Comments on: fix it now

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:49:09 +0000

chaaalie, always the perennial fly in the ointment…..

By: Tino

Tino — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:35:50 +0000

I’m a little more concerned that the state university annual tuition costs less than daycare for a 5 year old, yet people continue to complain that education is “too expensive”.

That is a bit more important than media consolidation.

By: chaaalie

chaaalie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:01:19 +0000

Yeah, Kudos … great list … so well strategiezed that items 1 and 2 are essentially the same issue … as are 4 and 5 … and if pro sports are really one of the top 10 biggest problems in any market, it really must be Utopia. (Same with GLBT rights … good thing there’s no longer any racism here, because that would affect a lot more people.)

No mention of education.
No mention of economics. Taxes. Cost of living.
Few real quality-of-life issues.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:50:34 +0000

Kudos to the CL staff, they covered a lot of ground in 10 items. To #10 I would add quality education, which often leads to economic opportunity.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:52:04 +0000

LOL – Upon reflection my first post came across much more jaded and negative than I intended. I frequently jog the Mt Vernon trail and walk when the weather’s nice…I guess I should acentuante the positives more eh?!

The delays and the changes are frustrating, but the benefits far outweigh the costs and I have no regrets about leaving

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:10:31 +0000

Jeesh Chris, sounds like you still live in Tampa, at least in your head.
Take the blinders off and have a fresh look around without the pre-conceptions, ask a few questions, do something different. You are mising the point regarding a walkable, urban environment like DC or Georgetown.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone “yearning for sprawl”, but to each his own.

I’ve tryed to access the “Fix It Now” blog but it gets hung up.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:03:44 +0000

I agree with Wayne on many of these things, however his list is very evident of the myopic world view of the City of Tampa.

True, no one likes sprawl, but people will always try to live as close to work as possible – and in our community’s case “work” can mean West Shore, downtown Tampa, Brandon, USF, etc. etc. You can’t force citizens into something (#2, urban density), if that’s not the lifestyle the majority wants to live. It’s a recipe for major economic problems. What you can hope for is a healthy balance of both, and ultimately choice – those who want single-family homes and those who want urban living can each have the opportunity to build and live in either.

I recently left Tampa after spending my entire life there, and have relocated to urban Northern Virginia, commuting daily by train into Washington.

Yes, the urban setting is nice, and yes, I am thankful to have mass transit though it’s not the save all those I left in Tampa dream it to be – my door to door commute is still 35-45 minutes, though I live only 4 miles from my office, I don’t have the reliability to get errands done during the day
(i.e. a simple visiit to the doctors office requires navigating a train/bus schedule that adds another hour out of my work day) and my high-rise apartment is nice (though the frequent sirens and city noise aren’t).

There are many days I long for the car conveinence of Tampa, and a nice, big, green backyard where I can’t hear my neighbors through the walls.

Remember Tampa, the grass isn’t always as green on the other side.