We’re still fortunate to be a two-newspaper market. And sometimes it does make for intriguing juxtapositions.
For example, it was interesting, if not surprising, how the two local dailies treated the controversial issue of the Residences at the Riverwalk, the proposed, 380-apartment tower near the Riverwalk. In the run-up to the highly-anticipated, Tampa City Council vote, both the Tampa Bay Times and the Tampa Tribune editorialized on it multiple times. The Times kept finding it oversized and misplaced. The Trib kept seeing it as an energizing catalyst for downtown. When City Council gave it preliminary approval last Thursday, the Times reported it on page one, the Trib curiously on the Metro section’s page 2. The Times’ headline was couched in a qualifier: “River Tower May Go Ahead.” The Trib’s was more assertive: “36-Story Downtown Apartment Tower Clears Hurdle.”
The reality: The vote–in front of a late-night, packed house and after three hours of discussion and testimony–was 5-2 in favor. No surprise, Mary Mulhern and Yolie Capin were the minority duo. The later, however, was surprisingly–and blatantly–unprepared. The majority approved rezoning and a plan to vacate parts of Cass and Tyler streets to help create the RATR site.
Make no mistake, however, this was the deciding vote. Next Thursday morning, council will more routinely check out the city’s roadway construction improvement agreement that formally details the developers’ previously referenced obligations.