Pandering or Philanthropy?
Trying to pin down the motives of Tampa's favorite skin purveyor and defender of freedom, Joe Redner, is a tricky job. So why try? Redner recently broke ground on a West Tampa park funded with nearly $150,000 from his own deep pockets. The West Tampa Business Alliance is seeking the revitalization of West Tampa and views the new Voices of Freedom Park, located at Albany Avenue and Main Street, as a step in the right direction.
Street vendors will have a central location to sell their wares and local festivals can run in tandem with events like Guavaween, which a lot of West Tampa kids don’t get to attend.
West Tampa doesn’t get attention from the city until election time, said Redner. Even during this election season, only city Councilwoman Gwen Miller and county commission hopeful Jacqui Knight attended the groundbreaking.
County commissioners Pat Frank and Jan Platt phoned in their apologies, said Redner. Commissioner Thomas Scott, who represents West Tampa and is running for reelection against Knight, was neither seen nor heard from.
Redner could have had Scott in mind when he blasted the gentrification of the inner city. "It’s time the city did something for the people who live in these areas, instead of moving them out to make room for development," said Redner, who was trounced when he took on Scott in the 2000 county election.
Scott lists new ‘mixed income" housing that will replace three public housing complexes in Tampa among his achievements for his district. Forget the fact that Scott had little to do with the federal funds that paid for the new development. Most of the citizens who lived in the public housing complexes won’t be back to enjoy the new and improved housing.
Redner’s donation may also have been politically motivated, at least in part. Redner intends to challenge Councilwoman Mary Alvarez in the March city elections.
However, it’s unlikely that West Tampans will complain that Redner is using the area as a campaign stunt. If other politicians stumped in West Tampa like Redner, the area could see the fastest turnaround since Ybor City.— Rochelle Renford
Stand-Up Guy
If you think all political science professors at the University of South Florida are wild-eyed conservatives ready to put the beat down on liberals— drop the baseball bat, Susan MacManus — then meet Darryl Paulson, who isn’t sure what the hell he is.
"I’m so confused, I don’t know whether to get out on the right or left side of the bed," said Paulson, a professor at the St. Petersburg campus, who also chairs the electioneering watchdog group Citizens for Fair Campaign Practices.
Known as Professor Wit, Paulson has been performing political stand-up comedy for nine years — that is, when he hasn’t been lecturing to USF students about state and national politics.
This week, Paulson will take his comedy shtick to television for Florida Politics: Comedy or Tragedy? on WEDU-Ch. 3.
Sponsored by the Tampa Bay History Center and USF’s Florida Studies Center, Florida Politics will feature jokes about some of the most absurd political events and campaigns Paulson has witnessed or read about in his career studying our hapless state.
Fortunately for the professor-turned-comedian, Florida has never been one to let him down as a source for material.
Good-old-boy politicians with South Georgia vernaculars, election debacles and pregnant pigs — our state is ripe for comedic rib poking.
"Florida has gone above and beyond the call of duty," said Paulson. "If it weren’t for Florida, Letterman and Leno would be out of business."
In addition to stories and jokes about the dimwitted things Florida politicians have said and done, Paulson will discuss what he calls "loony legislation" — those ridiculous state laws put on the books so long ago that no one seems to remember why they were passed in the first place.
After all, who knows what type of disrepair the Sunshine State would be in if it weren’t for the fact that Tallahassee made it illegal to have sex with porcupines?
"I’m not sure if the law was passed to protect the porcupines or the people," said Paulson.
Florida Politics: Comedy or Tragedy? airs Friday, Nov. 1, at 10 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3, at 4:30 p.m. on WEDU-Ch. 3.—Trevor AaronsonFun With Sacrilege!
An imaginative property owner is closer to realizing his dream of holy haute cuisine.
Developer Grady Pridgen purchased the 90-year-old First Congregational United Church of Christ in downtown St. Pete, near Mirror Lake, and has envisioned the church as the site of a restaurant with al fresco dining.
Pridgen, who resides at and owns the adjacent Pilgrim Hall building, has already renovated the majestic stone Gothic church with stained-glass windows and is seeking an occupant/restaurant entrepreneur to share his mission.
The first hurdle in making his plan a reality was getting permission from the St. Petersburg City Council to privatize part of the sidewalk along Third Avenue North. Pridgen got the right-of-way he requested at an Oct. 17 council meeting.
Perhaps, Pridgen could entice occupants with a snazzy name for the blessed joint — and a menu. Let’s help speed along his basilica business venture with an offering of recommendations:
Restaurant Names:' If it’s a steak restaurant, The Sacred Cow;
' A modern fusion bistro, Dogmatix;
' A silly, gimmicky born-again Christian-friendly restaurant, What Would Jesus Eat?
' A home-style eatery, Crucifixin’s.
Menu Items and Descriptions:' Cross Dressing — condiments like ranch, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette;
' Tasty Trinity — in the name of the jalapeno poppers, the nachos and the holy chicken wings. Amen.
' The Stigmata Sampler — garlic breadand cheese sticks drizzled with tomato sauce;
' Judas Escargots — savory redemption at a snail’s pace;
' Two Priests and an Altar Boy — pigs in a blanket;
' Nun-Style — any item without meat;
' The Last Supper — Take this, all of you and eat … a yummy array of fried seafood, chicken, and potatoes au-gratin. It’s so big and fattening that even non-Catholics will feel guilty.
' Lamb of God — scrumptious chops that take away the sins of the world; have mercy on us.
' Never on a Sundae — an ice-cream treat with Oreos, Reese’s cups and brownie crumbles that will really make you believe in Heaven.— Julie Garisto
Them Dems
Just who is filling voter mailboxes in Westchase, Town N Country and across Tampa’s Interbay peninsula with anti-Faye Culp material?
Could it be the bumbling-when-they"re-not-slumbering Florida Democrats?
For a change, the cashiers at state party headquarters are giving one of the tribe, Tampa lawyer Scott Farrell, a fighting chance to win them back a House seat. There’s a little green coming the Irishman’s way from Tallahassee.
"Faye Culp cut our kids out of the picture when she voted to cut millions of dollars from Hillsborough schools," declares one slick Democratic mailer.
"When it comes to concealed weapons…Faye Culp thinks tourists are above the law," shouts another hit piece.
"Faye Culp’s record shows she doesn’t know what’s happening in our schools," a third asserts.
Democratic leaders think they have two good prospects for gaining House seats in the Bay area. Farrell is running against political vagabond Culp in Tampa’s open District 57, which Republican Chris Hart IV is giving up. Chris Eaton is trying to dislodge GOP liability Frank Farkas from St. Petersburg’s District 52.
Since the early 1990s, losing Democratic legislative candidates have been left to wonder whether their party was working with them or against them.
Viable contenders went begging for reinforcements. Connected longer shots ended up with the precious few dollars that the party has been able to raise in this Republican era for Florida.
The dissatisfaction culminated in the 1999 ouster of Mitch Ceasar, the third of four state chairmen employed by the party during the decade. Successor Bob Poe has steadied the ship a bit.
But the money being thrown at Farrell is all the more remarkable because the party’s past election-handicapping failures reportedly convinced a major sugar daddy to cut back on the sugar this year.
The trial lawyers, one of the last Democratic holdouts among Tally lobbies, are said to have pledged only about $25,000 for 2002 legislative races, way down from their usual $400,000.
Of course, an unholy alliance that the trial lawyers are said to have forged with incoming House Speaker Johnnie Byrd (R-Plant City) may also have something to do with their shorting the Democrats this time.— Francis X. Gilpin
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2002.