Category: Tampa Bay

We all have stuff we keep on keeping. Call it memorabilia. Call it personal litter.

Some of it winds up on a shelf somewhere next to a cool bobblehead. Some of it remains in that attic shoe box.

And every now and then we’re reminded of its relevance when something is retrieved from exile. Here’s one such–recently unearthed amid abandoned postcards and hotel stationery. It’s a commemorative card–in the shape and format of old baseball cards–from March 14, 1990.

It was a souvenir to welcome the formally attired guests to the 43rd Annual Governor’s Baseball Dinner–held for the first time at the new Florida Suncoast Dome Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg. Appropriately enough, Tampa’s Bob Martinez was Florida’s presiding governor. I was there because I was the editor of a business magazine that had a cover story on “The Bay Area’s Big League Pitch”–one that also featured a mock-up of what the Dome would look like when configured for baseball.

The card had a picture of the Dome on the front and some bullet points on the flip side. In order: *”MAJOR LEAGUE COMMITMENT … 22,697 Season Ticket reservations sold in 30 days. *United Political and Corporate support coupled with a dedicated local ownership group. *MAJOR LEAGUE MARKET … 13th largest media market in America. Florida’s number one metro in America’s 4th most populous state. *MAJOR LEAGUE FACILITY … A 43,000 seat baseball showcase.”

The facility had been built on spec–despite the less-than-encouraging words of Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth–because, damn it, it was about time something important came to St. Pete. A football stadium, a state university main campus, an international airport, a major amusement park–they had all gone to the Tampa side of Tampa Bay. That was the mindset; that was the motivation; that was the mistake.

Amid all the pomp, ceremony and amped small talk about spring training history and MLB expansion plans and relocation rumors, there was no ignoring the elephant in the room, even then. A free-lance writer friend and I shared pachyderm intimations over liberally-poured Merlot.

Spring-training tradition, which is tourist driven, does not equate to prime time. St. Petersburg, on the fringe of an asymmetrical market with deceptive marketplace numbers, a ton of parochialism, residents with allegiances to other places, lifestyle competition from golf, tennis and fishing and a dearth of corporate headquarters, seemed problematic.

But then this is the way journalists think. They’re not card-carrying chamber of commerce reps for a reason.

As it turned out, the city unsuccessfully wooed the Chicago White Sox, the Seattle Mariners, the San Francisco Giants and the Minnesota Twins and watched Colorado and Miami grab the first expansion slots in 1993.

But in 1995 the Vince Naimoli ownership group was awarded (along with Arizona) an expansion franchise. One that had been in competition with Frank Morsani’s Tampa Bay Baseball Group, which wanted to build a privately-financed stadium in Tampa. MLB did Morsani–and this region–wrong. Three years and $85 million in Dome renovations later, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were reality.

The resultant, long-term lease was the quid pro quo for letting the Rays keep the bulk of revenues from a public building. There were no attendance clauses for the Rays to invoke just in case.

Well, “just in case” happened. In 1999 attendance nosedived from a 31,600 average in the debut year to 21,600. Not even the novelty of Major League Baseball was enough to prevent the onset of the new normal in year two. Not even a (2008) World Series season (22,200) moved the numbers appreciably. Now the Rays regularly finish last in attendance among the 30 MLB franchises. Last year it was 15,400.

As I look at my Florida Suncoast Dome souvenir and recall those conversational misgivings, I don’t feel particularly prescient. Just perplexed.

This is still a sprawling area that lacks mass transit. St. Pete is still on the western fringe. This is also a market where only 600,000 people currently live within a 30-minute drive of the Trop, the fewest among all MLB franchises. And it’s still corporate headquarters-challenged. Etc.

In short, when so many factors still militate against success, you must knock it out of the park on the one critical variable you can control: stadium venue. The recent vote by the St. Pete City Council assures the Rays the right to look across the bay. It doesn’t certify success, but it does insure that the future-less status quo will no longer prevail.

But there are no guarantees. Just ask Frank Morsani.

I see where next up (Jan. 20) in the USF Lecture Series is Grammy-winning rapper/social activist  Killer Mike.

It took me back to my days as USF media relations manager and a member of the University Lecture Series committee. On occasion, I would pick up a speaker at TIA and, if necessary, conversationally introduce them to USF and Tampa Bay. Some, to be sure, were more interesting and engaging than others. The most memorable: Timothy Leary, P.J. O’Rourke, Andrew Young, Spike Lee, William F. Buckley Jr., Michael Dukakis and Dinesh D’Souza.

* Leary, years removed from LSD, if not lingering after-effects, was scattered, funny and irreverent. I would have liked to have met him in his Harvard prime. I don’t know who enjoyed the press conference more: the press, me or Leary. His colorful-chaotic-life slideshow was anti-climatic after his “OK-guys-but-this-is-absolutely-the-last-question-for-Dr. Leary” press conference.

* The humorist O’Rourke was riding a wave of pop-culture acclaim with “Parliament of Whores,” his sardonic take on the U.S. government. His small talk wasn’t funny, just pleasantly reserved. His presentation, a few hours later, was anything but.

* Young, civil rights icon, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and ex-mayor of Atlanta was low-key and classy. Always impressive when important people are not self-important.

* Lee, who was beyond well-compensated, couldn’t make the effort to prepare. He knew his audience would be fan-laden and fawning. He began by saying that since everybody knew his works, the most recent of which were “Jungle Fever” and “Malcolm X,” he would just take questions. Lame. His press conference, typically defined as part of the contract agreement, was perfunctory and dismissive. Call it, ironically, a drive-by lecture.

* I was, frankly, expecting “Firing Line” posturing and maybe a hint of pomposity, but with Buckley I got an unpretentious and casual mien. I remember he wanted to know why the University of South Florida wasn’t further south. I regaled him with the relevant history that included Congressman Sam Gibbons’ role in the self-serving, if geographically inaccurate, name–in order to win far-reaching legislative help. He loved it.

* Dukakis also did an interview for WUSF Radio. Before hand, he chatted with staff members. The former Massachusetts governor who lost the presidential election to George H.W. Bush in 1988, was downright deferential and asked most of the questions. He seemed genuinely interested in who everybody was and what their hopes were–not just their political takes. How many politicians, a few years removed from a presidential run, would be asking the questions?

* D’Souza was an inclusive sop to conservatives. A research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan, the Mumbai, India native had recently authored “Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus.” He was reserved in manner, dry in humor–and combative. He knew black students resented his brown skin/right-wing-views combination. He reveled in their disdain. He gave better than he got from an audience dotted with argumentative, Black Student Union members. No lack of sound bites for the media that night.

But that was then–and this is not.

The good news for St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport is that 2015 was a record-breaking year for passenger traffic. Indeed, there is a viable niche within the same market as world-class Tampa International Airport.

The bad news: Almost all of those flights were accounted for by Allegiant Air. Of late, Allegiant has become almost synonymous with emergency landings. Blaming the pilots’ union for scaring up unfounded concerns about safety is not the same as reassurance.

Who could argue with this?

The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Parade of Pirates has altered course when it comes to selecting a grand marshal. It has named a genuine American hero for the Jan. 30 event. The selection committee went with patriotic inspiration over traditional celebrity.

Actually, it’s a refinement over last year’s parade when the duties were split between TV host (Saved by the Bell and Extra) Mario Lopez and MacDill Air Force Base’s U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Faris.

Over the years, Gasparilla grand marshaling has been a pop-culture and sports-celeb gig. Past GMs have eclectically ranged from Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans to Joel and Bryan Glazer. Honest. Other notables: comedian Jim Belushi, All Star pitcher David Price and, uh, Woody Woodpecker. It doesn’t get much more eclectic than that.

But now it will be Romulo Camargo, an Army vet from New Tampa, who’s a quadriplegic. He took a bullet in the neck during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2008. He will ride in a customized motorcycle sidecar.

Who could argue with a home-grown hero as grand marshal for the Jan. 30 parade? Well, actually, I could.

Here’s why. The Crystal River High grad, who had risen to the rank of chief warrant officer 3, deserves better. While Gasparilla has been reined in and is much better policed these past few years, it still remains an homage to drinking and titillation. That’s far from the ideal forum for a “hero.” It’s a matter of respect.

Let Jameis Winston play the part, or invite Joe Maddon, who lives along the Bayshore Boulevard parade route and has time before the Cubs begin spring training.

What would actually have made more sense would have been to name Camargo the grand marshal of the G-rated Children’s Parade this Saturday.

As we know, the Children’s Parade is no longer some cute, undercard spin-off. No longer a token sop to the sober and some young families. No longer a nominal, little parade.

Crowds now swell to more than 200,000 along Bayshore. It attracts more than 100 floats and 50 participating krewes. Plus marching bands, dance squads and various school and community groups. It’s that big.

No wonder it also merits its own air show and a culminating “Piratechnic” extravaganza. In short, all the trappings of an impressively big parade–sans drunks and punks.

The Children’s Parade is now an all-call, must-see for Family Tampa–black and white and brown. Parents and their kids. It’s about having a good time. Feeling safe. Enjoying where we live. Celebrating who we are.

What a venue–and forum–for an American hero.

Recently released (2014-15) statistics show that this county’s high school graduation rate is 76 percent. It’s tops in the Tampa Bay area. It’s also 2.5 percentage points above what it was in 2013-14. That’s the good news, if you don’t dwell on the fact that nearly one in four high school students still doesn’t graduate.

What’s downright discouraging is that at Armwood (64.5%) and Middleton (65.7), it’s more like one in three.

For the record, Plant (96.2%) and Steinbrenner (94.8%) were at the other end of the scale.

Bob Buckhorn and Rick Kriseman, Tampa Bay’s two anchor mayors are more than friends. They also have overlapping agendas. There is, for example, an amiable, bottom-line understanding on the Rays, an honest interest in making the numbers work for a bay area ferry service and sincere commitment to celebrate our diversity.

They part ways on the recruiting of a Cuban consulate. Kriseman is pro-actively pitching St. Petersburg as a host. Buckhorn is sitting it out.

His rationale is a familiar one: loyalty. Buckhorn has friends who lost their country to Castro.  He stands by them. “I cannot be disrespectful of that experience,” he recently explained.

We get it. It’s what friends do.

But it’s not what mayors should do when confronted with emotional allegiance within a larger constituency. He is allowing that relationship, however understandable and admirable, to be a counterproductive influence on what’s best for Tampa.

There’s still time to do the right thing for this city, Mayor Bob.

We all know that we don’t do things as a community the way we used to. Technological changes are largely responsible. Polarizing politics also has a role. Exhibit A may be modern voting patterns. Less than half the voters now turn out in person on the designated voting day. It’s the new normal.

But one enterprising business recently added a surprise community event. Courtesy of Shred360’s mobile shredding truck, there was a community shredding last week. The public could bring up to five boxes of sensitive papers for a free shredding.

It speaks societal volumes when you hype a community shredding, but it counts.

In the grand scheme of downtown revitalization, it’s hardly stop-the-presses stuff.  But it’s hardly going unnoted.

For too long there have been 6,000 blatantly unoccupied square feet of storefront space at the corner of S. Franklin Street and Channelside Drive across from the Tampa Convention Center. It’s actually the ground floor of the convention center’s parking garage–and has been vacant since 2009 when it was the uber-constricted digs of the Tampa Bay History Center.

As humbling as that was, it was better than having vacant property across from where thousands of out-of-towners were getting their first look at Tampa.

Well, that’s about to change.

The landlord, which happens to be the city of Tampa, wants it occupied. It’s now in prime position to add more infill as major, critical-mass projects are realized around it. Another synergistic rite of passage for downtown, if you will. And, no, Jeff Vinik will not be involved.

To that end, the city will soon issue a request for proposals to put a restaurant or retail in the space. Expect Richard Gonzmart, the avatar of vintage Tampa touches, to be the key player.

We all know that Victor Crist is now the Hillsborough County Commission’s swing vote on the Go Hillsborough transit issue. We also all know that–as opposed to some tie-breaking Supreme Court Justices–he doesn’t want this role. To him, it’s strictly “lose-lose” because a sizable percentage of the electorate will disagree with him. And it will cost him politically.

Too terribly tough.

At the risk of sounding naive beyond redemption, tough votes come with the territory. The ultimate criterion for a public official has to be a gut feeling based on research for what is right. Loud voices and prolific signage are more synonymous with an agenda than discernment. The future of Hillsborough County is more important than the political staying power of Victor Crist.

If you’re looking for a positional hint, here’s one. Crist’s criteria includes this litmus test: “It must be passable” in a referendum. Sounds like code for no.

Given the “no tax for anything” mentality and track record of voters outside Tampa, his vote is most likely to transform Go Hillsborough into Gone Hillsborough.

Given Tampa’s historical roots and geography, it’s no surprise that Cuba is an ongoing subject of interest around here. And given the politics and some personal back stories, it’s no surprise that Cuba is also the source of subplots around here.

Should, for example, we make the civic effort to recruit a Cuban consulate? The Greater Tampa and Ybor City chambers of commerce think it’s a great idea. So do the Tampa City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission. Hell, if José Martí had a vote, he’d be in favor.

Now we find that among the naysayers are those fearing it could become a “spy hotbed.” Heads up CENTCOM and SOCOM.

And heads up Cold War paranoia. Cuba is not an enemy. Jihadists are. Russia is problematic. So is cyber-combative China. But what’s left of what the Castros wrought is not a threat to anybody but agenda-driven Cold Warriors.

And this just in. Tampa is a leading candidate to host the Cuban National Conference, a gathering of anti-Castro, Cuban dissidents, in April. If comparable paranoia were to prevail, then we should be wary of Batistianos planning cabals in our midst.