Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

On Monday, Pat McCue was fired by the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority’s Board of Directors. The bridge designer/engineer, URS Construction Services has been blamed for the construction troubles, but McCue hired them. Some believe McCue is just a scapegoat. He pushed hard for the elevated reversible highway, and liked the look of the concrete segmental bridge. Board member Bob Clarke didn’t care about the look, and might have chosen to use steel, since he is president of Tampa Steel Erecting Co. To me, appearance is somewhat important, and the highway (the part that’s kinda done, anyway) looks good. But the construction fiasco is a huge mess.

Now there is talk of disbanding the authority altogether. The authority was created in the late 60’s to erect a “beltway” of sorts around Tampa. They started with the Selmon (then known as the Crosstown Expressway). But residents opposed the other pieces of the beltway, so the authority was left with only the Selmon. If the local authority is killed, the highway would be taken over by FDOT. This will mean that money generated by the Selmon would not necessarily stay here in Hillsborough. FDOT’s Turnpike Department could use it anywhere in the state. That part makes me nervous, but it seems kind of silly to have a highway authority that is in charge of one 14 mile road. Local expert Justin Cowart calls the local authority a bloated money pit, a wasteful government entity, and that it’s time for it to go. I see no reason to disagree.

In the short time I’ve been blogging, it’s amazing how many other local writers have jumped into the fray. It will be interesting to see how many of these blogs last, especially since a good percentage of them are political in nature - what are they gonna write about next month? At any rate, the sheer volume has grown so much over the past few months, my Bloglines subscription is overwhelming. As much as I’d like to, I can no longer keep up with even half of them. But, I try to at least acknowledge them here. So:

There was another BloggerFest on Saturday night. Lewis (the Orange Haired Boy) reports that ten local bloggers made it to MacDinton’s. Of those listed, there are three I’ve never heard of: Deron, an Opinionated Prick in St. Pete; Karin at Insert Catchy Blog Name Here; and KellyBelle. Another blog represented that I have seen recently, but don’t think I mentioned before: Degenerate Art.

Others from the previous meetup include Orlando’s Daily Dose of Mayo and Guitar Angel, as well as T. Rex’s Guide To Life from Spring Hill.

Welcome all of you to the growing community of Tampa area bloggers.

St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker intends to turn over control of the Mahaffey Theater to entertainment mogul and mortgage broker Bill Edwards. Howard Troxler wants to know why nobody is asking questions. Letting one guy determine how to use public property should concern somebody, but lately everyone has been awfully quiet about it. So, what about it, St. Petersburgers? Is this ok?

Florida Politics is back. Sort of. Due to the “blogjacking,” he lost some of his archives, and the look is not what you are used to, but the lefty is back to tracking politics in Florida. Welcome back, FP.

The folks over at FireRonZook.com got their wish. The Florida Gators fired football head coach Ron Zook along with his entire staff. The Gators are 2-3 in conference play so far this year, so his firing is not much of a surprise. Don’t bother surfing over to fireronzook right now, the server is inundated. The same goes for the University’s official sports website, Gatorzone.

The Blue Shark got a nice little write-up in *tbt today. The JGLB is playing there this weekend, and next weekend it will be Lorelei and the Cocktail Kings.

The next Tampa Bay Blogger Fest is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 23 at MacDinton’s on South Howard Av. See you there!

The county approved $17M for the history center. This is a great move. Local history is not only important, it’s also educational – not to mention interesting. The money from the county will go to pay for construction of a new building. Today, the City Council is expected to donate the land. Supporters of the Tampa Bay History Center have collected over $12M in pledges for operations. The realistic business plan (252 page pdf) will ensure that the museum will be self-reliant, unlike the Aquarium, Centro Ybor, and others. The new building is expected to open in 2008, but you can see some of the exhibits at their now temporary home in the parking annex of the convention center. One last thing: If you care at all about this project, consider becoming a member – you can do that for just 35 bucks.

Tomorrow night, *tbt is throwing a t*party. You can see the Romantics at the St. Pete Times Forum for free. You have to register online or visit one of the St. Pete Times info booths to get your tickets. Tommy Tutone opens the show, including Tampa’s own Jimmy James (not the female impersonator). You can see Jimmy along with the Velvet Explosion every weekend at Stumps Supper Club at Channelside).