Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

26, of Ocala, Fla.

assigned to the 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry, 3d Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed Feb. 13 when the vehicle in which he was riding overturned in Balad, Iraq. Also killed were Sgt. Rene Knox Jr. and Spc. Dakotah L. Gooding.

Lake was born in Ocala and graduated from North Marion High School in 1996. He enlisted in the Army in 1999, and had since re-enlisted twice, said his stepfather, Worthy Farr.

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It sounds like this pedestrian was not in a crosswalk. But the occupants of the van will be checked out anyway.

Whether you live in St. Pete or on the Tampa side of the bay, you’ve got an opportunity to make it a great food festival weekend. Beginning tomorrow evening at Vinoy Park in downtown St. Pete is the Taste of Pinellas. I saw the ads last year listing the participating restaurants and decided that I wasn’t interested in tasting Pinellas in any way, shape or form. However, I was pleasantly surprised this year at the number of independent, quality restaurants offering food for this three day, outdoor family festival. The festival is free and beside the food, features several great bands, including Peter Frampton, .38 special and the Neville Brothers.

Some of the restaurants include Red Mesa, Boulevard Bistro and Parkshore Grill.  According to a quote in the St. Pete Times today,

“It was dominated by the chains before,” says Steve Westphal of Parkshore Grill. “This year we made a drive to (involve) the more local restaurants.”

I say hurray for the effort and the spread, I hope it is a sign of times to come. I would have liked to see more progressive and upscale restaurants on the list, especially since Pinellas houses some of the area’s best, including Café Ponte and Salt Rock Grill.  But I’m convinced the festival is moving in the right direction.

If you need to satisfy your craving for Louisiana boiled crawfish, you can get your fix Saturday at a boil organized by Nola Café in South Tampa. They’ll have over 3,000 pounds of boiled crawfish and a reasonably priced bar at Hooper’s Hollow at The A La Carte Pavillion (near Rocky Point). There will also be live music and a portion of the profits will be donated to the United Way of New Orleans. It’s the 1st annual, so I am hoping for great weather and a great turnout. Check out the flyer and if possible, email NolaCafe301@aol.com with the estimated head count.

Happy eating this weekend!

If you have a male cat that is “intact,” or not neutered, here’s your chance to be a responsible pet owner at an unbeatable price.

Bring your Tom to the Animal Coalition of Tampa’s one-day neuter-a-thon June 15, during which clinic veterinarians and staff will sterilize 100 male cats.

Since there is a limit on the number of surgeries that can be done, appointments are necessary. Call (813) 250-3900 for information and to book a spot.

ACT is a nonprofit agency that is trying hard to reduce the horrific number of animals euthanized each year at area shelters.

Hillsborough County Animal Services alone had to put down almost 28,000 cats and dogs in 2006.

The cause? Irresponsible pet owners.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have recently agreed to work with ACT. But given my interest in animal issues, which I’ve been writing about for 20 years, and the importance of spaying and neutering, I would be writing this post without any such relationship.

This is an important issue. The cost to taxpayers - and animal lovers - for dealing with stray, unwanted and/or uncared for animals is steep in dollars and heartache.

The cost to the animals is far too often their lives.

20, of Lake Worth, Fla.

assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.; killed Feb. 13 when a mortar round struck his vehicle in Samarra, Iraq.

David J. Brangman was home-schooled… He joined up both to earn money for college and after being profoundly affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. “He wanted to do something for his country,” said Ortiz. “And that’s what he did.” Brangman and his family moved from Albany, N.Y., six years ago. He loved to draw and dreamed of being an architect.

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Tonight the Tampa Downtown Partnership held their 2nd annual update for their “Vision & Action Plan.” It attracted a crowd of 30-35 people. Here are some of the highlights, in the various focus areas:

Culture & the Arts

• One of the audience members was adamant about keeping the existing Tampa Museum of Art building. He apparently doesn’t want to live in a City that will tear down a 27-year old “perfectly good” building. Nevermind that it leaks or that the City is almost 99% set on tearing down the building to provide a better view of the City (as well as serve as part of the Riverwalk).
• However, a better suggestion was that the Partnership and City work to bring more festivals downtown.

Education

• School Board member Candy Olson was in attendance and talked about the School Boards nascent efforts to convert the old Federal Courthouse building into a new high school. It would serve the downtown residence and employees - who could bring their children to school downtown. The school will be tied closely to the business community, offering internships for students between their junior and senior years. The school would also offer extensive foreign language education, including Spanish, Chinese, and ESOL.

Environment/Open Spaces

• There is a continued desire to ensure the open spaces help draw people.
• One person asked about the development of bike paths. There is a new bike lanes on Jackson Street, but the plan includes non-street bike paths.
• One resident commented about the (illegal?) feeding of the homeless in downtown areas when there are homeless services north of downtown. He suggested that the city work with these “out of town” organizations to provide a designated place near the Salvation Army shelter on North Florida to distribute food. (The biggest problem, he said, was the littering that occurs when these organizations bring food to area parks to serve the homeless.) However, most people seemed to agree that there is a need to provide more service to the homeless in Tampa.
• On the Riverwalk, one resident specifically wanted to ensure it includes water access (it will). Another mentioned the potential water pollution issues with the Hillsborough River. A third wanted to make sure there would be plenty of shade - but with the problems with transplanting larger trees, it might be possible to use shard structures rather than trees.
• There were also suggestions for a community garden and a dog park, as well as discussion about Herman Massey park.

Hospitality

• One person requested the inclusion of new hotel space in the current study of the future expansion of the Tampa Convention Center.

Housing/Residential

• The first request, and there was a lot of discussion on this subject: affordable housing. Virtually all of the current residential projects include some aspect of mixed-income housing. The Tampa Heights and Central Park projects on the periphery of downtown include a significant amount of affordable housing.
• I also learned recent market conditions, as well as the covenants most developers are using, are providing a greater and greater ratio of residents to investors in the newer properties. This will provide more residents living in downtown and Channelside.
• No one mentioned the Donald pulling out.
• The Tampa Tribune is reporting in “Downtown Condos Put on Hold” that the redevelopment of the old Maas Brothers building is on hold indefinitely.  The same developer has also  decided to turn their Downtown West project, The Boulevard, from condos to rental units.  They may do the same with the Maas site, or just wait until the market turns around.

Office/Commercial Real Estate

• There wasn’t much discussion of the commercial properties in downtown.

Planning/Zoning

• One of the major topics was parking. One of the biggest issues is the requirement from the City of one parking space per 1,000 square feet. This means new buildings have to include a parking garage (expensive) or find other arrangements within 250 feet. There is an effort to extend the radius to 1,000 feet which would be a five-minute walk. One person suggested developers who pay the “in lieu” fee to use other parking include a component to pay for the operation of a circulator in some areas.

Retail/Entertainment

• This is one area that gets a lot of attention. The first issue that was explored was part of the original 2005 Vision and Action Plan. It was suggested that the Partnership lease 10 properties in a master lease, then subsidize subleases for the properties so retail, dining, and entertainment businesses could move in. The plan required a $5 million investment, for some capital costs such as ADA modifications, but the remaining funds would offset the subsidy for the subleases.
• The Partnership is building a “Space Bank” that includes talking with most of the property owners as well as reviewing the available space. Many of the owners don’t want to start leasing their property in the hopes they can sell to a developer.
• Another asked for more grocery stores. Michael Chen with the City of Tampa said that several grocery stores have looked at space in the area, but will not be building this year. Of the new projects in the Channelside area, it would be possible to have a small 20,000 - 25,000 square foot store in the future.

Transportation

• One suggestion was to expand the Intown Trolley to include Davis Islands.
• Another was to make a greater effort to use Peter O Knight Airport as an Executive Airport.

Conclusion

Now, all of these efforts are being coordinated by the Tampa Downtown Partnership, which is funded by property tax dollars. Now we all know that there will be a Special Session to reform property taxes. Michael Chen with the City of Tampa noted that the City was planning fund $40 million of downtown improvements with bonds backed by property taxes. He indicated that the changes proposed in Tallahassee could eliminate some - or all - of the ability to borrow this money.

One participant noted that local governments have done a bad job - I’d say a piss-poor job - of tying property taxes to government services. So when people hear their property taxes will go down, they don’t realize it means some service they want could be cut or eliminated.

Moreover, it’s possible the Legislators either don’t understand - or even don’t care about this problem. Because they include provisions for the City Council to vote to go over some proposed tax cuts, Legislators can say they cut property taxes while local elected officials are forced to raise them back to cover the services demanded by their shared constituents.

How about a big round of applause for Amanda Platt!!

On Tuesday, she found out that McMullen-Booth road is closed.

For months, she was able to ignore Pinellas County officials:

they’ve given drivers the heads-up on the changes, sending out fliers and posting signs for months.

For over a week, this Safety Harbor resident managed to avoid all local newspapers, local television newscasts, and local radio stations. But that’s not all.

She also was able to successfully fail to notice those huge electronic signs posted on her way to work every day. And we’re still not done.

She was able to see the “road closed” sign, but still chose to snake her way around it and get lost in a neighborhood for a half hour.

Hey - this can’t be easy. It takes real effort to remain clueless. Alas, we should not single out Ms. Amanda Platt.

“I was down there Saturday, and people were driving all the way to the end, to the railroad tracks, and turning around,” county transportation Director Mahshid Arasteh said.

You share the road with these people.

Amanda, should you somehow find your way here to Sticks of Fire (ha!), check out Pinellas County roadwork or 511 Tampa Bay - they have free traffic information.

34, of Lawtey, Fla.

assigned to the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Jan. 28 in the crash of an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter in Baghdad. Also killed was Army Capt. Orlando A. Bonilla.

Jones was born in Missouri and grew up in various places around the country, his mother said… Jones graduated from Central High School in West Helena [Arkansas], Allene Jones of Beebe said of her only child… Jones had always wanted to fly; he spent 11 years in the Navy, but when he was unable to become a pilot, he switched to the Army in December 1999… Married and a father of four, he had been in Iraq since last March and was supposed to come home this March.

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