Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Tedd Webb and the Famunda All Stars are throwing a party to help out the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

The Famunda All Stars are staging Koncert For Kiddz II Saturday night, May 17th at The Ritz-Ybor at the corner of 7th Ave and 15th Street in Ybor City. The Famundas will welcome local celebs such as Belinda Womack, Michael Clayton of the Tampa Bay Bucs, as well as TV giants like Brendan McGloughlin, Mike Deeson, pro wrestler Lanny Poffo, and newspaper elite Ernest Hooper, Steve Persall, and Bob Ross to sing for the benefit of The Pediatric Cancer Foundation. Bay News 9’s Jen Holloway, and Fox 13’s Charley Belcher will MC.

Tickets are on sale now, contact Tanya Loira at 813-839-9393. Corporate tables are $500 for 6 seats, while General Admission is $30.

This will be a great time, and I plan on hanging out there at the Ritz Theater in Ybor for a while, and partying with all the local celebrities: Michael Clayton of the Bucs, Sharon Taylor, Jeff Fisher, Belinda Womack, Lanny Poffo, Mike Deeson, Jerry Petuck, Brian Blair & The Oreos, Steve Persall, Ernest Hooper, Bob Ross, Jen Holloway, Charley Belcher, and more.

That’s this Saturday evening. The silent auction begins at 6pm, and the musical acts start around 8pm. As you can see be the list of guests above, there’s no telling what is going to happen.

Once they are finished, the Johnny G. Lyon Band starring Tommy Duncan is playing across the street at the Blue Shark, and you can be sure that we are going to party the rest of the night away there.

If you haven’t been to Ybor in a while, Saturday night is an excellent opportunity to reaquaint yourself. See you there!

A couple of local bloggers are heading over to the Rock ‘n’ Sports cafe in Centro Ybor around 4pm, if anyone wants to chit chat about, well, anything at all…

On Thursday evening, wifey and I were part of a sold out crowd at Tampa Theater that watched the World Premiere of Seminole Heights:  An Intimate Look at the Early Years, a documentary with a self-explanatory name.  The movie was preceded by another Cigar City Pictures film, Ybor City:  A Passage in Time

On Saturday evening, fantastic local filmmakers Pete and Paul Guzzo are debuted a part of The Ghosts of Ybor.  The documentary about Tampa mobster Charlie Wall will be shown at HCC Performing Arts Building as part of the Ybor Festival of the Moving Image.  That show sold out, too.

This coming weekend, Hillsborough Community College will put on performances of  Anna in the Tropics (not to be confused with a recent production at a different HCC).  The Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in a 1920’s Ybor City cigar factory, where it’s owners, the factory workers, and the lector (reader) are involved with each other on multiple levels.  Great play, and great local angle, too.

Meanwhile, the St. Pete Times ran two stories related to local history last week.  Lane DeGregory reminds us that Panfilo de Narvaez landed in St. Pete 480 years ago (April 15, 1528), and Jared Leone decided to figure out just who that Dale Mabry fella was.

For those of you who are looking for a DVD version of the Seminole Heights documentary, you can find one at Sherry’s YesterDaze, 5207 N. Florida Af., or at Tampa Antiquarian Books, 6116 N Central Av., both in Tampa.  Cigar City’s Ybor City documentary can be purchased at the Ybor City Museum.

The Ghosts of Ybor will be playing in various venues and film festivals over the next year or so, and we’ll let you know when a DVD becomes available.

Maximin Andre Pierre was arrested Sunday afternoon for soliciting donations while playing saxophone in Ybor City.  Police said they warned him "several times" before arresting him for "vending in Ybor City without a permit."

We here in the Sticks are glad to hear all the real crime has been cleaned up.

Over a year ago, Gibraltar Development of Clearwater was looking at some land at the northern end of Ybor Channel.  The developer is now submitting plans, and Dave Pinero at Tampa Rail found some designs in the Tampa Historical Streetcar Board Meeting notes, that include references to "Streetcar Park" (page 44ish) within the "North Ybor Channel Redevelopment Project." Drawings show where the park would be, and it seems to be a good place for greenspace.

Of course, Gibraltar is also supposed to be developing Venu, too, so we’ll see how far this one gets.

This week’s Newsbits:

Tom Scott will be the new chairman of the Tampa City Council. Gwen Miller goes from chair to vice-chair.

Bob Henriquez got a new gig as an administrator for the state Department of Children & Families. He was the only applicant for the unadvertised position which pays $105,000 per year.

County Commission Chairman Jim Norman is gonna run for the State Senate in 2010.

New Beginnings wants $125,000 from Hillsborough County for 1,000 voice-mail accounts and 1,400 identification cards for the homeless. The County Commission seems fairly receptive.

The American Institute of Architects picked Tampa for their Center for Communities by Design Long-term Sustainability project. The idea is to create a plan for communities to meet environmental, economic and social needs of today without harming future generations.

Brandon residents have had enough with the suggestion of a bypass through their area, but it continues to come up time and time again.

Ybor City wants to completely do away with panhandling.

Muscovy Ducks are causing rifts in a Town ‘n’ Country neighborhood.

“Free is for me!” is and has always been my motto.

I like to cut coupons and look for bargains all day long! In a sense, this is the only reason we get to do what we do and not owe thousands in credit card debt.

On weekends I like to keep busy but I don’t want to hand over my entire paycheck to do so. I have gone on wild weekends and spent a small fortune but then the regret kicks in on Sunday night. Of course, there have been a few exceptions where we had so much fun it was worth every dime!

With all that being said I scour over many different lists of things to do in the Bay area to find the ones that look fun and will not cost a ton. This week we have the little one - and our niece to keep busy as well - so we are looking for kid friendly. No, not martini hour!

I already knew about the Rays Fan Fest (free) so that is on the agenda and I found two more free events to run by as well. Here’s all the information, enjoy and have a great weekend!

The Rays Fan Fest is Saturday, February 23 from 10am-5pm at Tropicana Field and has free admission and free parking. A team autograph session will take place throughout the entire event and the Rookie, Jim Morrison will be present. You can tryout to star in a Ray’s commercial; I have two of the cutest kids so this should be a shoe in! Kids and adults will be able to run the bases and there will be several other on the field activities for everyone. You can go to the Rays website for all the details on the event and of course how to purchase season tickets at a discount during the event. http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/tb/fan_forum/fan_fest.jsp

Ybor City’s Fiesta Day is also on Saturday, February 23 from 10am-6pm in Ybor City. I think I can do both of these if I start real early! First to Gunn Hwy to pick up the niece, shoot over to St. Pete for the athletic portion of the day. Then on the way home stop off in Ybor for a free sample of Spanish food for dinner then home! This event looks like a lot of fun there will be a parade of flags from Cuba, Germany, Italy and Span. There is an annual flan fest to determine who makes the best flan, the contest begins at noon and winners will be announced at 2:30pm. Complimentary Cuban bread, Spanish Bean soup and Cafe Con Leche will be given out to visitors! There will be music, children’s activities and the fresh market place will be huge this week with vendor’s, artists and more! Stop by the CC Event Productions website for all the details at http://www.cc-events.org/fiestaday

Olde Hyde Park Village is hosting their 19th annual art festival this Saturday and Sunday, Feb 23 & 24 from 10am-5pm. Thank goodness it is on Sunday too, because I want to go again this year. I always enjoy strolling around Hyde Park for their festivals. There will be a lot to look at with all the artists displaying their work of sculptures, paintings, ceramics, photography and much more. The shops will be open and nearby Kate Jackson Park has one of the nicest playground areas for the children. You can look at Howard Alan Events website for all the information on this event and others they promote at http://www.artfestival.com.

Whatever YOU do, I hope you have a great weekend!

Editor’s Note: I’m an idiot. This issue was before the city council on Thursday, and I didn’t get it written up until then. In fact, they probably already voted.  How on earth will I ever get our elected leaders to look to Sticks of Fire for advice, when I don’t give it to them in a timely manner?

The Tampa Tribune says the city should allow the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to close a street adjacent to the sheriff’s headquarters, and wall it in as part of the HCSO compound in Ybor City.

20th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues (satellite map) has had Bob’s Barricades in the way since September of 2001. Sheriff Gee now wants to put up a more permanent obstacle in order to make his command center more secure, and the Trib Editorial Board defends him, saying security is more important than residents’ opinions.

The Barrio Latino Commission opposes the plan, because it would damage the “historic grid system” of the Latin Quarter. Which is a lame excuse. But the people who live there don’t like it either.

Resident Manny Leto says the compound doesn’t do Ybor City any good:

…the sheriff’s office provides little benefit to the historic district. The sheriff has no jurisdiction in Ybor; policing the area is the responsibility of the Tampa Police Department. The sheriff (and other county facilities) does not contribute property taxes to Ybor’s CRA fund, and the building itself is a daunting fortress in the middle of a mixed-use, tourist-friendly, historic neighborhood.

What’s more, every time local reporters cover county-related arrests, they report “live from Ybor City,” reinforcing the perception that Ybor is full of criminals.

I’ve never seen sheriffs patrolling Ybor City - in fact, they laugh at TPD for the undesirable duty.

The Historic Ybor Neighborhood Civic Association opposes the plan, and has also complained about TV coverage “live from Ybor City” for crimes that happen out in Wimauma.

Besides playing the DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY card (you are supposed to think: “OMG - TERRORISTS!!”), the Tribune editorial board had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for any other excuse.

For instance, Ybor owes ‘em one.

“construction of the sheriff’s headquarters in Ybor City [came] during the 1970s, when the historic district was desolate and crime-ridden, contributed greatly to its revival.”

They went back 30 years?!?!! What have they done for Ybor lately (besides the bad publicity)?

“the sheriff’s office continues to be a good Ybor citizen, allowing… visitors to the Ybor City Museum to use county property for parking.”

How freakin’ generous. That museum racks up MILLIONS of visitors, I’m sure. But then the Tribsters also suggests the changes are temporary:

“Gee says the brick roadway will not be disturbed and would be returned intact to the city should the headquarters ever be moved…”

Not just to publish a horrible pun, but…

Gee, do ya really think that will happen?

This is a land grab, pure and simple. And make no mistake, it would never be reversed. Once the gate / fence / wall is up, the entire thing will belong to the Sheriff’s Office.

There is no reason for a compound in Ybor City. The county still has plenty of room out on Falkenburg Road.

Besides, Ybor could use the space to add another eighteen and up bar or two.