somebody (else) should fix this
Let me get this straight. You want to live at the hub of the city. You want there to be plenty of entertainment options close by. You want a highly desirable location and address. But you don’t understand why there is so much traffic.
In the Tribune article, Tax Collector Doug Belden complains about pedestrian crosswalks, and the fact that there are only two ways on and off the island.
First of all, Dougie, the reason it’s called Harbour Island is because it’s a freakin’ island. You are lucky there are two ways in and out (see Islands, Davis).
Second, instead of complaining about five pedestrian walkways on the way to Publix, why don’t you use them? From the southernmost intersection of Harbour Island to Publix is only one and a half miles. Get your lazy ass out of the car, and you can help reduce traffic at the same time.
Oh, wait a minute. Now it all makes sense. You don’t mind using your car, and it is probably ok for your neighbors to drive also. You just don’t want the construction hands, office drones, and service workers all in your way. After all, they are driving into town from all the outlying poor neighborhoods and clogging downtown roads. What a nuisance!
In his letter to Mayor Pam, Dougie informed her that Harbour Island “just comes with large revenues.” That’s the same argument Vince Naimoli used to get special treatment for his raccoon invasion. What’s up with these wealthy whiny wimps?
Tags: citizens, tampa, transportation
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August 8th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
I agree completely, you chose to live there so you need to put up with the traffic. Same goes for people who build a home in the flight path of an airport. No sympathy. I like how the city thinks that two waying the one way streets downtown is going to help. Maybe they should one-way Harbour Island and Beneficial Drives.
August 8th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Harbour Island has only had two bridges for as long as I can remember. The Times Forum has been there since 1996, and the Convention Center since 1990. Why is this traffic and congestion coming as a surprise to Harbour Island residents?
August 9th, 2005 at 10:18 am
Marc, it’s because all the Harbour Island buyers are all posers from out-of-town. Again with the problem of people just moving here before researching anything. Then there’s nothing left to do but whine and complain about how it’s just not like back home and what were they thinking.
Heck, I even remember back when Harbour Island was a spoil island, not “spoiled” island. Nothing there. No “Athletic Club.” No financial giants or condo dwellers whining about the smell from the waste treatment plant in their backyard and the sulphur docks nearby (talk about doing your homework…). After somebody’s brilliant idea (I don’t remember who, probably Mayor Dick) it had restaurants and a few clubs and shops and a shuttle. But it was off downtown so everything was geared to the “Tampa Monied” (as opposed to the New York Monied or the Lake Forest Monied), read: overpriced. Tampa Monied didn’t want to mingle with the suburban “tourists” who visited so the project began to flounder. And what is Harbour Island now? A place where they spell ‘harbor’ harbOUr just because they can.
August 10th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Actually, you can trace Harbo(u)r Island development back to good ‘ol Bob “Drug Czar Pwns Joo” Martinez. The idea, I believe, was to have a tourist destination downtown that didn’t involve homeless people. I remember going there when it first opened. It was full of restaurants and independant stores - the hologram store was a favorite of mine at the time, both hypnotizing to my junior-high aged self and a sad symbol of everything that was wrong about that place. Itdid decent business for itself at first, but interest quickly waned until it’s near demise quite a while ago. I hear it’s an office park now.
I was also amped at riding the “People Mover” for the first time, but this little exercise in public transport futility has basically taught me that unless a public transportation program is a comprehensive and well-planned endeavor, it’s nothing but a waste of taxpayer money and government time. (See: Downtown Streetcar)
August 10th, 2005 at 11:59 am
I worked at that mall on Harbour Island… Remember the recording studio? I’ll have to recall that experience here sometime.
December 20th, 2005 at 9:30 am
[...] Friday I saw a large section of Madison St., most of which is one way, being repainted. I know there Mayor Pam plans to return several downtown streets to two way traffic, and this is the beginning. From the Downtown Tampa Partnership: You may notice that Madison Street appears to be undergoing some improvements. The City of Tampa is working to convert Madison Street from a one-way street to a two-way street. This is the first of 5 streets that will undergo this transformation. Work being performed includes the retrofitting of traffic signals, installation of new pedestrian count down signals, coordinating traffic signs, reconfiguring parking spaces and meters as well as installing new pavement markers. Work is anticipated to be done by March of 2006. The cost is $810,000. [...]