Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

A small group of neighborhood girls go to the city park to enjoy the fresh air and play a game or two of kickball.  The following week, another neighborhood puts a team of girls together to compete with the first.  After a few weeks, there are seven neighborhood kickball teams.  They all play against each other, and come up with a schedule to determine which neighborhood has the best kickball team.

What an awesome display of community - combining beautiful days and competitive spirit into a weekly gathering of like-minded folks at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park - a gorgeous park across the Hillsborough River from the Performing Arts Center.

The girls brought friends and family to watch.  Those friends brought more friends, and more people began coming to the city park to watch the games and hang out.  But then, the idiots came in.

Hundreds of people began showing up at the parks during the kickball games. The police department heard complaints about trash, parking, drinking, drugs and fights. In mid-April, Tampa cops made nine drug arrests around the kickball games.

The city parks & Rec department went to the kickball organizers and told them that events with more than 200 people attending require a permit, and they’ll have to pay $1,400 to form an official league (sports programs are required to carry liability insurance).

Of course, the girls just want to play kickball - they may not care about attracting a crowd, and they simply don’t need the hassle.  I mean, we should all be allowed to just go play some kickball at the city parks.

Community activist Michelle Williams thought the same thing, organized a protest at the park, and made a formal complaint with the NAACP. 

So I guess the city worked out a deal, and there was another game Wednesday night, back at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park.  It turned into a brawl involving about 100 people.  The argument may have been ignited by a YouTube video.

Michelle Williams now says she is “extremely disappointed. I stuck my neck out for them.”

No one was arrested, because the troublemakers stole into the crowd, and that crowed refused to cooperate or point anyone out.

Yeah - this happened before when “Chunky Sunday” was the hip thing at city parks.

Until Michelle Williams and her kickball players give up the “no snitching” credo, they can expect cops and the city to give them a hard time at the parks.  Everyone is responsible for helping rid ourselves of troublemakers.

The Weekly Rays Update

Overall: 31-20
Last Week: Oakland (2-1), Baltimore (3-0)
This Week: Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox

What has gotten into the (Devil) Rays? Last season the Rays had the worst record in baseball. Now they have the best record in baseball. How rare is this kind of turnaround? 1903 was the last time a team went from worst record to the best record after Memorial Day (that team was the New York Giants).

[Disclaimer: Apparently Memorial Day was later in the month in 1903.]

Tampa Bay…31—20 __ .608
Boston………….32—22 __ .593
Toronto……….28—25 __ .528
Baltimore…….25—25 __ .500
New York……..25—26 __ .490

Can they keep it up? Others may argue different but I don’t think they win the AL East. The Rays have benefited from home-cooking so far, with 28 games at home and 23 on the road. In their home games the Rays have a 20-8 record, but on the road they have a losing record of 11-12. Starting next week the Rays have a nine game road trip which should test the young team.

VOTE FOR CARL CRAWFORD TO START THE ALL STAR GAME

RAYS POST OF THE WEEK
This week our favorite post was from Rays of Light for their response to DRays Bay complaints about Matt Garza’s 7 1/3 shutout innings. We are in agreement with Rays of Light, let’s just enjoy a win for what it is, a win.

RAYS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Evan Longoria: .261, 2 HRs, 7 RBI (for the week)
Evan Longoria was on fire over the weekend with 2 homeruns on Saturday followed by a game winning walk off hit the next day. Now if only we could agree on a nickname for Longoria.

If so, visit this link: Bolleas’ jail tapes anger victim’s father.

I read this story in the St. Petersburg Times this morning and almost lost my breakfast. Apparently, the Pinellas County Jail released telephone conversations between Nick Bollea and his family to the public.

In one conversation, Linda Bollea - one half of the pair that created Nicky, the wild child, who is serving eight months in the slammer for turning his buddy, John Graziano, into a vegetable - says that she loves and misses John more than his own mother does.

“John never meant anything to her or Ed [John's father]. It’s just sad because I really appreciate you kids, and I just miss John. I miss you, too. She’s not suffering. I am. I have the loss.”

Does this woman have a brain?

From the AP, and found at TBO.com - Scientists abuzz about 7 new bug repellants: 

Florida researchers have identified seven possibilities for the next generation of mosquito repellant…

… some chemicals [repel] mosquitoes for as long as 73 days…

Wow - Seventy Three Days!!  The stuff we use seems to last about 20 minutes.  Here in Florida, mosquitos are a way of life.  This stuff could be quite useful.

Now if only they could begin work on Fire Ants, Love Bugs, and Alligator repellant.

The Tampa City Council’s main task is to pass a budget for the city.  A workshop to discuss a six-month budget update was originally scheduled for a Tuesday, but your Tampa City Council voted to hold it on a regular council meeting day to make sure council members could attend.

Of the seven council members, four missed the meeting, which had to be canceled for lack of a quorum (four needed).  I guess Gwen Miller, John Dingfelder, Joseph Caetano and Charlie Miranda had other things to do.

Deputy City Clerk Sandy Marshall said she hasn’t seen a meeting canceled because of lack of a quorum in the 21 years she’s worked for the city.

Our thoughts are with all of our service men and women who died fighting for this great country. Happy Memorial Day.

Last June, we got six tanks of gas for $210. In January we paid $260. In April, we got six fillups for $310. Adding $50/month to our bills cost $600 in a year. Something’s got to give.

So we’re eating out a bit less. Wifey’s a good cook, and we had only been dining out 2 or three times per week. But now that is down to once a week.

When eating out, we no longer get sodas. We order water. The hard part is feeling silly. But that’s easy to get over, since restaurants charge around $2 for colored sugar water. $2 each at a family of four is $8. Three meals out is $24! Look around next time you are out eating - you’ll see lots of water.

We do have soda at home, and we also make coffee there too. The Mr. Coffee maker, filters, and 3 pounds of Maxwell House makes about 250 cups of coffee, and costs less than ten cups of Starbucks.

Errands are done on the way home from work, rather than after coming home first. We drive fewer miles that way. When we run errands on the weekend, we try not to forget anything, and make sure to have a plan to get to all of the places in the shortest route possible.

The Tribune says people are tipping less, buying fewer gifts, skipping haircuts, and skipping meals to make up for the extra they are spending on gas.

Do you have any money-saving tips? What are you doing to counteract rising prices? Leave a comment, then answer the new poll on the sidebar.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea went to sleep in a room all alone.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea woke up and had nowhere to go, and nothing to do.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea used the restroom facilities.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea washed his hands.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea sat down and had nowhere to go, and nothing to do.

Breaking News:  Nick Bollea tells parents that jail is not much fun.

Yeah, ok… I suppose there is room online for civic blight such as this.  But in the printed newspaper?  But does the same non-story - Jail A Shock for Bollea - belong on the front page of Metro? 

Well, it might.

Take a look at TBO’s “most viewed” stories for Friday, May 23:

Articles most frequently viewed by TBO.com readers.

1. In Jail Phone Exchange, Hogan Tells Weepy Son To ‘Man Up’
2. Meteorologist Michaels Leaving WFLA, News Channel 8
3. ‘Gas Phantom’ Reveals Identity
4. Jail A Shock For Bollea
5. Marijuana Grow House Busted In Temple Terrace, Deputies Say
6. Bradenton Man Who Won $16 Million ‘Had To Quit’ Job
7. ‘I’ll Never Get Over It,’ Man Says Of Finding Dead Baby In Trash Bin
8. Deputy: Fleeing Man Pushes Baby Carriage Into Street
9. Orlando Man Charged With Defrauding Tampa Airport Hotel
10. 104 Potential Weapons Confiscated At Obama Rally

Yep - the #1 AND the #4 story are about Nick calling home from jail.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could grab a spare bicycle at The Pier in St. Pete, and ride it to Tropicana Field for a ballgame, where someone else could use that same bike to get to the Dali Museum?  Once the Rays finish beating the Yankees, you could pick up another spare bicycle outside, and ride over to Baywalk, and put it in the bike rack with a handful of other bikes available to anyone to use for free.

Awesome idea, huh?  And the (turn down audio before clicking!) Green Bike Initiative wants to do just that:

Seeking to fill a niche need within our community, St. Pete’s Bike GREEN initiative was launched in March 2008 by cycling enthusiasts around Pinellas County. Having seen successful Public Utility Bike (PUB) programs in a number of European and American cities, founders Andrew Blikken and Brent Bruns decided the time had come for their own community to benefit from such an initiative.

It will never work.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership tried a similar program 10 years ago.  All 50 of the hideous orange bikes were stolen within a week.

Even Bike GREEN knows it.  In an interview with Big 13, BikeGreen.info founder Brent Bruns expects problems:

“We’re anticipating a thousand bikes to be stolen each month for six months, which is why we are launching with 8,000.”

Holy cow! - You’re telling me that you are going to flood downtown St. Pete with 8,000 green bicycles?  Imagine that for a second.  And then you expect 1,000 to be stolen each month for six months!  What happens in month 7?  Do people get bored with stealing bicycles every day?

And just how on earth are they raising money for 8,000 bicycles?  The obvious - they are selling handfuls of Altoids for $.25 each from vending machines.

This has success written all over it.