A waterfront with industrial buildings and smokestacks in the background, taken from across the water. Several boats are docked along the shore under a cloudy sky. — Downtown Tampa, the Tampa Electric Company, and the ferry can be seen across the waters of Tampa Bay. Credit: Burgert Brothers, "Downtown Tampa, the Tampa Electric Company, and a Ferry Viewed from Tampa Bay" (1922). Burgert Brothers Collection of Tampa Photographs. Image 174. / USF Digital Commons

Elected officials in the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County can really boogie when it comes to finding ways to give taxpayer money to billionaire baseball team owners—but they seem to have trouble bringing that same energy to the Bay area’s transportation puzzle. Was it always this way?

On his Tampa Bay Developer podcast, Garrett Greco has discussed that very topic with a variety of local luminaries, from transportation activists, to highway planners and even historians. The 34-year-old, fifth-generation Tampeño (he uses Tampanian) will get to tell voters his take on transportation as he runs for city council, but this free chat is a chance to watch him moderate “a conversation about the ways people have traveled through Tampa, from streetcars and highways to buses, bikes, boats and beyond.”

Pictured is a ferry moving through downtown Tampa c. 1922—we’ve evolved from these days, right?

Tampa Bay History Center’s Florida Conversations—How Tampa Moves, set for Wednesday, Sept. 2 is sold-out, but there is a waitlist and virtual option.

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This article appears in Aug. 27 – Sept. 02, 2026.