Category: Tampa Bay

It was sort of like looking at FCAT results. You check to see if you misread something. In this case, an update on that 15-billion-gallon, above-ground reservoir in eastern Hillsborough County. The 4-year-old one with all those 3-year-old cracks. It cost $146 million to build. It could cost $125 million to repair – after it closes for two years.

 

And, yes, there are lawsuits involved. But that’s a whole different reservoir.

Perhaps you missed the story about the guy who went for that 3:30 a.m. swim in the Gulf last week. The last his friends saw was his flickering cigarette. Eventually, he was rescued by the Coast Guard after he had been in the water for nearly five hours. The Coast Guard, using a boat and a helicopter, found him about 8:30 a.m. after a 3-hour search. He was not wearing a life jacket, seemed to be suffering from hypothermia and was bobbing around about 300 yards from where he started. He will live.

 

No less important, here’s hoping this fool is made to reimburse the Coast Guard and Pinellas Count paramedics. In effect, here’s hoping the effort was worth it.

That front-page piece on teen bodybuilding in the Tampa Tribune last Sunday was as informative as it was disturbing. Who knew there were at least eight Hillsborough and Pasco County public schools that held annual novice bodybuilding contests?

 

Sure, teen obesity is a major health concern, and too many kids lead sedentary, empty-caloric lives. And, alas, serial texting now qualifies as a physical activity. But do you address it by sponsoring teen-preen, narcissism contests that can easily sow the seeds for poor nutritional choices, crash dieting, extreme dehydration and steroid seduction among the physiologically immature?

 

Whatever happened to working in a salad and doing some exercises? Or is that too uncool and quaint a concept – right there with deferred gratification?

The rumors remain rife that Dick Greco will make a mayoral comeback. The business community still loves him, and his experience, charisma and civic salesmanship trump that of all potential rivals. And then some. And when asked about his interest, Greco doesn’t preclude the possibility.  He typically notes that it would probably be “fun” – while underscoring that it’s still way too early for any kind of commitment.

 

Greco doesn’t lack for encouragement or fund-raising wherewithal. It comes with the iconic status and the historical statue.

 

But by 2011 he will be 77. The players and the challenges have changed. More than likely, it wouldn’t be as much fun as it used to be.

 

Look for Greco, who could still do the job, to continue to enjoy the speculation and even milk it — but to pass on the “Last Hurrah” opportunity.

*We all know – at least we all say – that everybody deserves a second chance. Having said that, I had a hard time reconciling Tony Dungy and Michael Vick together. Recall that nobody ever said Vick, who once signed a contract for $130 million, was an otherwise pleasant fellow who just made one, uh, mistake. I think it’s only healthy skepticism to consider that Dungy is being cynically used in Vick’s comprehensive public-relations strategy.

 

*Anybody else do a double take when looking at those recent FCAT statistics? I was hoping for a typo, but sure enough 38 per cent of Hillsborough County 10^th graders passed FCAT reading. And it’s not as if it’s hard. Worse yet, the trend is down; it was 41 per cent last year.

 

*I know some folks will disagree with this, but I still cringe when I see Hillsborough County teachers and administrators taking a pie in the face as their part in some educational quid pro quo with students. A point, and it is a valid one, is to not take your adult self too seriously. Motivation and fun should be part of the pedagogic process. But another point is to take yourself seriously enough so that others will too. Especially when, as a society, we keep trying – too often ineffectually – to bolster the status of the teaching profession.

Given what happened over at Walker Middle School recently, we are graphically reminded — again — that “bullying” is more than a rite-of-passage, “boys will be boys” matter. In fact, the Hillsborough County Commission is now using state justice grant funds to initiate an anti-bullying awareness and community outreach program. There will be a hot line and cyber link for youth to report bullying, plus posters, PSA’s and training for parents. 

 

The focus on bullying even warranted a timely, page-one Tampa Tribune piece on “Standing Up To Bullies.”

 

The article came with a sidebar on tips for stopping bullying. Advice such as being involved with your child and teaching confident body language. But it also included this: “Practice one- or two-word comebacks like ‘Wow,’ ‘Dude’ or ‘What?!’ that might throw a bully off- balance.”

 

Say what?

 

Not to sound unsalvageably old school, but in lieu of a dubious “Dude” gambit, why not

try this: Take the lad to a gym. Jab, jab, right cross. “Who’s next, Dude?”

The compromise decision reached by the Hillsborough County School District and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers’ Association is a classic win-win. Call it a victory for common sense – and, most importantly – a triumph for students.

 

The agreement allows 130 senior teachers to be something other than regrettably retired and unfortunately unemployed. The averted scenario had called for their places to be taken by rookie teachers who would have made much less than those at the top of the pay scale.

 

As a result, saving money while shortchanging students won’t happen.

 

What it means is that those 130 senior teachers, an invaluable resource in these notably challenging times, will still be on the educational front lines where they can do the most good. And since the district/CTA agreement results in these (now non-retired) teachers being paid at a fifth-year rate ($39,800), the district will still save some $3.5 million.

 

In the end, ironically, the whole flap over bringing back retired teachers and the imperative to cut budgets proved a teachable moment.

Here we go again. Next year’s school calendar has been in the news, again, and that’s never good. Sure enough, Good Friday is officially a school day in Hillsborough County in 2010 and 2011.

 

Good luck.

 

To give credit where it’s deserved, the Hillsborough County School Board did the principled thing. And that is to not declare a religious-observance day a secular holiday. That’s because it shouldn’t be. It’s also because it leaves the school board open to similar claims from other faiths – and maybe even the formally faithless – who would, understandably, all want their designated religious holidays too.

 

But the principled thing is also the problematic thing. Last time Good Friday was a school day, students, teachers and bus drivers stayed away in droves. It created safety as well as curricular issues. It was also an educational travesty. And it would likely happen again.

 

So, the pragmatic thing is the only solution. Fortuitously enough, there’s regional precedent.  Some neighboring districts are doing something eminently sensible. They will adjust accordingly, and Good Friday will just have to be part of spring break. Period.

 

At least that enforces the non-travesty principle.

This month’s Cuba News quotes Jose Valiente, chairman of the World Trade Center Tampa Bay, on the rationale for organizing a fact-finding trip of business leaders to Cuba this summer. “We want to get our community ready for when the time comes,” said Valiente, a Cuban-American. It’s all about relationships…It’s a totally non-political endeavor.”

 

Two points.

 

First, it’s problematic what can be accomplished by those who — despite positions of some influence — have never been players in sincerely trying to bridge trade differences between the U.S. and Cuba. They’ve been, in effect, part of the problem.

 

The Cubans aren’t stupid – or inattentive. They know more American interests will be coming out of the woodwork to try and self-servingly position themselves to take advantage of  opportunities in a post-embargo Cuba. Not every fact-finder will be rewarded. Some won’t even get visas.

 

Second, there’s no such thing as a fact-finding, business trip to Cuba that is “nonpolitical.”

This time the crowd left its rhetorical pitchforks and flambeaus at home.

 

The 50 or so residents who turned out recently at the Kate Jackson Center in Hyde Park came to hear how those in charge were going to improve the Gasparilla Parade. To make it safer for both attendees and local residents.

 

Word was already out that the police would be cracking down on young, drunken, trespissing anarchists. Moreover, there would be a lot more port-o-lets, additional water-side viewing areas and an extended parade route. There would even be a formal initiative to educate youth – and their parents – about alcohol abuse.

 

The good-faith game plan and presentation — by city officials and (promoter) EventFest — for Gasparilla 2010 was obviously appreciated. This was no mere lip service to placate complaining residents. Some attendees were downright praiseworthy of the game plan.

 

But the new, multi-faceted strategy was also notable for what it didn’t address: venue change.

 

Bayshore Boulevard, say those in charge as well as many in the media, is the iconically perfect place for Tampa’s signature parade. Moreover, it’s such a hallowed tradition. By all means, let’s “tweak” the venue – that’s Neighborhood Services Coordinator Santiago Corrada’s preferred verb – but don’t even dare consider relocating it from Bayshore.

 

Well, some still dare. Especially those who remember when the “tradition” meant a Kennedy Boulevard parade route and more emphasis on high school marching bands than flasher-inspired bead tossing. Especially those who live at or near today’s Gasparilla “ground zero” – South Tampa’s Hyde Park neighborhood. By way of disclaimer, that includes me.

 

Here’s the essence of the issue. A neighborhood adjacent to a huge event – and 350,000 plus qualifies – is, by definition, an inappropriate juxtaposition. And unfair to the residents. “Tweaking” won’t render it fair – or appropriate. 

 

There’s a reason why big, prominent parades – think Carnival in Rio, Macy’s in New York, the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena and the Mummers in Philadelphia – are held in downtowns and not by front lawns and neighborhood alleys. At approximately 1,400, there are still too few cops and too many drunks for an abutting neighborhood to be anything but vulnerable to invaders. “Zero tolerance” signage and smarter police deployment won’t, arguably, be deterrent enough to those inclined to societal mayhem.

 

And it certainly won’t obviate the need for homeowners to pay for property fencing and security guards. It’s called legal extortion.

 

And one final thought. If you read any of the immediate, post-Gasparilla, online comments or alternative newspaper coverage, you would have noted the barrage of proletarian piffle. As in, “If you’re lucky enough to live in a Bayshore neighborhood, then shut up about Gasparilla. Who the hell are you to complain?” It gives new meaning to non sequitur.  

 

Here’s this resident’s response:

 

            “For the record, residents of neighborhoods adjacent to the Gasparilla Parade route are not chronic ‘complainers’ and whiney elites who resent being ‘inconvenienced’ by the Gasparilla Parade Pirate Fest. In reality, we don’t mind ‘taking one for the team,’ when the team is Tampa and its signature parade.

 

“We’re no less proud of our traditions than anyone else. But we are outraged when they are perverted. And largely at our expense. We don’t think it’s a character flaw to be intolerant of those at odds with civilizational norms. Those who have had a one-day free pass to convert a ‘signature’ parade into the street party from hell.”