Build a display at the new Tampa History Museum to tell me about the history of those buildings? Sure. I’ll take a few minutes to read about them.

Spend millions of our hard-earned dollars to rebuild and maintain vacant, decrepit buildings that no one besides squatters and arsonists (see: the Albany Hotel) wants to use? Call me shallow and dim, but no thanks.

The real issue here is Tampa’s general disregard and disdain for historic structures. While restoration and preservation are accepted norms in great cities all over the U.S., residents of Tampa- as evidenced by your above sentiments- place little value on their own historic landscape. Perhaps you equate Civil Rights sit-ins with “taking a dump” however, I doubt many people share your dim point of view. Perhaps they should have knocked down the Loraine Motel in Memphis. After all, MLK probably just took a dump there before being shot. Historic buildings provide a sense of place and identity. They remind us of where we’ve been and where we want to be and, by they way, they entice people to live in and visit our urban neighborhoods. Behind Busch Gardens, Ybor is Tampa’s most visited location. Only a fraction of those people come for the clubs. Travelers from all over the world come because of the history, the architecture, and the small cigar shops and cafes.

Regarding Ybor, it is precisely the “take what you can get and be happy” attitude that has created our current problems. We deserve better.

I guess that in Tampa, beggars CAN be choosers.

I find it odd that the Historic Ybor City Neighborhood Civic Association would rather look at a building that has been boarded up for over two years instead of a business that is used 2-3 nights a week.

It’s not like they are replacing a thriving existing business with a nightclub. They are replacing a vacant eyesore at ground zero of Ybor!

That’s what makes today’s Ybor so depressing. It’s just block after block of vacant storefronts.