|
For the Week Beginning Monday, April 1st, 2007
A few weeks ago, the plan to run electric streetcars into the heart of downtown Tampa appeared to be in serious trouble. If it wasn't dead, it was at least on life support. But officials who had been at odds hammered out an agreement Tuesday to extend the streetcar tracks from the Tampa Convention Center into downtown's core of office towers beginning next year. Read more>>
Did you know that of the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, only Detroit and Tampa do not have transit systems? Now, however, with the newly established Tampa Bay Area Transportation Authority (TBARTA), we have the opportunity - a once in a region's lifetime opportunity - to design a transit system with development in mind. Just think about that - creating an integrated system built with transit-oriented development and development-oriented transit as key strategies - one that galvanizes the interests of all those who care about this community including environmentalists, business people, policymakers and the public alike. Read more>>
The Tampa Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects will share its plans to restore the historic federal courthouse during a reception and exhibition April 4 at Gallery AIA in downtown Tampa. The exhibit will feature renderings and plans for the building, architectural photography and artwork related to the future of downtown Tampa. AIA representatives will also be available for questions. Once restoration is complete, the building will be refashioned as the AIA center, a mixed-use facility focused on "architecture, urban planning and art with an international twist," a release said. It will serve as AIA headquarters, and the main courtroom will be converted into a shared gallery space. Read more>>
In search of entrepreneurial excellence, the Gulf Coast Business Review is seeking the best and brightest Gulf Coast entrepreneurs for its 2008 Entrepreneur Award. And for the third consecutive year, the Review will be recognizing the best from its entire coverage area: Tampa Bay south to Naples. If you know of a worthy candidate, please send us his or her name. We’re looking for entrepreneurs whose company’s results over the past three years show exceptional performance and growth. Nominees should be visionaries and leaders who have overcome obstacles or demonstrated extraordinary characteristics that have led their companies to exceptional achievements. The entrepreneurs must be owners or part owners of their companies, and their companies must be based on the Gulf Coast. Last year’s overall winner was Todd Gates, founder and chairman of a self-named Naples-based construction firm. The Tampa region winner was Geoffrey Dyer, founder of Lifestyle Family Fitness; the Sarasota-Manatee region winner was Steve Herrig, founder and chief executive officer of Progressive Employer Services; and the Lee-Collier winner was Jerry Williams, head of Naples-based Orion Bank.To nominate an entrepreneur, send his or her name to Mark Gordon at mgordon@review.net or call (941) 362-4848. Please include the person’s name, company, contact information and a brief description of what distinguishes the candidate.
By that, Frank Wells, president of the Pinellas County Historical Society, means that history repeats itself and most big-new ideas really are recycled little sparks of creativity—a Tampa Bay staple. We have new ideas here and they regularly attract more of people of the same ilk. As chairman of the 3rd annual Florida Heritage CELEBRAT!ON festival—a Bay-wide, twelve-day sprint of 50+ creative events featuring local programs organized by participating museums, galleries, libraries, clubs, and more—I’m forever learning more of our community’s rich, textured, and multi-cultural past and the innovative personalities who inspired its explosive growth. We’ve a creative legacy in this community that Frank’s family has shaped for five generations. It’s a culture that as a relative newcomer, I’m just beginning to digest. My undergraduate days at USF weren’t seeped in history. I sought—and found—the frothing-edge of the technology wave. And yet, as a business-owner, Rotarian, and Chamber member something was still missing. A sense of place…grounding. Frank is a McMullen-Booth descendant, a Florida native with a distinct sense of place and perspective. He’s also a co-founder of the CELEBRATION festival. For new arrivals and old hands, alike, he has helped bring to life the story of this community’s growth over generations. I’ve learned over time that in 1875 there were 720 souls in Tampa, then a sleepy, sandy hamlet. But 50 years later there were 100,000. And in that 50-year boom—from Cracker to Flapper—new arrivals deepened their roots in fertile soil. I’ve also learned that the more I dig into our community’s past, the more cyclical and grounding “our” story becomes. A good example, these days, the media is awash in commentary, research, and hand wringing (or applause) about the arrival or flight of our “young and restless” 30-somethings. To put that “new trend” into perspective, on Christmas Day 1876, Sydney Lanier and Silas Armistead Jones arrived in Tampa by boat. One man was a 30-something poet from Macon, Georgia. The other was a 20-something attorney from Louisville, KY. The former personality quickly fled our sandy hamlet of 720 souls, penning a derisive line or two about the experience. The latter personality (and I do mean personality) stayed in town, birthing a boom with his era’s “30 under 30” movers-and-shakers. He co-founded Tampa’s Board of Trade; launched the first streetcar system, lobbied nationwide for a robust port, developed the city’s tourism strategy; ran the region’s largest construction interest; surveyed the Tamiami Trail; and in his spare time started the presses rolling for Southern Florida’s first daily newspaper, The Tampa Daily Times. Colonel Jones (as he became known to his contemporaries) was a new economy, “Gen-Y-not,” creative class boomtowner, no? What resonates even more for me is that in many ways we’re still wrestling with the same challenges today that those founding fathers of Tampa Bay grappled with. Examples abound: today’s Trump Tower real estate bust parallels Davis Isle in 1926; today’s anguished hopes for a regional transit train solution parallel the long-anticipated arrival of the rail “road” in 1884; today’s Riverwalk vision parallels the public green space campaign for a transitioning Fort Brooke property into an Olmstead public park. (And let’s not event touch on the “new” water taxi idea.) And that’s where the festival comes into focus. You see, the legacy of 30-something creatives like Col. Jones is tied to today’s Florida Heritage CELEBRAT!ON. As it rolls into T-town for a third year (April 5-17) we’ll explore today in the context of yesterday. Organized each year by Reclaiming Our Heritage.org—a nonprofit charged with locating, preserving and celebrating the missing 20 years of Col. Jones’ boomtown newspaper, The Tampa Times—CELEBRAT!ON ’08 will kick into gear on Saturday, April 5 with a Bay-wide, twelve-day sprint of family-friendly activity celebrating our creative past. Themed “…from Cracker to Flapper!” the festival celebrates the Bay Area’s 50 boomtown years (circa 1875-1925). It will launch Polk County with the inspiring African-American story of Bartow’s premier boomtown black entrepreneur, Mr. L.B. Brown (April 5); it will travel to Pinellas County’s Belleview Biltmore Resort for a flapper speakeasy (April 12) to benefit preservation programming; and it will wrap in Hillsborough County at the Tampa Theatre with a documentary premier about the historic Seminole Heights neighborhood (April 17). Throughout those signature activities, 50+ other events will feature local programs organized by participating museums, galleries, libraries, clubs, and more…including:
And naturally, there’s much, much more! For the full, ever expanding event calendar, go to www.HeritageCelebration.org. Tom Stanton is president of BrixTec.com, a technology solutions company; a member Tampa Bay Business Journal’s “30 under 30” Class of 2007; and a Tampa Bay CEO Magazine Finalist—CEO of the Year in the Under-30 Category.
Green? Dense? Walkable? Here's a debate where none is needed: the argument about whether green building, compact communities, or transit-supportive design is a better approach to improving the world. The latest piece to kick up some dust is a report from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which, as reported by Reuters, says: "Green" construction could cut North America's climate-warming emissions faster and more cheaply than any other measure. Elsewhere, people reaffirm that North Americans' best bet for carbon reduction is walking and taking transit, while others (often including myself) think density is the best lever, if we have to pick one with which to start. Read more>> Going Green Tampa Bay
A Rider’s Look at HART
These days, I'm one of the new residents involved in this crazy idea of making Tampa's downtown a real place to live. And upon moving into my new filing cabinet (i.e., condo) for young professionals, one of my goals was to begin taking the bus to work. So early one Monday morning, armed with a hatred of traffic and a yearning to again be able to read on the train, I set out on foot to the Marion Transit Center to catch a bus to work in the Westshore business district. Here’s what I’ve learned about our system since then. Scheduling The Hart web site lists schedules and stops for their routes, but they don't list every scheduled stop. They don't even come close. So I knew which bus I needed to catch but I wasn't entire surely where it was going to stop along its route. I decided the best way to start this off was to pick up the bus where it begins at the Marion Transit Center. And as I rode it to work that morning, I took note of all the better places I could have picked up the #30. There were many. This must be a huge hindrance for attracting new riders. Because if the best way to find out where the thing stops is to just get on and ride it, you're going to scare a lot of people away. I, for one, was scared away from trying this for weeks before I walked myself down to the line's starting point and just got on it. Is it so hard to list every stop for every route? Cost I know a lot has changed in Tampa since the day I got on that wrong bus as a kid, but probably nothing has changed Tampa more in the last 15 years than just the sheer number of people who live here. And that is a problem because now all these people are here, but we're using the same methods we did two decades ago to get them around town. A $1.50 fare for a one-way ride is about what other cities charge so I can't really complain about the fee. But what you get for our $1.50 goes far shorter than what you get elsewhere. Even today, all I can think about when I pay my way onto a Hart bus is that for just 50 cents more I could be riding a subway in New York. And the idea of purchasing a monthly $50 unlimited ride is not an effective proposition to me either because I would only really use this current Hart system to ride to/from work. And I certainly can’t do that every day. I'd love to be able to take the thing to get around at night to and from bars, but there's absolutely no schedule in place by Hart to accommodate. In fact, Hart recently canceled the In-Town Trolley line from downtown to Hyde Park. Sure it hardly ever had riders on it, but - like the Ybor Trolley - when bars close at 3am and you stop running service at 2am, maybe there’s a reason it was empty all the time. And as a total aside here: The next time you find yourself on the road in between the hours of 2am and 3am on a Saturday night, play a little game I like to call 'what percentage of the cars around you are being driven by drivers who’ve been drinking.' My own personal estimations usually fall into the 60-70% range - which means simply that this little game is no light-hearted sport at all. Beyond each individual's responsibility to not endanger lives, I point a finger at the Tampa Bay area's complete ignorance to this problem. But that’s for another column. Early on in my trips to work, it became quite evident that there is exactly one class of Bay Areans who use the bus to get around in the morning: people who have no other option of transportation. I've taken rides on public transportation systems all over the western hemisphere and I, as a non-descript, middle class, 20-30s regular looking guy, have never stood out before on a train or bus as much as I do here. So when we're sitting around handing out blame for how transportation got so bad in Tampa, make sure the culture of this city comes up. This is a town of cars and fenced backyards, not passengers and parks. The social division here of economic classes hurts us as a community in many ways. I don't know if transportation is usually thought of as one of them. It should be. If and when the area does get a viable option for getting around, will enough people change the way they live and actually use it? Time My favorite part of this whole ‘bus to work’ story comes when talking about how long it takes. We've all heard the reasons why taking the Ybor Trolley out for lunch isn't feasible if you have a boss to answer to, but at least for that we can say, 'well, it's for tourists.' As it turns out, our regular buses have their own little schedule quirks too. Since they have to operate their routes within the regular traffic pattern of Tampa, Hart has built into the schedules certain stops along the way where it can make up time and stay on schedule. For example, my route from downtown to Spruce Street includes a stop at the Westshore Mall transit center. On mornings where the bus is usually running behind, this scheduled 5 minute stop usually lasts no more than 30 seconds. But during the afternoon, on the trip back home, that layover at the Westshore transit center is scheduled to last 10 minutes. Just sitting and waiting. For ten minutes. After working all day, this can really act as its own special form of rider deterrence. I’ll purposely not take the bus in the morning to work, just because I’ll know that, with the kind of day I have ahead, the last thing I’ll want to do is sit in the mall parking lot for 10 minutes before coming home. On one particular day, a driver on this route had enough time during this afternoon layover to go into the mall, buy something, and come back in time to resume his duties. I applaud the driver for at least making an efficient use of his own time, even though Hart was wasting mine. Living On For me personally, I've come to terms with this lose/lose option of getting around. And as Tampa's traffic issues move closer to the level of dysfunction that our public transportation system bathes in, I'll likely keep giving the bus more and more chances to win me over. But I'll move someplace else before I'm forced to watch this area completely drown under its own unmanaged growth. A solution must be public transportation that operates independently of traffic patterns. That probably means light rail, so when it comes to planning for light rail, I only plead this: Stop trying to connect everything and just connect something. We'll live and build up around it. We're already here, just waiting. And driving. Justen Fox is a member of Creative Tampa Bay’s Advisory Network. He lives in a downtown Tampa condominium.
Hispanic Alliance of Tampa Bay Meeting at the Children’s Board on East Palm Avenue. Tampa, Florida 33605. Our special guest will be the Supervisor of Elections, Buddy Johnson who will explain the importance of voting and the presidential elections. We will also take the next hour to talk about our organization. The Alliance's mission and vision remains focused on education, leadership and culture through united forces, we wish to help our community to be better understood and to better understand its surroundings. Since taking oath in November of 2007, our board of directors has tirelessly worked to bringing an exciting year in which we will target the following:
While these new programs are valuable, the Alliance is based on our continued commitment to work together for the betterment of our community. For this reason, we have placed committees together that focus on different areas that are so vital to us. Please join us this March 31st at the Children’s board to learn more of how you can get involved and how we can help each other. Media and public also welcome! Thank you for your continued support. AMA Tampa Bay New Media Forums AMA Tampa Bay is proud to announce the second in a series of forums for business and marketing professionals to increase their knowledge of new media and interactive marketing. Come interact with some of the area’s most knowledgeable practitioners through discussion groups - the best format to ask questions and get the answers you need. This time around there will be beginner and advanced groups for each topic, and you will be able to attend two discussion groups during the evening. Once again seating is limited at this event, so please register early to ensure admission! Topics include social networking, YouTube and blogging. Please contact Susan Follick, Director, New Media SIG, AMA Tampa Bay at newmedia@amatampabay.org with any questions. Registration closes on Saturday, March 29 at midnight. For more information, click here. The Jeff Whipple Art Museum VIP Celebration Party
Made in the USA: FloriMezzo Goes to the Heartland The FloriMezzo chamber all-stars will perform a program that ranges from “Appalachian Spring” to “Knoxville Summer of 1915” April 1 at the Palladium Theater at 7:30 p.m. The program, under the direction of Mark Sforzini, will feature soprano soloist Jennifer Sanchez. The FloriMezzo Orchestra includes Sarah Shellman, concertmaster, and Fred Gratta, principal cellist. Tickets are $12 - $17. For more information, go to www.mypalladium.org. Turning Your Innovations Into a Successful Business Join us for a fascinating seminar that will provide you with proven business strategies for turning innovations into a successful business model, an understanding of how intellectual property protection is key to monetizing your innovations, and the nuts and bolts of a successful IP strategy that includes much more than patent applications. You'll hear from investors who'll tell why and how protected IP increases your access to capital, get advice on what to look for in an attorney, and learn how to manage the costs. Our speakers will also address the ins and outs of the patent process, domestically and internationally. Hosted by TBTF and Innovators Network. Marriott Waterside Hotel, 700 S. Florida Avenue, Tampa, FL. Cost: Free! Featured Speakers: Andre Carter, Irimi Corporation, Founder and Stefan V. "Steve" Stein, Holland and Knight, Partner. To register, click here. James Sheehan Book Signing at Inkwood Books On Thursday, April 3 at 7 p.m., St. Petersburg attorney James Sheehan returns with his second legal thriller, The Law of Second Chances, following his acclaimed debut, The Mayor of Lexington Avenue. Attorney Jack Tobin can't resist a punk gangster's homicide case with ties to his old NY neighborhood, even while working to free an innocent death row inmate here in Florida. Praised for his realistic courtroom scenes and fully developed diverse characters, Sheehan continues to deliver both. Tobin's emotional life is explored as he faces moral choices influenced by haunting childhood events, and struggles with the personal heartbreak of his wife's illness. Don't miss this new Florida series… For more information, click here. Equinox: Stitched Together Avant Garde, the Tampa Museum of Art’s young professionals group, is proud to present our annual spring exhibition, Equinox: Stitched Together. Following up on the success of January's retro|perspectives (the final event at the old Tampa Museum of Art building), this year's Equinox promises to continue Avant Garde's high standards for thoughtful exhibits and exciting cultural events. Join us next Friday April 4 from 8pm-midnight in Ybor City for an exhibit that examines notions of fabric and garment through 2d & 3d works…and explore the numerous other arts openings/events taking place across the historic district that evening! For more information, go to www.myspace.com/equinoxart. Moving Thought: A Mobile Exhibition of Artists’ Books Safety Harbor Library is proud to host USF Contemporary Art Museum’s mobile exhibition of artists’ books. The exhibit, organized by MFA graduate students, explores books made by artists, graphic novels, and zines. Come view the exhibit housed in a classic Airstream trailer, parked in Baranoff Park beside the library, and learn about printed books designed by artists and handmade books that explore the act of reading. Some artists’ books will be available for sale. All ages are welcome. This exhibition is made possible through a partnership with New York artists’ book distributor Printed Matter, Bates RV, the USF School of Art and Art History, the Institute for Research in Art and its sponsors. Safety Harbor Library, 101 2nd St. N, Safety Harbor. For further information contact Robin at 727-724-1525×233. “Accessory To Murder” Screening Clip Film Outreach will screen the film “Accessory to Murder, Our Culture’s Complicity in the Death of Ryan Skipper”. The film will screen at the Metropolitan Community Church in Tampa, FL on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 6:00pm. Ryan Skipper was murdered in Polk County, FL in March of 2007. Vicki Nantz and Mary Meeks, the film’s directors, along with Pat and Lynn Mulder, Ryan’s Parents will be in attendance for a Q & A following the film. There is no admission charge for this screening and seating is available on a first-come first-served basis. Information on the screening may be obtained online at www.clipTampaBay.com, or by calling 813-879-4220. Golem with The Mike Eisenstadt Band
Free Gardens Class Get help with selecting plants that give landscapes a colorful view during the summer by attending a free Summer Gardens Class sponsored by Pinellas County Extension Master Gardeners. Twice on Wednesday, April 9, Pinellas County Master Gardener Denys Walk will share information on the many plants that can bring color to the garden during Florida’s hottest months. The same class will be held twice with one at 2 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. Please note that the series will be held at the Crystal Beach Community Hall while Palm Harbor Library undergoes renovation. Admission is free, but space is limited. Call Pinellas County Extension at (727) 582-2673 to reserve a seat in either session. You may subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter by clicking here. Email Megan Voeller voeller@gmail.com with questions, comments, etc. Special thanks to this week’s BUZZ volunteers: |
04.01.08
CreativeTampaBay.com 03.31.08 - by admin
RSS feed for comments on this post.
| TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark
this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos






Scissors in hand, Albie Mulcahy gazes wistfully out the salon windows at the passing traffic on Fourth Street N. He's a chain-smoking slip of a hairstylist, a cross between pop artist Andy Warhol and '80s rocker Billy Idol. He doesn't cut and tell, but he once toured with the Sex Pistols. He knows famed stylist Paul Mitchell. He is the former right-hand man of deceased rock star stylist John Sahag. His lifestyle is fast and furious. He flies to seven different cities every two months to tend to rich and famous clients. In the past 15 years he has lived in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Three years ago, Mulcahy moved to St. Petersburg to put the brakes on the frequent-flier life.
A 30-something chum of mine likes to repeat, “New is old, big is little, and there is here.”
The University of South Florida, the Hillsborough City-County Planning Commission, and Tampa's Urban Charrette are developing a series of green events for April 2008 under the "Going Green Tampa Bay" umbrella. Activities will occur on the USF campus and in downtown Tampa, and will include workshops, lectures, competitions, movies, and an extensive Green Expo. At USF, events will be hosted by the various colleges throughout the Tampa campus under the name "Sustain-A-Bull" and will go from April 7th to April 11th and end with a Green Expo in the USF Sun Dome on Saturday, April 12th. The Green Expo will showcase vendors, invited speakers, workshops, student poster sessions, and student lead competitions that raise awareness and encourage action toward a more sustainable Tampa Bay. The planning committee is targeting 150 booths with alternative energy, recycled materials, and green products of all kinds and has an exciting lineup of workshops that will provide tools for people to go green in Tampa Bay. The Expo coincides with the USF Botanical Gardens Spring sale and shuttle service will be provided to transport patrons between the two locations. All events at USF are free and open to the public.
One day after school, half a life ago, I tried to take the bus home from King High to Temple Terrace and ended up lost somewhere in Clair-Mel City. Turns out, I got on the wrong bus and went for a two hour tour of Tampa. Sorry, mom.
The largest and most comprehensive exhibition of local artist Jeff Whipple's artwork will be presented in a new exhibition space in Ybor City with a VIP Celebration Party, Tuesday, April 1, 6 -9 pm, $15 (cash only at the door). The Jeff Whipple Art Museum is a permanent show but it’s also as much anthropological as it is aesthetic. The exhibit follows the artist's changes in concept and technique from a few of his quirky high school projects in the mid 70's up through the many peculiar motifs tried in college and graduate school. There are also “the greatest hits” of his career through the 80's and 90's to the present. There will be libations and food from Ybor restaurants along violin music by Michelle Painter.
Young, hip widely acclaimed New York-based Klezmer/Rock band Golem (named after the legendary Jewish Frankenstein of Prague) transforms the music of its Jewish grandparents, making it modern, edgy, sexy and brash. Golem has infused the World Music scene with a breath of fresh air from Eastern Europe. Through updated versions of old Yiddish tunes, Golem seduces audiences of Klezmer fans and rockers alike, and is equally at home in venues as varied as rock clubs, synagogues, and concert halls, from Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park to the scenester clubs of the Lower East Side. Most recently they played the Langerado Festival. Concert sponsored by WMNF. Tues., Apr. 8, 8 p.m., Skipper’s Smokehouse, tickets $12 advance, $15 door.
1 Comment | Add your own
Congratulations, Justin, for speaking the truth about the public transportation system here in Tampa. I realized quiet a while ago that the resistance most people have to using HART is not just about being attached their cars - it’s about being attached to their place in the caste. I worked in a social service agency for 18 months and dealt with clients who needed two hours to get from South Tampa to our offices near Fletcher and Florida. Coming from NYC where the Mayor takes the subway, it was surprising to see differences in how public transportation is viewed and utilized in Tampa. Perhaps gas prices will nudge people off of their particular rung on the socio-economic ladder - because more people using HART and experiencing frustrations similar to yours may create the pressure necessary to effect change.
Comment by Staci Backauskas — April 7, 2008 @ 5:10 am