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Geography. Environment. Urbanism. And other stuff.
Browsing All Posts filed under »Tampa«
Al Austin wants to save us from ourselves
Sometimes, if you want something done, you’ve got to imply that you might be willing to spend a boatload of your own personal wealth to make it happen: For months, Tampa developer Al Austin has maintained that chairing the organization that staged the Republican National Convention would be the final major project of his long […]
“Walkability” has to extend past the end of your driveway
September 13, 2012
After four or five years of relentless pessimism and negativity, the real estate market in the Tampa Bay area has finally been getting some good news lately. Sales are picking up, inventory is falling – and even though prices are still flat, at least the free fall is over. I’ve heard people speculating that this […]
A tale of two cities
September 7, 2012
Over the past two weeks, Charlotte, NC and Tampa, FL have both hosted major events – the nominating conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. The cities have a lot in common. They’re both Sun Belt cities, they both have a spread-out cityscape, they’re both in battleground states. Charlotte’s bigger, but Tampa is part […]
Remember when Tampa was America’s Next Great City? Yeah, me neither.
August 30, 2012
Tampa is a city with an inferiority complex. This has been clear to me since I first moved there, when I was just twelve years old. For one thing, for as long as I’ve lived in the Tampa Bay area, there’s been something going on with Orlando. Those Mickey Mouse punks have always thought they’re […]
I say “progress,” you say “light rail lite”
August 9, 2012
Across the bay in the fair city of Tampa, the local transit organization has taken a small step toward actually modernizing and improving one of the worst transit systems of any major city in this country. Oh, it’s not HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit)’s fault the system is so awful … or at least, it’s […]
Florida’s faux urbanism
June 1, 2012
Florida has always had a strained relationship with the concept of urban living. Even back in the 1950s when the state’s population started to swell, people from up north were attracted by the weather and the elbow room. People were looking for lives that were free of snow and ice, and free from having to […]
What to do with dead malls
April 20, 2012
The other day I read Mark Hinshaw’s recent Crosscut article on the folly of America’s 60-year love affair with the indoor shopping mall. As a suburban teenager in the 1980s and a college student in the early 1990s, I spent a decent chunk of my youth in and around shopping malls, either working (my very […]
Bridging the revenue gap
April 13, 2012
In the time since my last post (sorry, it’s been a busy couple of weeks for me), the Rick Scott administration has floated the idea of turning the Howard Frankland bridge – a stretch of I-275 that connects Tampa to central Pinellas County – into a toll road. For those of you who live elsewhere, […]
Your host
October 22, 2012
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