Category: Tampa Bay

His old Columbia Restaurant Group business card used to read: Richard Gonzmart, “CEO/President.” His new one: Richard Gonzmart, “Fourth Generation.”

It speaks volumes.

Gonzmart, 51, remains the out-front presence and the day-to-day operator of the CRG, whose crown jewel is the Columbia Restaurant, the iconic anchor of Ybor City. He’s also co-owner with his brother Casey, 56. But what is underscored by the new card is that this is a successful FAMILY business. It’s also the sort of symbolic gesture you make when your family business is celebrating its centennial.

“When I was younger, titles were important,” Gonzmart recalls. “But what is really important is my duty to prepare the next generation to succeed.”

That fifth generation already includes his daughters, Lauren, 28, and Andrea, 25. Lauren heads the retail sales (gift shops) department; Andrea presides over a new inventory- and food-costs software program.

Much has happened over the generations since the Columbia Restaurant was founded –as a 60-seat corner café — in 1905 by Gonzmart’s great-grandfather, Casimiro Hernandez, Sr. Back then it was known for its Cuban coffee and Cuban sandwiches and served mainly cigar workers. Now it’s famous for its paella , caldo gallego soup and 1905 salad; renowned for its worldly wine list; and acclaimed for its flamenco dance troupe. As the largest Spanish restaurant in the world, it has become a must-dine experience for out-of-town and international visitors. Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano visited; so did Marilyn Monroe, Stephen King and George Clooney.

Today it spans an entire city block, encompassing more than 52,000 square feet. It can seat 1,700 diners in its 15 dining rooms. A recent $6.5-million expansion and renovation resulted in a state-of-the-art kitchen plus new dining rooms, wine cellars and air conditioning system.

Also expanding over the years has been the number of restaurants. The Columbia family flag is now planted in Sarasota, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Celebration. The newest is opening in the first quarter of ’05 in West Palm Beach.

Further forays into the modern marketplace range from the hiring of key, non-family personnel and the implementation of a 401k plan to the establishment of training programs and standardized recipes.

“At a certain point we had to change the culture,” acknowledges Gonzmart. “In a family business, you often see ownership using the business as a personal bank account.”My brother and I now draw a salary like everybody else,” he notes. “We hired a CFO nine years ago to bring us into the 21st century. We never had a budget. Now it’s all about re-investing in all our units and our people.”

It’s also about a long-running synergy with Ybor City. Both the Columbia’s and Ybor’s fortunes have been intertwined over the decades. During The Depression, Casimiro Hernandez, Jr. spurred business in the Latin Quarter by building the first air-conditioned dining room in Tampa. During the ruinous days of urban renewal, Richard’s father, Cesar Gonzmart, began bringing in top Latin entertainment.

“Back in the ’60s, the Columbia was the only thing drawing people to Ybor,” says former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco. “Had the Columbia gone away, I don’t know if Ybor could have stayed alive. But Cesar always hung in, never gave up and his kids have the same attitude.”

It was re-affirming to see the numbers for The Florida Aquarium’s most recent fiscal year. The Channel District attraction took in revenue of $11.8 million, the best ever performance in its nine-year history. As a result, the city’s subsidy was lowered (from $850,000 to $750,000) for the current operating budget.

What was re-affirmed is that the Aquarium can be both educational – and fun. And marketed mainly as the latter. It didn’t open that way and debuted to disappointment.

While attendance – 608,000 compared with 582,000 in 2003 – was up, that’s only part of the equation. Visitors also lingered longer and spent more in the gift shops and restaurants.

A key reason is the new Explore A Shore, a 2.5-acre play area for kids that has been a magnet for moms and young children. The key catalyst was Thom Stork, the Aquarium’s president, who overcame some staff doubters and pushed hard for the $2-million addition. Statistics show that visitors have doubled their stay on average – from two to four hours – since Explore A Shore’s introduction in March.

Prior to his arrival in 2002, Stork had been in senior management positions with Busch Gardens and Orlando’s SeaWorld. It shows.

Moreover, the upturns in revenue and attendance have been achieved without compromising the integrity of the environmental education that remains at the heart of the Aquarium experience.

But Stork knew the stark reality: Whatever your educational benefits, first priority is to up the turnstile count.

It was that time again, and the guard recently changed at the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce with the installation of Sam Ellison as chairman. And with the new chairman, who otherwise wears the (hard) hat of managing director of the Beck Group commercial construction firm, comes a new perspective. One, quite frankly, that is as welcome as it is overdue.

Ellison, of course, wants to maintain the John Ramil-inspired momentum that has concentrated on diversifying the economy through biotechnology growth. He also has cited international trade — especially with Mexico — and downtown redevelopment – notably affordable housing – as priorities.

But those should now be givens on anybody’s watch. As obvious as maxing out on the biotech potential of USF, recruiting more containerized cargo and overseas flights and creating a downtown that doesn’t look like a high-rise Potemkin at night.

What Ellison really brings to the table is a candid, practical agenda that emphasizes the role of the business community in education – especially vocational and technical. According to Ellison, the community has “lost focus” on those who don’t see college in their future. And that’s about one in five Hillsborough County grads. This works to our detriment, he stresses, because these are the people “we need in our industries.”

Bingo.

While we all acknowledge the need for those who are creative, technologically gifted and entrepreneurial, we can’t neglect our bread and butter, if you will. To wit: Construction – and its myriad trade subsets — as well as the health care, hospitality and tourism sectors.

Next step is an upgraded collaboration between business/industry and education and additional stress on apprenticeship programs. But first, somebody needed to say what Ellison said. That everybody doesn’t go to college; nor should they. We need plumbers more than sociologists. A construction guy would know that.

Earlier this month, Joe Redner opened Inferno, an adult, uh, “themed” club in Ybor City. In the grand scheme of things, this is not what Tampa’s historic Latin Quarter needs in its entertainment mix. That’s why there’s Adamo Drive.

But grand schemes aren’t what they used to be. At certain hours, Ybor still seems the exclusive province of the tattoo -and beer-by-the-can crowd. Then there’s the curfew-creating Club Bling.

Not enough adults spending enough money is an all-too-familiar refrain.

Enter Inferno. According to Redner and early reports from the field, Inferno is operating within the confines of zoning ordinances that prohibit adult businesses — but permit risqué business. The Inferno dancers, says Redner, wear tops and bottoms and will only engage in eye contact with customers.

Two points.

First, never forget that Redner will continue to push the legal envelope on adult-business ordinances. It’s his raison d’etre. Remember, he is still fighting to re-open Ybor’s adult Club Flamingo, which the city shut down in the 1990s.

Second, Redner – for all of his arrogance and hustle — knows his way around the First Amendment and is an astute businessman. He certainly knows his market – older guys with money – and knows they would be a welcome presence in Ybor.

As he told the Tampa Tribune, “My dancers are looking for mature men with a pocket full of money. They’re not looking for 18-year-olds.”

To be sure.

He also told the Trib: “I’m going to raise the caliber of clientele in Ybor City

It was re-affirming to see the numbers for The Florida Aquarium’s most recent fiscal year. The Channel District attraction took in revenue of $11.8 million, the best ever performance in its nine-year history. As a result, the city’s subsidy was lowered (from $850,000 to $750,000) for the current operating budget.

What was re-affirmed is that the Aquarium can be both educational – and fun. And marketed mainly as the latter. It didn’t open that way and debuted to disappointment.

While attendance — 608,000 compared with 582,000 in 2003 – was up, that’s only part of the equation. Visitors also stayed longer and spent more in the gift shops and restaurants.

A key reason is the new Explore A Shore, a 2.5-acre play area for kids that has been a magnet for moms and young children. The key catalyst was Thom Stork, the Aquarium’s president, who overcame some staff doubters and pushed hard for the $2-million addition. Statistics show that visitors have doubled their stay on average – from two to four hours – since the introduction of Explore A Shore in March.

Prior to his arrival in 2002, Stork had been in senior management positions with Busch Gardens and SeaWorld in Orlando. It shows.

Moreover, the upturns in revenue and attendance have been achieved without compromising the integrity of the environmental education that remains at the heart of the Aquarium experience.

But first you have to get your visitors through the turnstiles.

While Jan Platt arguably has earned her “Commissioner No” moniker, her legacy will include an affirmative response she delivered back in the 1980s. That’s when, in an earlier stint as Hillsborough County commissioner, she gave the go-ahead to a task force to study the need and feasibility of a local history museum. The process would take a circuitous path, but the true believers never gave up.

Now those need-and-feasibility questions have been answered, and the city and county recently signed a deal to build the $17 million Tampa Bay History Center. The 32,000-square-foot facility will rise on a stretch of land that is part of Cotanchobee-Fort Brooke Park that fronts Garrison Channel across from Harbour Island. The opening is planned for 2008, at which time the current cramped quarters within the Tampa Convention Center will itself be rendered a piece of history.

The significance of the signed museum agreement cannot be overstated. Any more than history can be overstated.

As Kierkegaard put it, “Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards.” We need to know where we’ve been – as a societal guide to where we’re going. Tampa – and the Tampa Bay region — is hardly an exception.

In fact, with a population that is so native-challenged, knowing the history of this place we all call home is critical to our identity as a community that is both evolving – and fast-forwarding. There’s enough that divides us through our often competing interests. But if you’re here, it’s your history too – city and county.

What is also significant is how the pieces came together.

For openers, the hard-core history backers had to do a lot more than make the case in the abstract for a museum – regardless of what Kierkegaard said. They had to hustle and fundraise as an incentive for tax money. To date, they’ve raised some $9.5 million toward a $20-million, permanent endowment. The county, via the Community Investment Tax, had pledged $17 million for construction.

Then the Florida Communities Trust provided funds for a land segment that was the final phase of Cotanchobee-Fort Brooke Park.

Finally, the County Commission, which is hardly a rubber stamp for projects actually located in Tampa, reaffirmed its commitment with a unanimous vote in October. Last week Mayor Pam Iorio and county commission Chairman Jim Norman signed off on the agreement bringing downtown Tampa a notch closer to a cultural arts destination.

One final thought. Here’s hoping that this recent lesson in cooperation is not soon forgotten, and that there’s no reversion to the “us-vs-them” mentality that has characterized so much of past city-county relations. Then it won’t be Kierkegaard – but Santayana who will need quoting: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

There were some dropped jaws and quizzical looks after that recent Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization vote that nixed a plan for going after federal dollars to extend Tampa’s 2.4-mile streetcar line. This came one day after Tampa City Council had voted to do just that.

What was at stake was some $3 million in federal transportation funds to take the line from the Tampa Convention Center north to Whiting Street near the Fort Brooke Parking Garage — about three-eights of a mile. The plan was part of an overall, long-term strategy to create a more diverse ridership by luring downtown workers.

The 6-5 vote did not include Tampa City Councilman Kevin White, who had to leave early. But it did include a surprise “no” from the Tampa Port Authority representative, Deputy Director Zelko Kirincich. The Port Authority, with lots of frontage on the line and conspicuously appreciative of any cruise-passenger amenity, has been a streetcar supporter.

Proponents of the streetcar – and eventually light rail for Tampa – see the MPO vote as a serious blow to the trolley’s future as something more than an economic development tool and tourist attraction. They also see the heavy-handed yet deft orchestration of Commissioner Ronda Storms at work.

They’re now looking to Mayor Pam Iorio, whose long-term outlook envisions the trolley as a viable automobile alternative, for help. Said one insider still taken aback by the MPO vote: “The question is, ‘Does the mayor have the will and ability to turn this thing around and get it re-heard.'”

In other words, will the mayor go to new Interim Port Director William Starkey – Kirincich’s boss – and ask him to step in? Is the street car extension – and future commuter scenarios — important enough right now to warrant a battle of the bully pulpits with Ronda Storms?

Or is it already time to quote Santayana again?

Early returns indicate voters chose wisely by electing Mark Sharpe to the County Commission. Common sense and business acumen are a holy alliance.

He’s already been appointed by his fellow commissioners to monitor the unfolding Scripps scenarios in Palm Beach and help prepare a new pitch should the Scripps’ plot thicken.

Moreover, in casting a vote on behalf of property-tax relief for the Lightning, he said something that ought to be repeated every meeting – right after the invocation.

“Sometimes in the effort to save a nickel, we lose a dollar,” he observed.

Amen.

As someone who has participated in the Great American Teach-In, I can verify that the experience can benefit both students and volunteers. Some, of course, more than others.

What’s important to remember is this. Some speakers share insights on an occupation, avocation or profession. Others are more oriented to delivering messages concerning values, responsibilities and ethics. And then there is the de facto, show-and-tell holiday.

One middle school class gets an oncologist; others get a stuntman, a card trickster, a belly dancer. Still others are privy to a helicopter and any number of things it might be related to. Some elementary school students hear from a former pro athlete and Rhodes Scholar nominee who has a compelling message about staying out of trouble and away from drugs. Others learn about thermal imaging equipment. Others get a spooked gelding.

Picture this: A shouting match at a street dance in downtown St. Petersburg between Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker.

Actually, it’s a scripted exchange from an upcoming musical comedy, “Crossing The Bay,” that plays next month (Jan. 25-30) at Tampa’s Falk Theatre. The play, which is filled with local history from both sides of the bay, features Mayors Iorio and Baker in cameo roles (opening night only) that underscore — in a good-natured way — the historic, inter-county rivalries and prejudices.

“Crossing The Bay,” which will debut in St. Petersburg Jan. 5, is a production of St. Pete-based LiveArts Peninsula Foundation, a 3-year-old organization whose mission is to preserve and celebrate Florida’s heritage through the stories of its past. A previous LiveArts production was a reprise of the acclaimed “Webb’s City: The Musical.” In fact, “Crossing The Bay” is by Bill Leavengood and Lee Ahlin, the writer-composer/lyricist team who created “Webb’s City.”

“Crossing The Bay” is based on Jane Austin’s comedy-of-manners classic, “Pride and Prejudice,” and is reset in the post-Civil War Tampa Bay area. The playwright draws parallels between British middle class and aristocracy clashes in the 1800s and conflicts between rural Southerners and wealthy Northern industrialists. The vehicle for such conflicts is the competition to bring the railroad to Florida’s West Coast.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” says Leavengood, 44, “and I didn’t know some of the history between the counties. We’re bringing that to life. And ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is just so much fun to adapt – it’s full of fabulous characters and subtext.”

Tickets may be purchased through the website: www.liveartspen.com . Information is available at the box office (813) 426-3416.