Tampa Is…?

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.

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.

Congratulations to Citrus Park and Palma Ceia!

Not only are the Citrus Park Little Leaguers representing the Southeast US at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, but their Big League Softball team is representing the South in the Big League World Series Softball in Kalamazoo, MI.

The softball team beat host St. Petersburg (District 12) to get to the World Series, and has already played the round robin games, going 1-3.  Their last consolation game (today at 11am) will determine final placement.

Congratulations also goes out to the Palma Ceia Little League Junior Softball team for getting to the Little League Junior Softball World Series in Kirkland, WA.  They will play in today’s consolation final at 5pm.

But the Little League Baseball gets the most attention.

Citrus Park’s little leaguers beat Alabama in the Southeast Regional Tournament finals to move on to the World Series with 15 other teams from around the world.  Citrus Park’s round robin schedule looks like this:

• GAME 1 against Midwest winner Canyon Lake (Rapid City, SD) Friday, Aug. 15, 2pm on ESPN
• GAME 14 against West winner Waipio (Waipahu, HI) Sunday, Aug. 17, 8pm on ESPN2
• GAME 19 against New England winner Shelton National (Shelton, CT) Monday, Aug. 18, 6pm on ESPN2

If they win all of those, they move on to the semifinals which begin Wednesday, Aug. 20.

We wish Citrus Park players, coaches, parents and neighbors the best of luck - have a great time!

Cheer for your hometown heroes representing Tampa Bay in Beijing.  Finals for your neighbors begin Saturday, so if you want to get a look at them, you’ll need to know when to tune in.  (All of the listed times are based on Tampa Time, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.)

Clearwater’s Zach Railey is an Olympic sailor, and competes in the finn class.  Zach has been sailing since he was 8 years old, and is currently in second place in the Olympic standings (behind a Brit).  The 8th race has been postponed to Friday, and the Final is scheduled for Saturday, August 16 at 1am.

Twin brothers from Wesley Chapel are competing in the Olympics. Bob Bryan plays keyboard and Mike Bryan plays drums in the Bryan Brothers Band.  They also play tennis (men’s doubles) fairly well.  They beat the Aussies in this morning’s quarterfinals, the semifinals are scheduled for Friday, and the Gold medal match will be on Saturday.  Check out Bob and Mike.com or BryanBros.com for more on the twins.

Tennis player James Blake also lives in Tampa and trains at Saddlebrook.  In men’s doubles, Blake and partner Sam Querry were bounced in the first round.  But Blake defeated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals this morning.  The men’s singles semifinals are on Friday, August 15, the Bronze medal match is on Saturday, and the Gold medal match is on Sunday, August 17.

Brandon’s Chris Colwill is a graduate of Tampa Prep and the University of Georgia, and the Linkin Park fan is a member of Diving TeamUSA.  Colwill and teammate Jevon Tarantino placed fourth in synchronized 3-meter diving, and Colwill will compete in individual 3-meter springboard on August 18 at 7am and 10pm, the finals are on August 19 at 8.30am.  He’s also writing a blog for TBO.com.

Damu Cherry was born in Tampa, and went to Leto High and USF.  She currently lives in Ocoee and trains in Clermont.  Currently ranked #2 in the world, Damu is competing for Team USA Track & Field in the Women’s 100-meter hurdles.  She is writing an Olympic Experience Blog for TBO.com.  Round 1 of the Women’s 110m hurdles is scheduled for August 17 at 7am, Semifinals on Aug 18 at 7.40am, Finals Aug 19 at 10.30am.

Ben Barger (benbarger.com) is a windsurfer on the US Sailing Team USA Sailing who lives and trains in Tampa.  Out of the ten scheduled RS:X races, four have already been run, and the Finals will be on August 20 at 1 o’clock in the morning.

Another local Team USA Track and Field member is Calvin Smith, II (not to be confused with his dad, Calvin Smith).  Born in Lutz, Calvin graduated from Freedom High, and is currently a sophomore at University of Florida.  Calvin is on the 4×400 relay team.  The opening round of the Men’s 4×400m relay is scheduled for August 22 at 8.10am, and the finals will be Aug 23 at 9.05am.

To keep track of everything your neighbors are doing, check in on the WFLA / NBC local Olympic athletes page.

Tampa Bay isn’t that different from any other post-WW II collection of sunbelt suburbs in search of a city. LA, Phoenix, Albuquerque, El Paso, Houston, Orlando, Jacksonville - the built landscape is pretty much the same. 

Designed to isolate us in autos and ranchettes, these sprawls give us lawns and shopping malls and de facto segregation by class and ideology as well as ethnicity.  (Thanks, Greatest Generation.)

This isn’t good for the creative class.  And a diverse creative class is a big part of what makes cities livable and attractive to the knowledge workers who generate the dollars in the post-industrial economy.

Oh, yeah, and that includes tourist-dependant economies — Pinellas, I am looking at you.

Mayor Iorio signed on to this concept. In 2003, anyway.

The man-made environment in the bay area — sprawling, low-density, built-for-cars– doesn’t throw people together in a stimulating creative stew the way it does in high-density environments. A friend of mine, visiting St Pete a while back, summed it up for me:

“The most important art contacts you’re gonna make– they’re at the laundromat, at the coffeehouse, on the bus, on the street with a really ugly terrier on a leash. You can’t help but run into them. I mean: Run. Into. Them.”

Tampa Bay is hemorrhaging its creative class, and that is worse than you think. They are leaving for places where they can find respect, employment, amenities, and like-minded people.

Can intentional design break us out of this creativity drain?

Where do you go every day to rub elbows with creative, stimulating people?

Former St. Pete Police Officer Ken Kokotek retired, and unveiled his secret identity.  Picasso is the screen name Ken used on the Law Enforcement Officer Affairs (LEO Affairs) website while ripping the higher-ups on the force as well as the City of St. Pete administration and others.

Apparently, he’s pretty good with photoshop, too:

In one, Mayor Rick Baker is wearing a pink dress with a matching pink hat.

In another, police Chief Chuck Harmon’s head has been put on an obscenely overweight body, and the chief is looking intently at a two-layer cheeseburger.

Sounds attractive.  Look at the TBO article to see the altered images for yourself. 

Those higher-ups were irritated.  So much so,  there was an investigation into Picasso’s identity, and threats of firing - even after he retired!:

Had he not retired, a St. Petersburg police officer would have been fired for posting degrading computer-altered pictures of police administrators and others on a Web site…

Anyway - the artwork is average at best, but the satire is pretty good.  For more, check out Picasso’s home on the web, SPPD - An Insider’s View.

According to a new report released by the Corporation for National and Community Service, 60.8 million Americans volunteered in their communities in 2007.  That represents an average of 26.2 percent of Americans age 16 and older.

The study also reported the percentages of individual states as well as metro areas, and those findings are highlighted on the Volunteering in America website.

The number of volunteers from the State of Florida is below the national average, and ranks only third from the bottom of the list:

• Volunteer Rate Ranking: 49th within the 50 states and Washington D.C.
• Average Volunteer Rate: 20.0%
• Volunteer Hours Ranking: 45th within the 50 states and Washington D.C.
• Average Volunteer Hours per Resident: 29.3 hours

Most of those (32.4%) volunteer with religious organizations.

Floridian cities make up the bottom of the metro rankings too:

• #50 - Miami - 14.5% volunteered.
• #46 - Orlando - 19.7% volunteered.
• #45 - Jacksonville - 20.7% volunteered.
• #40 - Tampa - 24.8% volunteered.

Sure, Tampa Bay ranks higher than the rest of the state, and is above average for Florida, but we can certainly do better.

Here are the numbers for the Tampa, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (Major cities included in this MSA include Tampa, FL; St. Petersburg, FL; and Clearwater, FL):

• Volunteer Rate Ranking: 40th within the 50 large cities
• Average Volunteer Rate: 24.8%
• Volunteer Hours Ranking: 29th within the 50 large cities
• Average Volunteer Hours per Resident: 34.8 hours

So what about you?  Do you donate your time to any worthy causes?  Fill out the poll, and tell us about some worthy causes in the comments:

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