Category: Tampa Bay

It’s beyond ironic.

Just last month Tampa International Airport was recognized as the top passenger-rated large airport in the country–edging out counterparts in Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Chicago (Midway) and Atlanta. Pretty heady company.

In fact, two years ago TIA placed third globally in passenger satisfaction. In short, since its grand opening in 1971, TIA has been regularly saluted for making passengers a priority–from Landside/Airside design to the pioneering people-mover system.

You know the reality and gut feeling–even during current construction–when you fly home from anywhere to TIA. However weary, you also feel proud. We did this.

The term “world class” is frequently abused, but not where TIA is concerned.

And lest we take it for granted, TIA wasn’t located on the exurb fringes of the metro hub, where most such land-devouring projects are relegated these days. It’s six miles west of downtown Tampa, where it abuts the Westshore business district. Beyond prescient and fortunate.

Now for the irony.

Imagine, an area that was so far ahead of the air travel curve–the go-to prototype for other airports such as Orlando–is also a region notorious for its inability to make mass transit happen. Apparently, we can’t do this.

Among major metro areas, the two infamous, mass-transit laggards are still Tampa Bay and Detroit. That’s not company we want to keep. Three years ago a national study by the Brookings Institution ranked Tampa Bay 77th out of 100 metro areas for accessible mass transit. Jackson, Miss., was 76th. Embarrassing. Or should have been.

Just ask Jeff Vinik what question he hears most frequently after an out-of-town, PowerPoint presentation to potential Amalie area relocatees. Variations on a modern transportation theme: As in, how the hell is it that road-building remains your definition of mass transit?

Mess transit is obviously an economic-growth governor, and it’s a quality-of-life suppressant.

And, as we also know, attempts to address our most glaring infrastructure need continue to fail in frustrating fashion.

The 2010 referendum, which deigned to highlight rail, failed in a countywide vote–although it passed in the city–and passed muster with the business community. Then there was the recent Go Hillsborough debacle, a modestly helpful, vision-challenged initiative, which won’t be making it to the fall ballot thanks to an “old-fashion intuition” swing vote.

Among the clearly disappointed, Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who would have been placated with rail connecting downtown to TIA–but wanted a dedicated, 30-year revenue stream to accommodate debt-service, bonding and federal grant scenarios.

“To know now that the county commission is unwilling to even let the citizens have a say is discouraging at best,” said Buckhorn. “…For those who choose not to give voters the ability to choose their own future, the burden is on them to come up with a solution.”

Odds are the half-cent sales tax would not have passed in November anyhow. But that should be the prerogative of the people–not ideological commissioners who have been known to prioritize the loudest constituents over the most pressing needs.

That stark reality underscores another scenario, one that may have to play out if we are to reach even modest mass transit goals during our lifetime. It’s past time that cities of a certain size–not just counties–were given the legal right to put a referendum issue on the ballot. So far, the Florida Legislature has ignored entreaties from Buckhorn and other major-city mayors to make that change.

But why? Surely, it’s not ideological. What’s wrong with a democratic, pragmatic solution to address a sic(k) transit syndrome that keeps us out of step with major metro economic development in the 21st century?

Or if you want to wax idealistic: What’s wrong with self determination? Why not allow Tampa, absent the usual unincorporated albatrosses, to determine its own transit fate?  Electrical shuttles around downtown won’t be enough.

And as for TIA, that billion-dollar expansion and renovation project–the one that Gov. Rick Scott and the FDOT approve of–is going swimmingly.

* First, the bad news: Still no mass transit plan for a region–and a city–in desperate need of one. Twenty-five years ago.

The, uh, good news: Free, six-passenger, electric shuttles are coming to downtown this summer.

* Speaking of transportation. Prepare accordingly if you are taking in a Saturday night show at the Straz Center–and it’s the same day as the annual RiverFest. Last Saturday’s evening performance of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” was delayed nearly 45 minutes because of traffic congestion. But, yes, it was well worth the wait–and it was the right thing to do in an 8 p.m., half-full Morsani Hall for the sold-out show.

Moreover, it was great to see (from the Cass Street Bridge) the overflowing, energized crowds enjoying the Riverwalk ambiance. It was a graphic reminder of how far we’ve come–from industrial-use wharves and parking lots lining the Hillsborough River to a park-museum-amenity magnet for visitors and locals, including hot air balloon enthusiasts.

It’s beyond ironic.

Just last month Tampa International Airport was recognized as the top passenger-rated large airport in the country–edging out counterparts in Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Chicago (Midway) and Atlanta. Pretty heady company.

In fact, two years ago TIA placed third globally in passenger satisfaction. In short, since its grand opening in 1971, TIA has been regularly saluted for making passengers a priority–from Landside/Airside design to the pioneering people-mover system.

You know the reality and gut feeling–even during current construction–when you fly home from anywhere to TIA. However weary, you also feel proud. We did this.

The term “world class” is frequently abused, but not where TIA is concerned.

And lest we take it for granted, TIA wasn’t located on the exurb fringes of the metro hub, where most such land-devouring projects are relegated these days. It’s six miles west of downtown Tampa, where it abuts the West Shore business district. Beyond prescient and fortunate.

Now for the irony.

Imagine, an area that was so far ahead of the air travel curve–the go-to prototype for other airports such as Orlando–is also a region notorious for its inability to make mass transit happen. Apparently, we can’t do this.

Among major metro areas, the two infamous, mass-transit laggards are still Tampa Bay and Detroit. That’s not company we want to keep. Three years ago a national study by the Brookings Institution ranked Tampa Bay 77th out of 100 metro areas for accessible mass transit. Jackson, Miss., was 76th. Embarrassing. Or should have been.

Just ask Jeff Vinik what question he hears most frequently after an out-of-town, PowerPoint presentation to potential Amalie area relocatees. Variations on a modern mass transit theme: As in, how the hell is it that you’re still paving over paradise down there?

Mess transit is obviously an economic-growth governor, and it’s a quality-of-life suppressant.

And, as we also know, attempts to address our most glaring infrastructure need continue to fail in frustrating fashion.

The 2010 referendum, which deigned to highlight rail, failed in a countywide vote–although it passed in the city–and passed muster with the business community. Then there was the recent Go Hillsborough debacle, a modestly helpful, vision-challenged initiative, which likely won’t make it to the fall ballot thanks to “old-fashion intuition” and the in-your-face, no-tax for anything crowd.

Among the clearly disappointed, Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who would have been placated with rail connecting downtown to TIA–but would have needed a dedicated, 30-year revenue stream to accommodate debt-service, bonding and federal grant scenarios.

“To know now that the county commission is unwilling to even let the citizens have a say is discouraging at best,” said Buckhorn. “…For those who choose not to give voters the ability to choose their own future, the burden is on them to come up with a solution.”

Odds are the half-cent sales tax would not pass in November. But that should be the prerogative of the people–not ideological commissioners who have been known to prioritize the loudest constituents over the most pressing needs.

But that stark reality underscores another scenario, one that may have to play out if we are to reach even modest mass transit goals around here. It’s past time that cities of a certain size–not just counties–were given the legal right to put a referendum issue on the ballot. So far, the Florida Legislature, has ignored entreaties from Buckhorn and other major-city mayors to make that change.

But why? Surely, it’s not ideological. What’s wrong with a democratic, pragmatic solution to address a sic(k) transit syndrome that keeps us out of step with major metro economic development in the 21st century?

Or if you want to wax idealistic: What’s wrong with self determination? Why not allow Tampa, absent the usual unincorporated albatrosses, to determine its own transit fate? Free, six-passenger electrical shuttles around downtown won’t be enough.

And as for TIA, that billion-dollar expansion and renovation project, the one that Gov. Rick Scott and the FDOT approve of, is going swimmingly.

According to a Money Magazine survey of 20 major markets–from Seattle to Chicago to Miami–Tampa/St. Petersburg had the strongest forecast for home-price growth: 8.7 percent. Seattle came in at 8.3 percent; Chicago, 5 percent; and Miami, 5.6 percent.

One of these years we’re going to have that race “conversation” we keep promoting and promising ourselves. You know, the one steeped in candor; the one where all the racial elephants in the room are stampeded. The one where we get to walk in another race’s shoes and talk about how those stereotypes hurt–and how, frankly, they happen.

For a number of reasons, mostly political, the first African-American president has largely skirted the issue. But Barack Obama, an accomplished orator, has shown sympathy and empathy as well as colorless context when formally speaking out after a tragic, racially-related loss of life. And he did have that beer with Henry Louis Gates and a white cop.

But race is still a touchy subject in “post-racial,” majority-white, politically polarized America. We wind up talking past each other after each high-profile crucible–from Ferguson, Cleveland and Chicago to Staten Island and Baltimore.

The issue of police abuse in minority communities is on every municipality’s radar, especially those, such as Tampa, with large African-American populations. We recently saw the formation of a citizens police review board turn into a power struggle and racial melodrama. No one was surprised.

Now we have the results from that U.S. Department of Justice report on the racial disparities in the ticketing of bicyclists around Tampa. It’s hardly a white-washing of black grievances.

There’s been a pattern with blacks, roughly a quarter of the city’s population, being disproportionately cited, it said. In 2014, for example, more than 80 percent of bike citations were given to blacks. During one three-year period, Tampa Police wrote more bike tickets–from no lights to handle-bar riders–than Jacksonville, Miami, St. Petersburg and Orlando combined.

What’s up with that?

According to the feds, racial disparities are a demonstrable fact. But no discriminatory intent was found. The intent, the report said, was to use bicycle stops to reduce crime in high-crime, often black, communities. Individuals perceived to be suspicious were targeted. They were typically black.

“The TPD burdened black bicyclists by disproportionately stopping them, with the intention of benefiting black communities by increasing their public safety,” noted the report.

The ironic upshot: Crime-reduction was negligible, according to data, but bike stops did impair police relations with the communities.

Maybe this is impetus for that Tampa conversation. The report itself even recommended “greater community engagement” over policies.

So, why were police, who don’t ticket on Davis Islands or along Bayshore Boulevard, targeting minority bicyclists in black communities? In part, because members of those communities had made the case that bikes, often without lights, were frequently pedaled by those involved in certain crimes, often of opportunity. Vulnerable residents felt preyed upon.

They wanted protection–but not heavy-handed profiling.

Good, community policing requires a professional, proactive approach. Preventing crime is better than after-the-fact arrests. It also means knowing the community you’re policing–not just in the context of crime prevention and solution. It’s called relating to people as people, without their labels–color, neighborhood or badge. It’s how trust, which is imperative, is built.

Before we get to the cherry-picking agenda of Black Lives Matter or reconsider subpoena power for the police review board, we should all be able to agree on this: The police and the community must be on the same side. That can’t happen, however, unless they know each other beyond their racial and crime-fighting identities.

And that can’t happen without talking to each other. Whether the conversations are over a beer, at a barbecue or on a front step.

It’s actually a bit of a misnomer: the planned makeover of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. This $35.5 million project is about so much more than a park, however much a 23-acre public jewel it can become.

It’s about a vision. It’s about synergy. It’s about an investment.  And it’s about energizing the western side of downtown and reconnecting a reinvigorated West Tampa.

It’s about investing serious seed money, a good chunk of which ($15 million) comes courtesy, as it were, of BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

And it’s a variation on a fundamental economic theme: It takes money to attract money. This is a public-investment catalyst in the further development of downtown’s best asset.

It was cloudless and mid-day, Tampa hot. Seams in newly-laid sod were still apparent. Newly-planted palm trees afforded no shade. It was not your basic walk in the park.

Nor was it meant to be. Too much has happened here–and in America–for this to be a routine stroll.

This was renovated, rejuvenated Perry Harvey Sr. Park, just northeast of downtown Tampa–and several generations removed from its status as the Central Avenue zeitgeist of black business and cultural life. Where the arts and iconic music–from Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald to James Brown and Ray Charles–once thrived. It was the “Harlem of the South” to locals and a bustling haven from Jim Crow segregation.

In the 1800s it had been “the Scrub,” an emancipated-slave enclave. It embodied a spectrum of history.

Then that historic timeline was severed by urban renewal projects and race riots.

It’s all chronicled at the park that features timeline sidewalks, homage to civil rights pioneers and creative art installations that change as you walk past them. There is also ample green space, interactive fountains and–at the apex of the park–a prominent bronze statue of the union boss and civil rights leader who was Perry Harvey Sr. Plus basketball courts and at the far north end, the Bro Bowl skatepark.

These days ENCORE residences continue to rise nearby and downtown’s highly visible, protean skyline is a graphic reminder of a different, contemporary time. But it’s one that is complemented by a sense that this iteration of what once was belongs here–centered at Central Avenue and Scott Street. That you don’t leave your history behind as you move municipally forward.

It is, as Mayor Bob Buckhorn noted at the park’s recent dedication: “A living, breathing history lesson.”

It also says something about our 2016 priorities.

This $6.3 million project is not part of Jeff Vinik’s master plan. It has nothing to do with millennial hiring and mass transit aspirations. It’s not part of the Riverwalk, Straz-ambience, Rays stadium or PayPal conversations.

No, it won’t be associated with Tampa “getting its swagger back.”

But it does mean that Tampa has perspective. It doesn’t forget who it is and where it came from. By celebrating what was once a thriving black community, Perry Harvey Sr. Park assures the memory–and lessons–of history live on.

The legacy of Perry Harvey Sr. deserves no less.

You don’t have to have had a lot of personal history with the Colonnade Restaurant to feel a sense of loss over its closure to make way for condominiums. A Bayshore waterfront icon defies individual patronage.

But it was no shock. The land–which went for $6.2 million–was worth more than the landmark. We all get the marketplace and real estate timing.

But what was surprising was the unlikely denouement. No final, formal goodbye to generations with fond memories dating as far back as the Roosevelt administration.

Icons, even family-owned ones, deserve better than door signage informing unsuspecting, would-be diners that the Colonnade was, well, history. Somehow, “Thank You for 80 amazing Years! We will miss you all!” didn’t sound as grateful as it should have.

A word of caution to the Pinellas County School District that is looking to significant pay hikes for teachers willing to teach at their failure factory five. The best teachers don’t do it for the money, and they’re savvy enough to know that “Stand and Deliver” and “To Sir With Love” success doesn’t happen by sheer personality. Nor in a vacuum.

It takes a community. The sort of black community support and reinforcement that, ironically, was much more common during segregation than now. Absent that kind of help, nothing materially improves.

Nice touch for Bern’s Steak House to join with the CASS Contemporary Art Gallery in bringing in renowned mural artist Tristan Eaton. His work will adorn the restaurant wall that faces Howard Avenue.

Here’s hoping Eaton, who has work permanently housed in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, can be recruited for other projects. For starters, how about the starkly utilitarian parking garage across from Bern’s and maybe certain silos downtown.