Tampa Is…?

St. Pete cops call Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO):  Get this illegal immigrant guy, he’s a suspect in a rape in St. Pete.

HCSO Deputies get the guy on a misdemeanor.  Meanwhile, St. Pete cops called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asked for permission to hold the illegal immigrant further.  They get no response.

So the HCSO lets the guy go free.

Two weeks later, guy (allegedly) rapes girls in Apollo Beach.

HCSO catches the guy again, this time for rape.

Citizens want to know why Sheriffs let him go the first time.

Head Sheriff David Gee claims St. Pete cops never told HCSO he was a rape suspect.

US Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite wants to know how this happened, blasts Gee.

Gee defends Sheriffs office, loudly complains “St. Pete cops never told us the guy’s a rape suspect.”  Also points finger at Legislature, ICE, some guy standing nearby, and the blogosphere.

People are outraged and pointing their own fingers everywhere:

• SPTimes columnist Sue Carlton:  It’s a crime that politics has entered equation
• Tribune columnist Steve Otto:  Is anyone out there listening?
• SPT Editorial:  Immigration mess is Congress’ fault
• Tribune Editorial:  Search For Culprit In Immigrants’ Crime Spree Starts On Capitol Hill

To be sure, ICE and your US Legislators deserve some of the blame for basic stupidity.  But the HCSO makes ‘em look like geniuses.  Especially after what happened today.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokesman revealed the truth:  “Ohhhh THAT guy?  Yeah, St. Pete cops DID tell HCSO about him.”

“Do what they did, you’ll get what they got.”

I am not sure that Tampa Bay needs to reinvent the wheel on its way to urban viability, but…

Many of the cities that have truly come back from the edge and become centers of creative post-industrial life are very different from the Tampa/St Pete metro area. They had cores that were restorable, high-density housing stocks, transit systems, and a tradition, no matter how disrupted, of urbanity, with traditional neighborhoods and spaces. With some notable exceptions, the TB area has little of this. Remaking but a part the Tampa Bay metropolitan area will be a real bootstrap job, even if we find models to emulate.

So it may be vital to find post-war sunbelt cities to learn from, if only to avoid their costly mistakes. Which auto-centric cities have done the best job of coming back from placelessness?

It is tempting to think that isolated pockets of artists, galleries, music venues scattered across the Tampa Bay area could go a long way toward making the metro area more livable; it might even be true. But I think, for several reasons, this approach is flawed:

• Lack of tourism support. Tourists prefer magnet areas.
• Lack of drawing power for diversity– do you want to be the only black guy, lesbian, or sculptor in your little art colony?
• Lack of political/economic/marketing clout. The only power in numbers.
• Lack of visibility. This has to do with spatial presence, sheer square footage.
• And anyway, has any revitalization yet emerged from a bunch of micro-centers without strong civic leadership?

Can the Tampa Bay area, the 19th largest metro area in the US, but with disproportionately fewer cultural resources than other areas, afford to spread its creative community so thinly? As transportation costs increase and time becomes more precious for many of us, is a commuting scene viable? (Not if you’re planning on having a few drinks, I hope).

With the principles of urbanism in mind–

1. Walkability
2. Connectivity
3. Mixed-Use & Diversity
4. Mixed Housing
5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design
6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure
7. Increased Density
8. Smart Transportation
9. Sustainability
10. Quality of Life

– what part of the Tampa Bay area is best suited for a big vibrant arts community?

Apathy:

Main Entry: ap·a·thy
Pronunciation: a-pə-thē\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek apatheia, from apathēs without feeling, from a- + pathos emotion
Date: 1594

• 1: lack of feeling or emotion - impassiveness
• 2: lack of interest or concern - indifference

One out of six. Imagine any six people you know, and then consider that only one of those six voted in the primary election that ended yesterday:

Voter apathy in Florida plumbed new depths Tuesday. The 2008 primary election drew the lowest statewide voter turnout for a primary in at least 50 years, and perhaps the lowest ever. Incomplete returns late Tuesday showed 16.5 percent of voters cast a ballot.

Oh wait… That is the statewide turnout. You cared even less than that:

In Pinellas County, turnout was just over 12 percent, meaning just 75,000 out of 620,000 eligible voters showed up at the polls. That set a record for primaries. The previous record for the lowest primary vote in Pinellas was 13 percent.

In Pasco, just over 12 percent of the county’s 260,593 registered voters — or about 33,000 voters — cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary.

Hernando had the highest turnout in Tampa Bay, just under 15 percent.

And Hillsborough County?

Hillsborough’s turnout was even more abysmal — fewer than seven people out of 100 went to the polls.

Less than seven percent. That’s one in fifteen.

[Update 11:45am:  Hillsborough SOE reports 10.08% voter turnout, 1 in 10.]

Don’t ever again ask: “How can someone like him get elected?”

You have your answer: You really don’t give a rat’s ass.

Today is primary election day in Hillsborough County. Primaries determine who will run for each political party in November.  Please make sure your voice is heard.

The Tampa Tribune has a list of all the area races and candidates, and here are those primary candidates for Hillsborough County elections:

Property Appraiser

• Rob Townsend (R)
• Rob Turner (R)

County Commission, District 2

• Tom Aderhold (R)
• Ken Hagan (R)

County Commission, District 6

• Brian Blair (R)
• Don Kruse (R)

County Commission, District 6

• Kevin Beckner (D)
• Denise Layne (D)
• Joe Redner (D)

Hillsborough County School Board, District 1

• Dave Schmidt
• Susan Valdes

Hillsborough County School Board, District 7

• Stephen Gorham
• Carol W. Kurdell
• Jason D. Mims

All of the Tampa Tribune Endorsements, and in Hillsborough: Rob Turner, Ken Hagan, Brian Blair, Kevin Beckner, Susan Valdes, Stephen Gorham.

All of the St. Pete Times Endorsements, and in Hillsborough: Rob Turner, Tom Aderhold, Brian Blair, Kevin Beckner, Susan Valdes, Carol W. Kurdell.

Feel free to leave your choice in the comments, and tell us why.

I know the only thing worse than hearing a fan whine about how the officials are cheating against their favorite team is hearing a fan whine about how the officials are cheating against their FIRST PLACE team.

But seeing not one, but two utterly heinous blown calls go against the beloved home town Tampa Bay Rays twice within a week is enough to make one at least react like this:

Granted, Sunday’s game in Chicago probably shouldn’t have even gone to extra innings. However, I fear that Shawn Riggans might be the Rays answer to former Lightning defender Pavel Kubina. He’s a dedicated team guy that you really want to embrace because he works hard and isn’t afraid to do more than his share of dirty work but always seems to do that one dumb thing in a game that makes you react like this:

In this case, it was dropping the ball on as easy and routine a play at home plate as you’re ever likely to see which allowed the tying run to score. Excuse me for a second please…

Of course, that doesn’t excuse the heinousness that followed.

Now, no reasonable person should think that any kind of “fix” is taking place. For one, this isn’t the NBA. Secondly, there are literally millions of reasons to believe that if there was some kind of dark conspiracy taking place behind the scenes to favor one team over another, it probably wouldn’t be for the White Sox:

Third, and most important, we’re still in first place.

Cross posted at Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness

Each year since 2003, the City of Tampa has chosen a photographer to chronicle the city for The Big Picture Photographer Laureate Program.

The purpose of the project was to commission an artist to photograph and respond to life in the City of Tampa. The Photographer Laureate Program is inspired by historic photographic projects including the Farm Workers Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, and regional Photographic Archives. The program’s long-range vision is to build a public collection comprised of images that are representative of the life and times in Tampa, by regional, national and international photographers.

Over the course of the multi-year project, an artist will be commissioned to “add a volume” for one year. The volume must be built upon a theme/topic selected by the artist/photographer and approved by the committee. Over the course of time, the city hopes to accumulate and display a full and varied representation of the multiple and diverse perspectives of artists on Tampa.

The artist chosen for 2007 was Marion Belanger (www.marionbelanger.com) from Connecticut, and the Big Picture Photographer Laureate, Volume V is now finished, and Marion’s work is open to the public.

Check out Real Estate/Spaces in Transition on view at the American Institute of Architects Gallery in downtown Tampa at 200 N. Tampa Street, Suite 100.  Find it on the west side of Tampa St. just south of Jackson.

You may want to check out the online work of previous Tampa Photographer Laureates, including 2003 Photographer Laureate Beth Reynolds, 2004’s Suzanne Camp Crosby, pinhole photographer Rebecca Sexton Larson in 2005, and 2006’s Steven S. Gregory.

The 2008 photographer, Jeremy Chandler, is busy taking photos now.  Look for his exhibit in about a year.

Just a real quick note to Sticks of Fire readers who use the Facebook:

Sticks of fire has it’s own Facebook fan page now!

Channelside Bay Plaza (formerly known as the “Shoppes at Channelside,” which was formerly known as “Channelside at Garrison Seaport”) is seven years old. The St. Pete Times says Channelside businesses are struggling, mainly because locals don’t frequent the place.

Nope - locals don’t go. But that is not the only thing - Channelside Bay Plaza has all sorts of problems.

First of all, Channelside businesses don’t really get along.

Remember, Hooters paid for a trolley to get downtown workers over to Channelside during weekday lunchtime. But after four years, and with trolley visitors spending money at several Channelside stores, none of the other businesses wanted to help with the cost, and so the trolley no longer runs.

Guy Revelle has an ownership stake in Stump’s, Howl at the Moon, Splitsville, and Tinatapas - four places that serve alcohol. When other drinking-only establishments attempted to open, Revelle, who never misses an opportunity to be quoted, whined about Channelside becoming a mini Ybor City.

Next on the list is Channelside’s terrible marketing. I only hear about Channelside around major events, and they seem to want to capture only downtown visitors (not locals). In fact, we don’t hear much of anything since Channelside marketing director Susan Martin over two years ago (found in a July 2006 tbt* column spelling out Channelside’s marketing problems).

But even worse than just limited advertising, are the individual businesses failure to provide any consistency. Unless there is something big going on nearby, many of the businesses don’t bother keeping their places open. Back to the Times article:

Business people walk over from their hotels only to find the complex half-closed.

“We get a lot of tourists who are in their hotels looking for something to do. They come down here during the day and say, ‘This is it?’” - Tinatapas bartender Jason Lewis

Area residents have all been there at least once. But not many are going back. Besides the fact that parking is expensive AND a pain in the ass, Channelside Bay Plaza is so visitor-oriented that it comes off as some lame-ass tourist trap:

“There’s nothing down there to draw you. It’s over-rated.” - Channel District resident Denise Becknell

“I really don’t go over there.” “It’s so young. It’s all clubs.” “I don’t think it’s high quality.” “It’s kind of cheesy.” - 36 year old Victory Lofts resdident Jill Lifsey

“It’s pretty plastic.” - Channel District dance studio owner Luisa Meshekoff

Yeah - Channelside residential buildings are full of empty space.  But if the shopping center wants to thrive, they are still going to need local support.  Tampa Bay residents need a good reason to go though the hassles of parking, and Channelside simply doesn’t offer much to fight that perception.