- Mike Madison
- Bob Buckhorn delivers his State of the City address
The basic content of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's State of the City address on Tuesday wasn't all that different from his speech to the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce last month, or from many of the traditional stump deliveries he's made in front of local audiences in the year since he took over leadership of the city.
But the style was different this time. Gone was the light, joking manner that makes him such an entertaining speaker. Instead there was a more urgent than usual demeanor that lasted throughout the 30-minute address.
For Tampa mayors, the State of the City is a chance to show off a bit, so it made sense on paper to hold the event outside at Curtis Hixon Park; since its redevelopment in 2010, the park has truly become the city's town square. Buckhorn himself noted the beehive of activity it has become in the past couple of months, so it made all the sense in the world for him to deliver his address there.
But with Tampa coming off its hottest March ever, and April looking like more of the same — well, it might be more comfortable in the future for the State of the City to return to the Tampa Convention Center, judging by the beaten-down looks of observers taking the elevator back to their cars in the Poe Garage.
In 80-degree temperatures, the event began with a video featuring personalities like affordable housing real estate executive Deborah Koehler and The Refinery's Greg and Michelle Baker, talking about how dynamic Tampa has become — or in the case of Hyatt Regency doorman Antonio de Sousa, how much he loves working in Tampa. (De Sousa hasn't missed a day of work in 26 years, and has become a local news favorite — but only after the out-of-town Wall Street Journal wrote about him and his attendance record in February.)
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2012.