Tampa Is…?

We’re looking for voter guides from our local media outlets.  Something that can tell us about, say, Pete Gifford.

ABC Action News is “Taking Action for You,” and invites you to Democracy 2008, which can fill you in on all of the happenings in the presidential race and national politics.  I was unable to find a “local races” page.

10connects.com wants to help you “connect,” but not with local races.  Their election page is overwhelmed with stories about the presidential race.

MyFox Tampa Bay allows you to track political news - as long as it’s national.  Their Voter Info page are just links to local county elections web sites.

Luckily, the two daily newspapers as well as the 24 hour news station Bay News 9 have published real voting guides online for residents to reference and scan over for information about the candidates.

…though it’s easy to nitpick the shortcomings, the efforts of TBO, the Times, and BN9 (read about them after the jump) are far greater than those above.

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Labor Day weekend is passing us by and that means the traditional end of summer has been marked. Oh, sure, we have a few more weeks until the fall equinox, but to many - summer is over.

And with the end of summer here, it’s go time in Tampa Bay sports. The Buccaneers kicks off their season this Sunday, the USF Bulls football squad has already started their 12th season of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning begins training camp in a matter of days.

Oh, yeah… That team in St. Pete? I hear the Tampa Bay Rays have a chance to continue playing games after the regular season ends September 28th.

So lets pose the question to all you Tampa Bay sports fans: Which team is going to have the best fall? The Buccaneers? The Lightning? How about the Rays? Or will it be the Bulls?

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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!

New poll here on the Sticks regarding Los Buccaneeros de Tampa Bay… As many of the Buc faithful know, the team used to train on the University of Tampa campus (utilizing Pepin / Rood stadium) before having to seek another training site because of renovations at U of T.

So where’d they go? Orlando and Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports complex. So, riddle us this: have you been to Orlando to see the team during camp?

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Major League Baseball’s second half got underway last night.  My job isn’t to recap.  I’ll let others handle that responsibility.

Nope, I’m just here to announce a quick poll (will close in a few days).  The question?  Will the Rays make the playoffs?  This season has had the Rays perform like the franchise has never before…  But can they hold on to make the wild card?  Or do what seemed implausible only last season and win the American League East?  Dare I even suggest win the American League pennant?

It’s just a yes-or-no question…  But let your vote be heard:

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Back in April 2005, the TBBJ told us that the Hotel Floridan was purchased with plans for renovations. We too were excited about Tampa’s long dormant historic landmark getting fixed up, too.

But some people have remained skeptical that the Hotel Floridan would truly be renovated and restored to former glory. Even after renovation started, some of the readers here said they didn’t believe it would happen unless they saw dumpsters outside filling up with debris.

To be sure, other than Fox 13 airing a video report of the internal work ongoing at the Floridan in August of 2007, there has not been many tell tale signs of the reconstruction under way at the Hotel Floridan. Though you may or may not have noticed the facade and window restorations/repairs from the last few months, besides that, there hasn’t been much of anything..

We now, however, submit to you Exhibit C of the restoration in progress: The sign atop the old building identifying it as HOTEL FLORIDAN has once again been erected on the southwest corner of the hotel.

A bunch of local fans of urban development and architecture hang out at Skyscraper City’s Tampa/St. Petersburg forums, and have been watching exterior renovations through the Skypoint construction webcam. Forum contributor and all-around good guy Cavernw works nearby, and took this fantastic photo of the completed sign. Nice shot, Cavernw!

You can also see the completed sign and watch other ongoing exterior renovations by visiting the Skypoint webcam and zooming in on the Floridan building in the upper right portion of the camera’s viewing range.

For further discussion on the restoration of the Floridan, come hang out with us at SKyscrapercity.com.

So the Gov’nah changed his philosophy on oil drilling off the coast of Florida, and so have other already-elected officials in a huge flip-flop while gas prices are huge (with thanks to speculation in commodities trading).

So riddle us this — do you approve of oil drilling off the coast of Florida?

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OK, so who is gonna’ mark a ballot next week (or mail in an absentee ballott, or perhaps early vote)?

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Besides the Presidential Primary, the property tax amendment (Amendment 1) will be on the table for your consideration as well as other referendums and local items depending on where you’re voting….