to see the world.'”

She headed to the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and earned a degree in mass communications. She then landed a staff photographer position with the Bristol (CT) Press and later graduated from the University of Hartford Art School with a master’s in fine arts.

The Shorecrest School alum finally yielded to her mother’s entreaties touting downtown revitalization and a hip arts scene and returned in the late ’90s. She hooked up with The Arts Center in St. Petersburg, where she is now photography and digital program coordinator. She also founded “The Photo-Documentary Press,” published two books and earned numerous national photo-journalism honors. She became a sought-after speaker/panelist and recognized for her one-woman shows.

“I love journalism and I work at a fine arts organization,”says Reynolds. “I’m a hybrid; this is great.”She also loves where she lives.

“St. Pete has an urban as well as a small town feel,” notes Reynolds. “But this whole area is arts friendly. My home is Tampa Bay. I can do everything I need to here.”

David Stamps, 34

For David Stamps III, the die was cast early.

His parents were prominent USF professors. Achievement was a given – and family educational roots coursed through Atlanta’s pre-eminent African-American institutions: Morehouse College and Spelman College.

By the time Stamps had graduated from Tampa’s King High School, he had been vice president and president of the student government, an academic standout — and Atlanta bound.

He earned a degree in finance from Morehouse, hung out with the offspring of Bill Cosby, Maynard Jackson and Julian Bond and opened his own music management company. Then a dose of reality best summarized by a music-business adage: “You don’t make money till they make money.”

“I regrouped,” Stamps recalls humbly. He also came home, went to Stetson Law School in Gulfport, saw Tampa Bay through more mature eyes – and hasn’t looked back.

“After I came back, I started seeing change all around me,” says Stamps. “I wanted to be a part of it.”

He has his own law firm in Hyde Park, where he specializes in commercial real estate, and enjoys pivoting to the good life from his Harbour Island residence.

“The opportunities are here,” notes Stamps. “My practice has the same potential as the area. Plus the weather is gorgeous and the landscapes unbelievable. Why would I leave?”

Josh Bomstein, 30>/p>In the back of his mind, Josh Bomstein always had a Plan B. It comes with the territory when your dad, Alan Bomstein, is president and CEO of the successful, privately held Creative Contractors Inc. of Clearwater.

But first the Berkeley Prep grad had something to prove. The family business, he reasoned, was “always there,” but he “felt the need to achieve something on my own. And to expand my horizons.”

Which probably explains why the son of a builder became an anthropology/religion major at Emory University in Atlanta. “It was about learning to think well,” he says. But he also took business courses “for balance.”

His self-realization sojourn would take him to Santa Barbara, CA. To teaching special education and working in sales. He was the 2003 National “Rookie of the Year” for McGraw-Hill Companies.

He married and returned with his wife Lindsay last December. He’s now business development manager for Creative Contractors, a 55-employee operation that does about $70 million a year in commercial projects. He’s the web master and the go-to guy for PowerPoint presentations.

“Moving back was figuratively and literally about building and growing,” says Bomstein. “A family, a career, a community. It’s about a lot more than bricks and mortar.

“And I tend to see things regionally,” adds Bomstein. “I see the beauty and the variety — from the beaches to Ybor City. And there’s a kind of laid-back feeling that I’m appreciating more and more.”

Michael Peters, 35

Michael Peters could be the poster boy for CreativeTampaBay, the regional clearinghouse for the “creative class.”

He’s a former art director for Grey Worldwide, the prestigious New York advertising agency. He was becoming a player in the world’s ad-and-image epicenter and living the cosmopolitan life that goes with a Manhattan brownstone.

When his wife Leigh became pregnant, his career prism altered. A fifth-floor walkup wouldn’t be family friendly.

“Growing up in Tampa, I mis
sed the water,” explains the Plant High and University of Alabama grad. “And New York is an eat ’em up type place.”

In an augur of karmic proportions, they moved back to Tampa on Sept. 10, 2001.

It’s been all upside since. The Peters family now includes a son and daughter; they live in a bungalow in Hyde Park; and Michael is president and creative director of his own ad agency, Spark Branding House in Ybor.

This summer Spark was the only Tampa Bay agency to earn a national ADDY award. “Tampa used to be more traditional,” observes Peters. “Now it has more bullets. There are many more major brands here.

“We’re a boutique agency doing high-end work,” points out Peters. “It can definitely be done here. Plus, I get to play with my kids in my back yard.”

In a decision that couldn’t possibly please everyone, the Hillsborough School Board recently voted to end vacation days for all religious holidays. However it came about, it was the right call. For the record, it came about because a group of Muslims had asked for a religious holiday not unlike those accorded Christians and Jews.

Given precedents such as Good Friday and Yom Kippur, it was not unreasonable. In the spirit of inclusion, the Muslims requested Eid al-Fitr, the end of their holy month of Ramadan.

But the Board made the right call, because it undid a policy that needed undoing. Purely religious-observance occasions should not be designated public school holidays. It’s not a matter of secularism run amok or suppressed religious expression. It’s a matter of what’s appropriate for a non-sectarian school system and, frankly, who’s next? Buddhists and animists might already have been queuing for their designated day of cultural bridge-building. And who’s to say what the perverse egalitarianism of atheists would have yielded?

And even more to the point, if there’s anything that our students don’t need, it’s more days off.

The early odds still favor Kathy Castor to succeed Jim Davis in Congress. There’s no reason to think anything is about to change the political dynamics in the District 11 race.

And if she is elected U.S. Representative next year, she will arrive in the nation’s seat of power uniquely prepared and equipped with an ironic perspective of Washington. And she would owe much of it to her experience as a commissioner on the dysfunctional abyss that is the Hillsborough County Commission.

How many Capitol Hill rookies can envision Congressional corridors, committees and back rooms as major upgrades in ethics, civility and bi-partisanship? Castor may want to consider some thank you cards on the way out of the Commission crucible.