Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

The Unstoppable Girlie tells us that Tampa is the 15th most dangerous metro area in the US. What she doesn’t say is that it’s an improvement over last year’s 9th place finish, and getting passed by such great cities as Gary, Hartford, Memphis, Birmingham, and Richmond. Camden, NJ passed last year’s worst - Detroit to become the most dangerous, and New Orleans has reached the top ten.

A team of developers want to help transform parts of Tampa Heights. Of course, they’ll need some tax breaks in order to do it. It sounds very similar to a failed proposal regarding Ybor City and Central Park. Like that one, this idea does not have a lot of details. And some of the principals involved in this project just so happen to be the same as the previous. The Central Park project failed because the county turned them down. Civitas The Heights may not need the county’s ok for this one. I told you to expect this.

I am always using search engines to find stuff on that internet thing. The TBBJ just reported on a new search engine launched by a Tampa area firm. Now you know I like to pimp out all the local stuff I can find, and they claim to be 4 times faster than Yahoo! And 11 times faster than Overture. So I went to Empower Search to have a look-see.

It sure is fast. But wildly inaccurate (see the post title). They hope to make money by putting advertisers’ results first, even if the advertisers have nothing to do with the search terms. In addition, the website was developed by a company in the Ukraine, so they don’t share my love for supporting the local economy. I think I’ll stick with Google.

The NFL is in full swing, the temperature has dropped to a very pleasant level, Thanksgiving is coming, and Christmas is right around the corner, but what am I looking forward to? Plant City Strawberries. The first flat of the season was picked last week. Yummmm.

Costa recently lamented the lack of activity in northern downtown Tampa; that the emptiness is “creepy” (see the comments). It’s true that there has been little there in recent years for people to enjoy, but it looks like all of that might be about to change.

1. The city of Tampa plans to reconnect downtown to Tampa Heights via Franklin St. City Councwoman Linda Saul-Sena wants to demolish a building in the way, but for now the city intends to just go around it.

2. The Arts Center Lofts recently opened, and residents began moving into downtown. This is good news for northern downtown. As people move in, more shops will open, and the CBD will stop dying at 5pm every day. At least that’s the theory.

3. Mayor Pam Iorio desperately wants mixed housing in the Central Park area. The Tampa Housing Authority had come up with a plan to develop the property, and now Mayor Pam wants them to wait six months to give developers a chance to create something that will work there. If the Housing folks agree to the delay, don’t be surprised if you see Civitas jump back into the headlines.

I would think that mixed housing would be preferred by everybody, but will it work? Or are they just giving it lip service? Costa is not sure.

The Milken Institute surveys America and finds the best cities for job and wage growth. Five of the top ten are in Florida. Tampa is 12th. A number of Florida cities did very well in the survey. It’s too bad that all those workers cannot afford health insurance. FlaPolitics tells us that the number of uninsured workers in Florida is growing. And I imagine those workers will need some insurance since Florida ranks in the bottom 10 states in a national health survey.

I have been hesitant to link to apparent for-profit blogs. I don’t want to give the impression that a link is a recommendation. So, in spite of being unsure about it, I’m gonna tell ya ‘bout John Mudd. Tampa area Realtor John Mudd has gotten some recognition for his blog, Inside Real Estate Journal. As you may be able to tell by the title, he uses the blog to sell real estate. The reason I decided to go against my trepidations is because the blog is not only about selling houses. It is only 99% about selling houses. With the other percent he includes tidbits about the area – usually related to the housing market, the neighborhoods, or the purchase of a home, but they are somewhat interesting. As you might imagine with something like this, the style is quite obnoxious. Anyway, go check it out once, and see if you care. I’d like to make clear that this is not a recommendation of his or his company’s Realtor expertise, only that the blog is local, and bits of it are a decent read.

Congratulations to Verizon! After reading Sticks of Fire, Hillsborough County officials told Verizon to cease and desist upgrading all neighborhoods’ fiber-optic cable lines. In addition, Neil Shah at American Street has awarded them its absurdity of the week prize because of their unique construction techniques. Hat tip to Michael Hussey.

Funny: Bayshore Boulevard Residents Shocked as Raw Sewage Overflows, Reveals Their Poop Actually Does Stink Found during the hurricane troubles at MonkeyNerves, a South Tampa satirical site.

Congratulations to the unstoppable girlie-dervish. She quietly celebrated its first birthday.

Last Day reports that a dance school in London is denied an attempt to teach kids how to dance like they do in Tampa.

Justin found a 1976 Tampa-St. Pete promo piece that makes you wanna get up and dance.

Robert (I-4 Jam) takes a look at the upcoming race for Florida Governor.