Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

… or is it “Stay Home and Sulk”?

For her 18th birthday, Wifey and I took the High School Senior to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casin o. She had gotten some birthday spending money from friends and family, and I thought it would be a good idea to teach her how to effectively make it disappear at the slo t machines.

As we showed her the ropes, she learned there is a lot more than just

• a. insert money
• b. place bet
• c. pull handle
• d. repeat until broke

For instance, the Degenerate Gamblers Rewards Gimmick.

Before you sit down at your first machine, you gotta visit the Degenerate Gamblers Rewards Gimmick Concierge Desk (they MIGHT call it the Players Club or something like that). Give ‘em your name and ID, and they give you a plastic card that can track how much you lose play at the place. Each time you play at a table or any machine, you rack up points, and after 20 years or so, you will have enough points for a free soda or something.

So the 18 year old became a member of the Degenerate Gamblers Rewards Gimmick, and after a small handful of visits to the Hard Rock, she has earned at least a couple of points. But yesterday we learned that she has only FOUR DAYS to redeem those rewards.

You see, Governor Crist gave the Seminoles permission to add some Vegas Style Table Games, and convert all those Bingo Based Slots to real Vegas Style Slot Machines. In exchange, the Seminoles agreed to disallow those under 21 to play with these more official gam bling options.

In preparation for that upgrade, Doug Hoppe, VP of Sales & Marketing of the SHRH&C sent out a letter to the High School Senior, explaining that as of April 1, she is no longer welcome as a member of the Degenerate Gamblers Rewards Gimmick. She is no longer welcome to play those one-armed bandits. (She can, however, continue to play poker.) She is no longer welcome to collect points, redeem offers, participate in any promotions, or redeem points.

Of course, the minute she turns 21, all bets are off (so to speak), and she will be reinstated as a full member of the Degenerate Gambler’s Society.

But in the meantime, these sharks have given her 4 days’ notice to find time to get to the glorified Bingo Palace, redeem her points, and get that free piece of Hard Rock Candy (or tiny trinket, or cash, or whatever) she so richly deserves.

By the way, SHRH&C PR guy Gary Bitner says some Vegas Style Slots could be in the Tampa casino as soon as June 1. We’re betting (ha!) that you will see some in there by mid-May.

Michelle Sampson wrote:

I’d like to Ask a Tampan:”Where are the best places to eat in the East Tampa / Orient Park areas? We like vegetarian, organic, fresh, local, healthy fare and haven’t found much. There is a REAL need for this type of place in the area, and a local grocery too! This part of town often gets overlooked, but it’s a great place to live and we want to attract more to the area and
support what’s already here.”

Hmmm. Well, I am very familiar with that area and there aren’t too many Vegetarian restaurants in what is considered East Tampa. It is still an area going through “gentrification.”

There are many, many options surrounding the USF campus as well as in Seminole Heights (275 & Hillsborough), which is just a stones throw from your front door.

Grass Roots, for one, is located at 2702 N Florida Ave (813) 221-7668. They have an amazing selection of Organic, Vegan meals. They also offer an extensive Raw food menu. Saigon Bay (Vietnamese) is located at 2373 E Fowler Ave. They make a mean Tofu Bun. Pure Veg Mirch Masala (Indian) is located at 2311 E Fowler Avenue. I’ve been told there isn’t a bad dish on the menu.

As for Organic markets, this is Chuck’s Natural Food Marketplace at 11301 North 56th, just south of Fowler Ave.

You can also stay in touch with your natural side by keeping up with Vegetarian Restaurants.net. They list a whole bunch of places all over Tampa. You never know when you may be in North Tampa and need a Sprout fix. There is also Vegetarian USA with an even more extensive list of Restaurants and Markets.

Keep us posted on your findings, and if our readers know about any I’ve missed, I’m sure they can help us out in the comments.

Imagine not being able to log on any time of the day or night. Not being able to do research online at will, send e-mails, visit Sticks of Fire, start a blog of your own, a Web site, print out a homework project, a letter, a resume. It’s hard for many of us to remember those pre-computer times.

But Ralph Smith is reminded of them every day while working with folks who don’t have FIOS, or WiFi, and don’t have broadband. And no, these folks don’t have dial-up. In fact, they do not even have a PC.

And there are plenty of them. The shortage of computer access in Hillsborough County was noted Monday in a story in the Trib by Anthony McCartney. It seems that so many people come to one of the Tampa-Hillsborough public libraries to use the free computers that the system will soon limit users to a two-hour a day maximum.

Smith recognized lack of access about 10 years ago, even before computers became pretty much ubiquitous in all but the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Then in IT at Citibank, Smith saw that the growing opportunities - information, connection, work opportunities (including well-paying technology jobs) - offered by cyberspace were not available to many low-income families.

He also noticed that there weren’t many black or brown faces in IT departments.

So he did what far too few do: Tried to change things.

The results is the Computer Mentor program based in a small building at 2802 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in East Tampa.

Computer Mentors offers computer access and training to the entire community, but focuses primarily on teens. There is no shortage of eager students of all ages, but there are no resources for expansion. Space and hardware are in short supply. So are volunteers - and, of course, money.

Smith and the group do have some impressive sponsors but more are needed. If you can assist with money, a building, some time, some hardware, visit this link.

Tommy and I spent a couple of hours with Smith last week. He’s a sweet guy with a huge heart and big dreams.

Help him give a hand up to a needy community if you can.

Local historian and community activist Fred Hearns is releasing his first book, Getting It Done - Rebuilding Black America Brick by Brick.

Hearns is the Director of the Department of Community Affairs with the City of Tampa. He graduated from Middleton High School in 1966, and founded the school’s alumni association. The school closed in 1971 because of desegregation, and Hearns led the effort to renovate and reopen the school, beginning with a conversation at a 1991 reunion. An outdoor pavilion at the school bears his name.

Middleton High is on 22nd St. midway between MLK, and Hillsborough at E. Osborne.

Local Black communities are receiving face-lifts all over the county with renovations and new property projects. In his book, Fred Hearns, gives readers his own formula for saving and restoring vital institutions in black neighborhoods. Hearns details how he and a small group of dedicated volunteers worked for twelve years to get their old high school, George Schroeder Middleton Senior High School, rebuilt. Their persistence resulted in the new $50 million facility constructed in the same all-black neighborhood that the school stood in from 1934 until it was closed for desegregation purposes in 1971.

Mr. Hearns agreed to answer a few questions through an email exchange, and we learned a bit more about him and his project:

Can you tell us more about the book? The book is about the twelve-year journey of the Middleton Senior High School Alumni Association, Inc. striving successfully to reestablish the formerly all-black school in its original Tampa, Florida neighborhood. As co-founder of the association and as president for the organization’s first nine years (1991-2000) I had an up-close-and-personal vantage point of the ups and downs of this experience.

Why did you decide to write about your experiences? The book is a road map for similar groups with similar goals to “get it done” by following some basic steps to success. I wrote the book because I want this same formula for making positive things happen to be duplicated all across America. A few dedicated people can do it by working with the government to restore hope and opportunity for future generations in distressed neighborhoods.

Are the citizens of Tampa better off since Middleton High was revived? Tampa is much better off because Middleton High School reopened in 2002: Some 1,000 young people are able to attend high school in their neighborhood (another 1,000 live outside the two-mile radius). It gives the community a stake in what happens at the school and vice versa.

Twelve years seems like a long time. What was the most difficult part? The most difficult part of the twelve years was keeping the group’s hopes alive. I needed much prayer and faith just to keep going myself. But I knew that with perseverance toward a just cause, victory would one day be ours.

Besides Middleton, what other local buildings/institutions have benefited from recent renovations? West Tampa’s Howard W. Blake High School, which was Tampa’s other all-black high school for many years, also closed in 1971. It reopened in 1997 just one block from the former school campus in a new building (as Middleton did). These are, in my opinion, the two most significant revivals of black institutions in Tampa in the last fifty years.

Are there other local buildings or institutions that need a “face lift,” but getting no attention? There is no good answer for this question. Two buildings that are scheduled to be revived are the St. James Episcopal Church Building in Central Park Village (it will be converted to a Black History Museum by the Tampa Housing Authority), and the Centro Español Building in West Tampa (former home of the Tampa Urban League).

How did you and your family come to live in Tampa? My maternal great grandfather John Bates Henry and his wife, Mary, came to Tampa from Monticello, Florida around 1920. My paternal grandmother, Roxie Gilchrist, came to Tampa from Tallahassee around 1938. My parents Samuel Hearns and Grace Tillman Clark both grew up in Tampa. My mother graduated from Middleton in 1948 and moved to New York. I was born at Fordham Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. November 28, 1948. My father left Tampa in 1948 on a basketball scholarship to Florida A&M University (it was Florida A&M College then). He has lived in Broward County, Florida since the 1950s. My mother returned to Tampa in the early 1950s and has lived in East Tampa ever since.

My mother worked for Tampa’s old Negro Hospital, Clara Frye Hospital (photo), for many years and was a Hillsborough County employee until her retirement. My father went into public education in Broward County and retired as a high school principal.

What’s the best thing about Tampa Bay? There are many opportunities for people who are willing to seek God’s favor and use their brains and hands more than their mouths. Worst thing? People who do the opposite!

What’s the worst thing in your old neighborhood? The many young people who stand around most of the day with no real positive purpose in their lives. Best thing? Middleton Senior High School and the magnet programs in mathematics, science, engineering and aeronautics, right in “the hood.”

What’s the coolest thing you have ever done? I flew a single-engine airplane (with help, of course, from the pilot) for about five minutes in 1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was like being among God’s angels for a moment! I also rank right up there contributing to the birth of my first child, Ricky, and seeing his face in Womens’ Hospital on May 21, 1975.

Getting It Done - Rebuilding Black America Brick by Brick will be released at a book signing this Saturday, February 17th at 1pm at Books For Thought, located at 10910 N 56th Street in Tampa by USF.

65 years ago…

November 9, 1941 – Police arrest the managers of The Big Orange and Valencia Gardens in Hyde Park and charge them with liquor sales in dry districts on Sundays. The managers were the first arrests in the enforcement of the Sunday liquor closing ordinance adopted by voters of five of the city’s 12 aldermanic districts in the previous week’s election. The ordinance banned sales of whiskey, beer and wine on Sundays in two districts in Hyde Park, two in Seminole Heights, and one in East Tampa.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay History Center.

On Saturday we checked out the Quincy Restaurant after watching a glowing video review of the soul food restaurant on Bright House’s Tampa Bay On Demand channel.  Quincy is located on N. 40^th St. in east Tampa by the Hillsborough River and down the road from Big John’s Alabama BBQ. 

When we showed up at Quincy around mid-day the small, humble-looking restaurant was empty save for one other couple.  That didn’t discourage us, though, as this was the same place Tampa Bay On Demand’s Jack Harris had raved about and had said that Tampa mayor Pam Iorio was a regular guest.  Sure enough pictures of Mayor Pam were up on the wall by the counte

After looking over the hand-written wall menu I ordered fried catfish with black eyed peas and tomatoes-and-okra, while Traci ordered baked chicken with fries and tomatoes-and-okra as well.  While northerners turn up their nose at catfish, I grew up in the south and don’t know any better. Each meal also came with cornbread.  At this point, I was still optimistic we were in for a treat.

Unfortunately, while the service was friendly and aimed to please, the food was just very average.  Everything might have been made fresh originally, but was clearly just re-heated by the time we had it.  Maybe things are different during the week.  In any case, this wasn’t the hidden gem that Jack Harris made the place out to be and we fell for.  Shame on us I guess for taking the bait.

While Quincy wasn’t worth the drive for us, I still think Tampa Bay On Demand (on Channel 340 for Bright House Networks customers) is worth checking out for local dining ideas and all sorts of other local content.  Of course, just take Jack Harris’ praise with a big grain of salt!

Bottom-line: We might have just caught Quincy on an off-day, but this wasn’t the tasty southern home-style cooking we were hoping for.  We’re still looking for that hidden gem.   

Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection - February 2006 violations - Critical (3), Non-Critical (1).