Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

According to an AOL article written by Carol Vinzant, Clearwater City, Florida is one of the Worst Places to Retire:

Clearwater City, Florida: Too Many Fellow Seniors

This Tampa Bay area hamlet has the highest percentage of seniors of any city in the United States. The 2000 Census found 21% of Clearwater’s population was 65 or older, the highest of any city of 100,000 or more. Floridians as a whole are 17.6% seniors, compared with 12.4% for the United Sates as a whole. With 3.6% of its population 85 and up, Clearwater also has three times the national share of that age group.

The graying of Florida is just one reason many retirees from the Northeast sometimes abandon their first retirement destination for somewhere mid-way up the coast. These “half-backs” are increasingly turning to the Carolinas, fleeing the bland culture, extreme weather, and high real estate and homeowner’s insurance prices of Florida.

Huh?

Clearwater City? There is no such place as Clearwater City, Florida.

Too Many Seniors? For people retiring? Don’t old people sometimes look for other old people to hang with? I have never in my life heard a retiree say there are too many old people here. Even still, 21% is not a very high number. That still leaves 79% of the population to make friends with. Is that not enough?

But get this - Anchorage, Alaska also makes the list, because they have the “Fewest Fellow Seniors.” Rhode Island makes the list because they have the “Least Older Men.” Perhaps Carol can tell us what perfect percentage of retirees we should be striving to reach.

And they are fleeing the “bland culture” of Clearwater? I guess the writer didn’t read an earlier article, also found on AOL. The one that says Tampa Bay is one of the best places for retirees:

This is Florida’s finest venue to kick start a second or third act. The community actively welcomes retirees who want to get involved with creative, ecological, business — you name it — projects. The cultural scene is rich with performing arts venues, and it has outstanding healthcare facilities.

Sounds like the opposite of bland to me.

The bottom of the article tells us that Carol Vinzant is a freelance writer in New York City. The rest of the article tells me that some people can get paid to write crap.

Vice President Jennifer Meningall was found not guilty on charges of financial misconduct, last Wednesday, after an audit concluded that most policies and procedures were followed. VP Meningall was accused by former staff member James Dragna back in October of this year.

This sparked major controversy amidst students at a time when budget cuts and tuition fee increases made them especially attentive to any talks of financial corruption with Student Affairs funds. In response, students held a sit-in and used the lack of police and security due to budget cuts as one of their main platforms.

The question of corruption within the administration aside, this lack of security continues to be a real problem. USF has selected Allied Baron, a security company, to “complement” the police force which many people had opposed, some calling it a “band-aid” solution. It may not be what everyone’s looking for, but it’s a start. I just hope to see more progress in the future. With changes like new 230,000 square foot Marshall Center being built and (I’ve heard rumors) of bulls statues that cost $50,000 each to be put in the future, remodeled MLK plaza, let’s find some money to complete our campus security force.

For More Info:
Channel 10 (WTSP.com) covered the story when Dragna’s email first came out. This has the original email from Dragna that was sent to President Genshaft & Co. The Oracle (usforacle.com) has the full audit report that was released on December 5.

I’ll just lay it all out and put it bluntly. Paris needs a home. Jack Talman found the adorable black and white momma and her five kittens in the woods near a Shell gas station in Plant City. The cats were lucky Talman found them. His commitment to animals, particularly free-roaming and stray cats, is significant.

The owner of Talman Tank ponied up the money to open the Animal Coalition of Tampa’s spay/neuter clinic. In the interest of full disclosure, I work with ACT and am paid by the group.

But that has nothing to do with Paris, whose kittens were almost immediately adopted at Humane Society of Tampa Bay.

Talman took Paris home. (He had named her Shelly, after the gas station. His wife Jewel changed it.) An unabashed cat guy, he expected to have Shelly/Paris around for a very long time. Like a proud pappa, he brags that she will play with a feather on a wand for hours and she comes when she’s called. “She only weighed six pounds when I found her,” he says. “She’s up to a healthy nine pounds now.”

Not surprisingly, as a free-roaming cat she hadn’t had a lot of contact with humans, so Talman says she doesn’t like being picked up yet. But she loves to be petted while she lies on the floor.

There’s another “but,” however. Turns out Jewel is allergic to Paris the cat. So the adorable animal lives on a screened porch at the Talman home. “She loves to watch the squirrels and birds,” says Talman.

But he wants more for the cat than a home on the porch.

Paris has been spayed and tested for FIV and FeLV. She’s had all her shots and will soon get a microchip. Talman also says that she has a wonderful, shiny coat, eats dry cat food and uses the litter box.

“I haven’t had her around other pets,” says Talman, “so I’m not sure if she would get along with other cats and dogs. But, as we know, somehow they adapt.”

If you are able to give Paris a home, email Talman at jtalman@ij.net or call him at (813) 376-0480.

Donna Selle has a simple request for Ask A Tampan:

Can you sum up Tampa in a nutshell? What is the city like politically, socially, etc.? Is it forward thinking? What’s the housing situation like? City planning? Public transportation? Traffic? If you were explaining Tampa to someone who you wanted to move there, what would you tell them?

My family lives in Lithia; I live in Seattle and have been a lifelong Northwesterner. I have an impression of the Tampa area, but I believe there is much more to it than what I’ve seen. All I’ve seen is from my family’s point of view. (I’ve seen urban sprawl, McMansions, gated communities, teens driving Hummers, and lots and lots of shopping malls.) But out of the corner of my eye, I’ve seen some things that lead me to believe Tampa might be a great city. Do Tell!!!

Give us your nutshell description of Tampa in the comments.

After hearing how miserable Tampa Bay is for walking, we get this from Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater:

Charming Florida Town Named America ’s “Most Walkable”

Dunedin’s Top Ranking Debunks Brookings Institution Study

The Pinellas County town of Dunedin was voted America ’s “Most Walkable Small City” on Dec. 7, the result of a survey sponsored by RunThePlanet.com, an influential runner’s Web site based in Seattle, Washington.

The city’s abundant sunshine, mild year-round climate, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfares and compact downtown area landed it the top spot in the survey’s “Small Community” category. Boulder, Colorado and Washington, DC were voted the country’s most walkable medium and large cities, respectively.

“We’re excited to receive official recognition of what we have known all along,” said Dunedin Mayor Bob Hackworth, whose tree-lined, 108-year-old municipality near the Gulf of Mexico is internationally famous for its Scottish heritage and links to the PGA Tour. “This is an immensely walkable and liveable city, and we’re proud to be at the top of the list of America ’s best,” he added.

Frank Roy, co-owner of Meranova Guest Inn in downtown Dunedin, says the town’s walkability is a hit with visitors, too.

“Our guests are often surprised that they can walk everywhere they need to go, whether it’s for shopping, nightclubbing, or five-star dining,” he said, adding that the town’s pedestrian-friendly nature is advantageous for local restaurateurs as well.

The survey’s results came in stark contrast to a study released earlier in the week by the Washington, DC-based Brookings Institution, which ranked the Tampa Bay Area last in “walkability” among America ’s top 30 metropolitan areas. That study used mass transit figures and demographic statistics to support its conclusions, whereas the RunThePlanet.com ranking relied on a survey of visitors who had actually visited - and walked - cities and towns across America.

“That the Brookings study relied on statistical analysis rather than actual experience of visitors shows how raw data can be misleading,” said DT Minich, executive director of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.

“There’s much more to the St. Pete/Clearwater area than any spreadsheet could ever convey, and we’re pleased that Dunedin was voted number one by people who actually know it,” he added.

Links: Brookings Institute - Walkable Urban Places, Run The Planet - America’s Most Walkable Cities

The bad news for the Bucs is that Jeff Garcia is likely a game time decision. The good news is that Texans quarterback Matt Schaub is definitely out and is replaced by someone who’s name sounds like a Simon and Garfunkel song….Sage Rosenfels. Although as long as the Texans have a healthy Andre Johnson aka the Next Terrell Owens they are a dangerous team.

BY THE NUMBERS (DVOA explained here)
Buccaneers
Offense: ppg, 20.1 (#18) - DVOA, 13.1% (#8)
Defense: ppg, 15.6 (#2) - DVOA, -8.1% (#9)
Texans
Offense: ppg, 21.9 (#16) - DVOA, -1.1% (#17)
Defense: ppg, 24.2 (#24) - DVOA, 13.2% (#28)

In all areas the Bucs are a better statistical team than the Texans with the exception of offensive scoring per game. Despite having one of the more efficient offenses in the NFL the Bucs have struggled to score points, only twice all season have they scored more than 30 points…and both times they scored 31 points.

While the Texans defense has a good deal of young talent on it (DeMeco Ryans, Mario Williams, Amobi Okoye) but that talent has not yet jelled into a cohesive unit. Which may be good news even if Garcia is unable to go considering how well Luke McCown played in his relief last week.

Random Stat of the Week: 12
Jon Gruden has won with 12 different starting quarterbacks, more than any other active NFL head coach. In Miami head coach Cam Cameron has still not won a game with any starting quarterback.

Bonus Random Stat of the Week:
McCown Brothers Last Week - 44 for 62 with 463 passing yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT
Manning Brothers Last Week - 36 for 56 with 483 passing yards, 5 TDs, 3 INTs

Cheerleaders of the Week: Larisa and Marisa
22 year old twins Larisa and Marisa not only have the worst rhyme scheme names of any twins I’ve ever heard of, they are also Houston Texans cheerleaders. Can you tell them apart?

Random YouTube Clip of the Week: Week 11 Saints @ Texans Game
This was the Reggie Bush versus Mario Williams game which Mario got the better of. The Texans won the game 23 to 10.

Tonight the JGLB is celebrating Johnny G. Lyon’s birthday at the New Blue Shark in Ybor City! Why don’t you come down, buy the guy a beer, and party with all of us as we rock the night with our new songs?

You never know who you might see there!

Google Maps for your mobile phone is out now with a new, improved version called Google Maps with My Location (beta). The new version offers several new features, the most important being its ability find your location using either your phone’s built-in GPS or by triangulating your location using cell towers. If your phone doesn’t have GPS, the triangulation feature will get you somewhere within 500 to 5000 meters of where you really are. You can then use the “0″ on your phone to position yourself more accurately on the map. In addition to the “my location” feature, the new version of Google Maps for mobile also has real-time traffic (I could have used this today!), more detailed step-by-step directions, integrated search results, easily movable maps, and even satellite imagery. You can see a demo of the service here. Also, check out the video below for an explanation of how it all works. To get the latest version of Google Maps, point your mobile browser to www.google.com/gmm. Most web-enabled mobile phones are supported, including Java, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices.

For more tech news, visit my blog, www.sarahintampa.com!

Judy wanted to know why the papers and tv stations are all agog about the Jessica Sierra story. The media will claim that the public wants to know. I think the media as a whole truly believe that the public is really interested in the trials and tribulations of celebrity.

We ain’t got no movie stars or world-touring musicians or even Elijah Dukes hanging out around here no more. We do have three professional teams of rich athletes. Go ahead and throw in local celebrities such as TV News Anchors, and maybe a couple of Radio DJs, and that’s about it. But athletes aren’t outed cuz it may affect a reporter’s future ability to get a quote. And those news anchors are given the benefit of “professional courtesy.” So along with a has-been wrestler guy and his family of misfit wanna-bes, we get breathless reports on some poor, young, nobody who’s only claim to fame is that she was on a GAME SHOW.

And this story had the added elements of racial slurs and bargaining with sex acts - juicy stuff. All of this in a market with 2 dailies, a daily tabloid, and four or five tv news gatherers, and you can see why it becomes a fiasco.

It’s certainly tabloid stuff. But is it news? Is it journalism? Is it important? The Tampa Police Department issued a news release about it, but I am guess that this is not the first time that an intoxicated person under arrest would offer anything they could to be let go. However, according to an online search of TPD communications, it’s the very first time a TPD press release said a detainee offered “sexual favors” for his or her release. Perhaps policy is to issue a release only when the tradeoff is denied. Anyway, it’s obvious that TPD communications knew the papers would love the story.

But it doesn’t take much journalism to read a press release, grab a copy of the police report, get the statement from the girl’s attorney, and then publish the details. You could have done that yourself.

On the other hand, some folks think that the newspapers didn’t go far enough. Media critic Wayne Garcia complains that the newspapers did not offer enough titillating details, and flat out accuses both newspapers of censorship. (Note to Wayne: It would be news if they DIDN’T redact the offensive words.) This is from someone who has complained that journalism should not aim for the lowest common denominator. Maybe he just wanted to publish all the dirty words himself.

As much as I hate to admit it, I suppose that a well known celebrity getting arrested qualifies as news. But I’m tired of the tabloid mentality that is forced upon us. Wouldn’t it be nice if at least one of the two dailies began to put these stories inside? Can we leave the front page for important news? And although I can’t guarantee it, if citizens see that you understand them, can explain what they need to know, that you care about them and the city they live in, and stop treating them like lemmings, it might actually lead to a better and better-informed community.

Wait. Lemme read that last sentence again.

Nevermind.

I should have just published the dirty words too.

Previously: st pete times: celebreality trumps election