Tampa Is…?

No one really knows how long chickens have been roaming Ybor City.  I’d guess they have been there since the late 1800s, but I know I have seen them strutting around Ybor for the last 25 years or so, which makes the “Chickens of Ybor City” an older franchise than many of the businesses currently found on 7th Avenue.

But now, someone wants to get rid of the chickens.  In fact, someone or something has killed at least one hen and her chicks.  So now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has shown up in Ybor to catch some of them chickens with a plan to move them to Pasco and Polk Counties, in the hopes that no more chickens get harmed (or so they say).

Tommy doesn’t want any part of that.  Tommy has lived in Ybor for over 20 years.  He helped found the Historic Ybor Neighborhood Association, and is one of the founders of Guavaween.  For the past ten years(well, most years), he also hosted the annual James E. Rooster Funeral Procession and Party.  And Tommy likes feeding the chickens.  Oh, and everyone calls him ‘Rooster Tommy.’

Lots of folks like the chickens.  Artists and tourists love to photograph the chickens of Ybor City.  When writing about the culture of Ybor, workers mention the chickens.  Hundreds have gathered at Tommy’s rooster funeral parties to celebrate the Chickens of Ybor City.  (Yes, Arroz con Pollo is on the menu.)

So, of course, now we have all the makings of a chicken protest party.  The party will be this Sunday, November 16 at around halftime of the Bucs game.  Or maybe just following the Bucs game.  At any rate, please make a note of it, because the Times article has the wrong day.  The chicken protest will be held on Sunday, November 16, exactly at 2:30, give or take 90 minutes either way.

Editor’s note:  Don’t sweat the time thing - time barely matters in Ybor City.  Otherwise we’d know when the damn chickens got there in the first place.  Also, if you have read this far, you may as well read the last bit.  Anyone got a better name for a “chicken protest party?”

Quite the historic night last night.

Four years ago, I commented on the fact that Dallas County, Texas had elected a gay Hispanic female Democrat for Sheriff:

… change is measured in very small increments. Changes so small, you don’t even notice. But once in a while, something happens that makes you clearly see that progress being made.

And now we have elected a man of color to be our Commander in Chief.

Closer to home, it looks as if gay Democrat Kevin Beckner will beat conservative Republican Brian Blair in historically conservative Hillsborough County.

Forgive me for being redundant, but I’ll quote myself from 2004 again:

I don’t think it means that discrimination has been beaten or even that inclusion is the norm. But I do view it as one of the incremental steps toward that…  Take note… It’s not often you glance at the clock, and happen to catch the exact changing of the times.

Congratulations to America and Hillsborough County for electing people based largely on the content of their character, rather than some sort of prejudice.

Hooray us!

The cover story on Friday’s tbt* is about a bunch of zombies that wander around Tampa Bay now and again.

The Deadite Empire is a group of 100 or more local souls who dress up in gore for kicks, and socialize at pub crawls, horror events, movie showings and the like.  Most of the online action is at their myspace page, but I also found a pretty basic webpage (hey, they are zombies, not webgeeks) with info about the founders.

I had never heard of these guys, but I have seen Batman walking around a number of times, and Peter Pan has been flitting around Ybor City for years.

Thinking about all of these people who costume for more than just Halloween, I figure there must be other Bay area groups that get in costume on a regular basis.

There is a Tampa Bay Anime blog & forums, but didn’t see anything about getting in costume.  Likewise the local Elvis fan club meets and sings Elvis songs karaoke-style, but not so sure about the bejeweled clothes, thick sideburns, and big sunglasses part.  I couldn’t really think of any others to look for.

Maybe you know of a subculture that thrives here in Tampa Bay.  Tell us what you’ve seen, and if you are aware of any websites…

“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?

Let’s quit pretending. Tampa isn’t a city. St Petersburg isn’t a city. Clearwater and all the other municipalities in the Tampa bay region are not cities in the traditional sense. Lacking a coherent functioning core and distinct boundaries (other than saltwater), they are, or have become, no more than jurisdictional regions.

The small urban cores of the now arbitrary sections that make up our metro area were ripped out in the 60’s and 70’s,and the foresight and political will to restore whatever value they once had is not evident at this time. I once had the privilege to watch a city rise up from decay and sprawl and become a great creative and tech center. It wasn’t easy, and it took guts and visionary leadership and the united will of its citizens through neighborhood associations.

With lots of exceptions, people in the US live in a place because they like the place. People live in the Tampa Bay area because they like sunshine and warm temperatures, proximity to the Gulf. Low taxes. People choose exurban areas because they like racial and cultural homogeneity. Lawns. And shopping malls. Freeway closeness. And all the kinds of land use that are impossible without cheap oil.

This is not to say that exurbanites dislike art or innovation. They simply value it too little to pay for it, with dollars or with the psychic cost of urban life. (I would argue that the psychic cost of exurban isolation is higher, but I’ll do that another time). They aren’t offended by the squalor of a US 19 or [your favorite corridor of glaring hell here].

These preferences aren’t arguable. They are simply preferences. It may be useless for urbanists to attempt dialogue with those whose highest values are the lowest taxes. Cities with good transit, great art and technical and educational achievement, cities that attract and keep knowledge and cultural workers don’t come cheap. The leaders in tech innovation, art, and the urban amenities– and high-paying job growth– are not low-tax cities.

So what about those of us who stay behind in the diaspora? The cities that never were are not coming back. Should we just suck it up and establish a brave new exurban aesthetic? Or is it better to nurture little outposts of creative community dotting the metropolitan area, coming together occasionally for regional celebration? Can that essential creative critical mass be sparked without diversity and the constant inflow and outflow of new creative blood? Are online dialogues with the like-minded a satisfying substitute for coffee house and tavern exchanges?

Oh boy!

In another one of those kooky quirks of scheduling, Tampa played host to both the Women of Faith Infinite Grace conference and the 2008 FetishCon this past weekend. One event featured appearances by Eden Wells, Kumi Monster and RubberDoll, the other featured Patsy Clairmont, Sandi Patty and Marilyn Meberg. I’ll let you Google those names and figure out who was where, but the real delight is in knowing that these people and their fans were both occupying the same relatively small space at the same time.

Event organizers and venue bookers will both say that Tampa is a large enough city now that having multiple events that draw large and disparate crowds at the same time really shouldn’t be an issue. And they’re probably right. But…

Women Of Faith was held at the St. Pete Times Forum, which can hold up to 20,000 people and FetishCon, which draws over 2,000 people, was held at the Hyatt Regency about a half mile away. There are four, maybe five, hotels and about a dozen or so restaurants that you could reasonably classify as within walking distance of those two sites. Factor in just how dissimilar these two groups are and you have a recipe for awkward social interaction comedy gold, baby!

I’m just picturing two groups of people, clutching either bibles or leashes with people attached to them, waiting for the streetcar to Channelside or for a table at First Watch: “Umm…that’s okay, you go ahead. No, really. Please.”

Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness

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?

For good.

This past year in Colorado Springs has been quite a challenge. I worked at Academy 20’s Expulsion Program and my fellow teachers seemed to like me until they realized that the Christian books and subtle intimidation tactics weren’t working. I am going to stay Jewish and liberal. That’s when they decided I was too “East Coast” for their liking.

My children didn’t fare any better. They attended Freedom Elementary in District 11. This is a school district NONE of my Springs friends would send their kids to, but I swore it’d be different for us. ‘Cause my boys are smart and delightful. Turns out, too smart and delightful. Principal’s exact words were:

“I wouldn’t say they’re cocky. But they are confident. They communicate well. They don’t hesitate to say they’re great basketball players These aren’t bad things. Your children are also sensitive and sweet. Kind to everyone and very polite. It’s just that their more mature qualities make them a bit of a target with the other kids who don’t excel as much.”

What to do with such a town? Some might say to stick it out and fight for change. Why should I? I’m not a fan of dry skin, wild animals, or snowstorms in May. Why should I settle for second best, headaches, and intolerance?

Family counts for a lot. Not only do we have my parents in Tampa, but relatives from up north - the dreaded East Coast - visit Florida all the time. Three cousins arrived yesterday. Those with tight-knit families understand my point. I want my kids to experience the love that can only come from family.

Few months back, Husband green-lighted a job search in the Tampa Bay area. And I got *two* positions. A freelance writing job and a full-time gig going back to corporate training where I also get to dip my well-manicured toe into sales. I will wear suits, heels, and work from home whenever I want. Beat that.

Then my boys were accepted at a private school in Tampa. As a former public school teacher, I am supposed to hate private schools. But I don’t. The people I know who have attended them are the most tolerant, intelligent folks around. My kids will not be a social experiment. They will feel safe. They will feel secure. And they will receive a superior education no matter what neighborhood we live in.

Despite everything, I can’t tell you how happy I am for this past year.

I got to experience life away from everything I’ve ever taken for granted. I learned to appreciate. I got to join a great synagogue, a writer’s group, political activities, and the PTA. I got to meet some wonderful people I will never let go of and reconnect with others I’ve come to cherish even more. I got to stand up for my beliefs amid hostility and intolerance, which only made me stronger. I got to further appreciate a man who supports anything that is best for his children.

And then I got to come home.

With all its charm and challenges, Tampa is home.

For good.