That’s what I like about you
The Tribune/Tampa Bay Online is undertaking a project about Tampa. In a wacky play on words, they are calling it The Tampa Project. In it, they purport to take a look at Tampa, evaluate where we are – what we are doing well, what needs improvement, where we are going, etc. It sounds like a performance review. Anyway, The Tampa Project started Sunday, and most of these first articles had to do with growth, sprawl, and development. **note: Most of the rest of the links in this post are for popup pages, so may not work as intended by TBO. If it looks goofy, go to The Tampa Project and open from there.
As part of this first set of stories, they took a survey of residents here. Among the interesting things: 72% of Tampa area residents “Like it very much.” The majority (39%) chose the weather as the best thing about Tampa. Residents think the schools, government, and mass transportation here sucks compared to other cities. Asked how proud residents are of Tampa on a scale of 1-10 (10 being extremely proud, 1 not proud at all), 80% chose 7 or higher. This Tampa Survey reports some valuable insight, but pales in comparison to the survey compiled by the Houston Chronicle for their area. The Chronicle has been doing this for 22 years. Here’s a look at the Chronicle’s questions, and here’s the result over 22 years (30 pages, pdf). Highlights of the 22 year trends are on a power point presentation. Now THAT’s a project.
Anyway, back to Tampa: Also included was a set of recent rankings, and how Tampa compares to other metro areas. You know I love that stuff.
What else… Oh, there’s a very lame Tampa Quiz that suggests how well you know Tampa. Pretty stupid questions, if you ask me. I scored a seven. Did I mention the quiz is lame?
They also want you to send them a postcard (photograph) of something that captures “Tampa.” Go ahead - send them a snapshot of the spaceship on Dale Mabry, an endless set of traffic cones, or perhaps a young person, passed out in their puke in Ybor.
Perhaps most interesting are the readers comments about Tampa and the series. Most comments (so far) point to downtown’s elitist bent and (surprise!) mass transportation sucks. Others just don’t get it: One happily brags that she lives on a street with no through traffic, and then proceeds to complain about congestion on the main roads. NIMBY personified.
Upcoming articles in the series promise to look at history, power centers, leaders, sport, the waterfront, race, and arts. I’ll attempt to read all of it as it gets published, and try to share some of the interesting things here. But you should at least go take a look.
Tags: tampa
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