Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

According to the Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, the year-old smoking ban at restaurants does not adversely affect the eateries revenues. The Tribune (and many other papers) “reported” this, parroting claims that restaurants are doing just swimmingly, and revenues are increasing. But if you read the article, you’ll see that the entrepreneurs quoted there have seen losses up to 15%. Many restaurants around the state are adversely affected. And some places have even closed because of the law. Gosh, how can that be? The study says things are just peachy!

Let’s take a closer look: The study was paid for by Smoke-Free For Health, an anti-tobacco group. They concluded that revenues at Florida restaurants are up 5%. But here’s what the articles don’t tell you:

1. The revenues studied include those from Caterers (page 2), who are unaffected by the ban.
2. At least 1,344 new food establishments opened (2nd article) during the year, whose revenues did not count for 2002, but did for 2003.
3. Revenues at Taverns, Night Clubs, Bars and Liquor Stores are down $88 million (page 3)
4. Some restaurants are ignoring the law, and allowing smoking (page 18). Like the caterers, these restaurants are unaffected, therefore skewing the results.
5. Fast food restaurants have not allowed smoking for a number of years and are also unaffected, skewing the results even further.

As you can see, along with normal growth of Florida, the industry as a whole has grown. But each individual restaurant feels the pinch. And those small one-restaurant business owners who in the past have just been able to cover their costs are feeling that pinch most of all. Unfortunately, studies (and reporting them) like this are all too common.

Went to the Curiosa Festival 2004 last night.  It was OK.  Interpol was excellent, and I thought The Rapture sounded pretty good too.  The Cure was good.  Yup that’s it, just good, not great.  Robert Smith and crew played an uninspiring set in an uninspired manner.  The best part of the show was the paying public.  All the geeks, castoffs, nerds, and 10,000 other people that want to be unique were there, all wearing black.  Some accessorized with highlights of shocking pink, shocking red, shocking aqua, or shocking lime green.  Each with various sizes and numbers of piercings, tattoos, and unconventional hairstyles.  They could have caught direct flights from Masquerade and The Castle to this show.  The crowd was really fun, and all were have a wonderful time.  Most in the seats were swaying, and most in the yard were dancing.  I didn’t see Carrie, but she was there.  Here’s her review.

The festival was at the new Ford Ampitheatre.  The sound was clear and loud, and the sightlines are great.  The seats are comfortable, if nothing spectacular.  But man was it hot out there.  The “Festival Lawn” area (I immediately began calling this “the yard” – I have no idea why, but I’ll stick with that) is not covered by the giant tarp over the seats, so the sun will bake you at the daytime concerts.  As the sun set, mosquitoes and other bugs were a slight problem.  I did not notice the smell of cow shit others mentioned, but perhaps it was masked by all the pot, not to mention the body odor of the sweaty black-clad congregation.  Truthfully, there was a nice breeze, with no malevolent odors.

Other items not related to the entertainment aspect:  The bathroom facilities are plenty, but not air-conditioned.  They are better than port-o-lets (for now).  They had a couple of walk-up liquor bars and frozen drink bars, as well as tents selling hippie stuff (might have been this show only).  Miller Lite is a sponser, so you’ll have to drink their beer.  If you are a Coke drinker, you’ll order $3 or $5 lemonade, since they only have Pepsi products.  And in case you forgot to bring your newspaper, it seems the St. Pete Times has exclusivity there as well. Cameras were allowed in (for this show), and there was a big written warning that moshing could be dangerous, so if you were going to the mosh orchestra pit, you were forewarned (I saw no crowd surfing at all).  In short, I think it would be a terrific place to enjoy a concert in the late fall or winter, and not so fine for the summertime events. 

The world’s most boring website.  Ever.

I’m sure you’ve already heard:  Capital One is eliminating 1100 jobs from their call center here in Tampa.   Just after receiving the last (we can really only hope it’s the last) of $3.85 million in tax breaks for creating said jobs.  I tend to support limited tax breaks for companies to move here, but there obviously needs to be some sort of minimum time-frame and impact for it to work.  It didn’t work this time.  Blogwood compares this move to welfare daddies - they eat up tax money, then leave the kids hungry.  I agree with SOS and Hotwax - If you have a Capital One credit card, call them (1-800-955-7070) and cancel it.  I’m sure there will be a new credit card offer in your mailbox today.

Something I don’t understand.  Jeb! (and his brother) maintains that same-sex marriage shouldn’t be recognized.  His reasoning includes the old “to preserve the sanctity of marriage” argument.  But if marriage is so important as to “save,” why does he (and his brother) basically render Terri Schaivo’s marriage meaningless, in dismissing her husband’s assertion of her wishes?

FBI manual:  How to deal with local police.

1.       Get all drunked up
2.       Get in your car
3.       Cause an accident
4.       Drive away nonchalantly as if nothing happened
5.       Stop at a red light
6.       Stay stopped while the light turns green
7.       Stay put for several cycles, and take a nap
8.       Wake up when police knock on the window
9.       When asked to roll down the window, or open the door, simply refuse
10.   Drive away nonchalantly, as if nothing happened
11.   Stop at the next red light (about four blocks)
12.   Wait for officers to smash the car window
13.   Puke in your car
14.   Get arrested
 
Sources:  Trib FBI Agent flees, and Times charged with DUI

Bl0gax reminds us once again that Philly is our bitch.  It’s nice to see the Philadelphians finally admit it.  Speaking of those bitches, The bolts home opener is against the Flyers, where the local favorites will be raising the Division, Conference, and Stanley Cup CHAMPIONS banners that night.  My guess is that the Philly players won’t be paying too much attention to those pregame festivities.

More on Panama City Beach:  There are no less than 200,000 condos going up on PCB.  Ok, maybe not that many, but I saw at least 25 projects, most of them high rises right on the beach.  And just like in other parts of Florida, they are replacing hotels, of course.  I guess all the building is due to once being called the number four beach in the world (as the locals will tell you very often).  But there is no way that Dr. Beach was there in July.  The amount of algae is horrific, and disgusting.  Walking out of the surf there was like wading out of a giant snot-filled nose.  Slimy boogers all over your body and swimsuit – real nice.  The lifeguard there told me the excessive heat causes the algae.  She also told me that if anyone struggles in the gulf, and needs a lifeguard, they “rough ‘em up” a little, because “only idiots have trouble” in the mostly mild surf there.