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Feb 20-26, 2008

Feb 20-26, 2008 / Vol. 20 / No. 49

What you can do to improve economic opportunities for the young

A first step: Various chambers of commerce have instituted organizations to create a more hospitable environment for young professionals. But there’s no quick marketing fix to the youth drain problem. A good start would be for local governments and businesses to recommit themselves to funding the arts, which would provide a hipper Tampa Bay and…

by Web Editor

What you can do about GLBT rights

A first step: Two organizations — Fairness for All Families and Florida Red & Blue — are leading the fight against Amendment 2 in Florida. Learn more at fairnessforallfamilies.org and floridaredandblue.com, both of which offer ample opportunities to donate and volunteer. Resources Equality Florida addresses issues of concern to the GLBT community, eqfl.org

by Web Editor

What you can do about media consolidation

A first step: Sign up for daily updates on the battle for a free, independent press at freepress.net, the leading media reform group. Locally, search out alternatives to the mainstream in media — ethnic newspapers, local weeklies and magazines, public access television shows — and patronize them and their advertisers. Resources Track the FCC’s plans…

by Web Editor

What you can do about over-subsidized pro sports

A first step: Take one day (or night) where you have tickets to a pro sports event, donate the tickets to charity and instead attend a play performed by a local theater company, or listen to a concert by the locally owned Florida Orchestra, or take a soccer ball out to a nearby park and…

by Web Editor

What you can do about social diversity

A first step: Creative Loafing’s first step will be to include more stories that reflect the full diversity of Tampa Bay’s population. We would hope that other media outlets would take similar pledges. A wider first step would be for public and private schools in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties to include specific demographic and cultural…

by Web Editor

What you can do about the environment

A first step: The fight over the environment is front and center in Hillsborough County, where a conservative Republican commission majority has undertaken a crusade to weaken its own Environmental Protection Commission’s wetlands regulations and regulators. A compromise last year saved the wetlands division, but it is being studied and modified over the course of…

by Web Editor

What you can do about transportation

A first step: Carpool, dammit. Statistics from 2006 say that Tampa Bay has 1.25 million commuters: 81 percent drive alone; 9.5 percent use some form of ridesharing and 1.4 percent take public transportation. “If everyone did something other than drive to work alone one day a week, not only would it have a momentous impact…

by Web Editor

What you can do about urban density

A first step: Changing city codes is no easy task — just ask St. Pete city planners who overhauled a large portion of St. Pete’s zoning codes last year — but it is possible. In fact, Tampa city officials have already heard residents’ calls for change. Last year, city planners selected Seminole Heights for a…

by Web Editor

What you can do about suburban sprawl

A first step: Hillsborough’s planners and county attorneys need to start working now to examine how sustainable zoning and land use changes can be made without wrecking private property rights. The county’s Planning and Growth Management Department doesn’t list such an examination as a priority or current activity, but county commissioners could vote to make…

by Web Editor

Debating the fine art of ‘sagging’

My senior editor Eric Snider just reminded me of a story printed in the St. Petersburg Times this weekend about Baldwin, a small town near Jacksonville which passed an ordinance this month banning the fashion fad of sagging pants. (The city of Opa-Locka, near Miami, passed a similar law last year.) The new law in…

by Alex Pickett

Eric Clapton playing Tampa on May 3

Does the guitar god still got it? Judging by recent YouTube clips, especially from the tour Clapton did with Derek Trucks at his side, I think so. Let's just hope he skips "Wonderful Tonight," that annoying cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" and, well, pretty much everything from the 1980s — except "Pretending." Always like…

by Wade Tatangelo

Global Warming Kills Truffles

USA Today reported yesterday that problem is drought; scientists predict that rainfall around the Mediterranean basin could drop by more than a quarter in the next couple of decades. For a fungus that relies on damp weather to grow, that's devastating. But the situation is not quite as bad as this article makes it out…

by Brian Ries

Talking Van Halen, public pissing, and pugilism

Watch me sweat like an octopus on a land mine field while being interviewed outside at Centro Ybor for Tampa Bay Media Talk last Thursday. Admire the serious demeanor I maintain while talking about whizzing at Gasparilla, Eddie Van Halen's snooze-inducing guitar solos and singer Paul Thorn's prizefighting past. Seriously, CNN should be contacting my…

by Wade Tatangelo

Budget Cuts Make Prisoners Hungry

Need to cut the budget? Tampa's own Victor Crist (no relation to the guv) wants to cut Department of Corrections expenditures by reducing the food available to inmates. Does anyone get the idea that Charlie Crist is a tad upset over this douche bag's similar name? Right now, the state mandates 3200 calories per day…

by Brian Ries

Top 10: Songs about hurting (with Field Day pics)

Me (pictured right) aiding CL copy editor Anthony Salveggi during his turn at the dreaded wheelbarrow crawl. Photo by Jamie Ostrand. Creative Loafing co-sponsored (with Tampa Bay Club Sport) its 3rd Annual Field Day Saturday. There were 36 teams in all, raising (by early estimates) more than $3,200 for the Special Olympics. Team McLovin (pictured…

by Wade Tatangelo

Top 10: Songs about footwear

Don't know exactly what prompted me to devote a song list to footwear. I own far less shoes than most adult men and only purchase a new pair when an old pair verges on falling apart. Anyway, here ya go: Top 10: Songs about footwear 1. "Blue Suede Shoes," Carl Perkins/Elvis Presley 2. "My Adidas,"…

by Wade Tatangelo

What you can do to live green

A first step: The website energystar.gov has a wealth of information and practical steps for lowering your energy bills while also doing the environment a service. The section on “Products” shows how switching to items that carry the “Energy Star” rating can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also saving you bucks. By navigating to “Home…

by Web Editor

Start repairing Tampa Bay right away

We’ve named the problems. Here’s your chance to help fix them. Explain causes. Offer solutions. Get together on and offline to make change happen. And if you see a glaring omission on the list of 10, or you envision a whole other set of Tampa Bay problems that should take priority — tell us that…

by Wayne Garcia

Coolio Kidnaps, Cooks With College Student

Shaka Zulu! It's Week 2! I'm not sure how much longer I'll maintain this weekly re-cap of Cooking with Coolio (check out Week 1), but with lines like this, how can I resist? Coolio -"I’m gonna take a dime bag of seasoning salt…" College kid – "Can I get that on any street corner?" Coolio…

by Brian Ries

Putting on the Sock

“Putting on the sock” does not refer to a condom or penis extension as many would have thought. Instead, it refers to an age old technique of foreplay. The technique begins with the woman on her back and man kneeling before her with his penis placed at the entrance of her vagina. Instead of inserting…

by Eric J. Leech

Sam Adams Comes To The Hop Shortage Rescue

Last year, the news that there was a worldwide shortage of hops sent chills up my beery spine. The little flowers that add complexity, aroma and bitterness to beer are grown around the world, but some of the biggest producers experienced huge shortfalls in 2007. Hops that sold in previous years for a few dollars…

by Brian Ries

Appearing on Tampa Bay’s 10

I just returned from the Tampa Bay 10 television studio in St. Petersburg. Live TV appearances usually make me nervous but I've done the station's Studio 10 show several times now and I think it went all right this morning. Host Holley Sinn (pictured) makes it easy, probably because she's clearly a fan of Creative…

by Wade Tatangelo

Things I hate today (and most likely will hate tomorrow)

I hate … • Guys who say “awwwwwww.” • that the only wall calendar left in the office has pictures of kittens and puppies. • lima beans. • seeing that flashing “Congestion Ahead” sign on the Tampa side of the Howard Frankland Bridge when I’ve already crawled across the bridge at 2 mph. • that…

by Eric Snider

Local Chef On Beard Awards Short List

This flew under the radar last week, but Dave at Eating Tampa snagged it. The James Beard Foundation sent out ballots for its annual chef and restaurant awards to the judging committee, and New York Magazine leaked the list. Here's the shocker: Tampa has a couple of names on the list. And they're related. Guess…

by Brian Ries

Top 10: Songs about snooping

My new Bar Tab column "Snooping in SoHo" is basically about me eavesdropping. People frown on the practice, but most of us do it. I have no qualms about listening to what the loud mouth is saying at the table or bar stool next to me. From my latest column: If I'm at a bar…

by Wade Tatangelo

Lost Art?

An authentic drawing by the late Walt Disney — or not? That's the question in  this week's Urban Explorer. Also: Don't miss Frank Roder, vice president of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association, in this week's Influencers.

by Alex Pickett

FROM THE STREET (Pocket Full of Posies)

For dudes that have a dudette, Valentine's Day often means an empty wallet or a girlfriend crying about how her guy has lost his passion. The problem is rooted in grammar school. Boys grow up thinking February 14 is like a second Halloween – simply a chance to score some candy. For girls, the day…

by Tampa Promotions

Burger Haiku Contest

I've been eating a lot of burgers lately and it's gettin' me down. Although I'm careful not to stuff my face, by the third or fourth all-beef patty of the day my stomach feels tight and my mind slows to a greasy dribble. I crave something to re-start my failing mental faculties and energize my…

by Brian Ries

Cops and Skateboarders

During last week’s extensive media coverage of a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy dumping a quadriplegic out of his chair at Orient Road Jail, you might have missed the widely viewed video of a Baltimore cop berating a 14-year-old skateboarder. It’s quite possibly the best YouTube video I’ve seen since the Gainesville tasing incident. Last week,…

by Alex Pickett

From the Street with Alfie: Pocket Full of Posies

For dudes that have a dudette, Valentine's Day often means an empty wallet or a girlfriend crying about how her guy has lost his passion. The problem is rooted in grammar school. Boys grow up thinking February 14 is like a second Halloween – simply a chance to score some candy. For girls, the day…

by Shawn Alff

Blurring the party line

"If you are looking at substance rather than if there is an R or a D after his name … then Hillary is going to be our girl, because she's more conservative than he is." —Ann Coulter on Sen. John McCain on Hannity and Colmes  "I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. If…

by Franki Weddington

Frank Roder: “I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer”

Who? Tampa native Frank Roder, 55, is vice president of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association. Sphere of influence: A longtime civic leader, Roder has worked with city officials on crime and zoning issues for over two decades. He also serves on the city's Human Rights Board, reviewing 70-80 discrimination cases a year. A former…

by Alex Pickett

Don’t Panic

What is a space weapon? China and Russia have joined together to push for a ban on weapons in space. At the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Switzerland last week, the foreign ministers of Russia and China said in a joint statement: "!!!" I'm as surprised as you are. The Russians and the Chinese…

by Andisheh Nouraee

Wine List

Got an upcoming or ongoing wine event? Send information to: The Wine List, 810 N. Howard Ave., Tampa, FL 33606, fax 813-739-4801 or e-mail brian.ries@creativeloafing.com. BEST BETS: TALLEY VINEYARDS WINE DINNER Talley Vineyards produces small batches of highly sought wine from its family-owned winery in California's Arroyo Grande Valley, located in the central coast. Talley's…

by CL Staff

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