NO PLACE TO GO

I belong to a nonprofit group in Bradenton that used to use the Homer Hesterly Amory (Cover Story, "Elvis Has Left The Building," July 19-25) for model train shows. With the larger population base in Hillsborough County, these shows were some of our more successful events. We did our last event at the Armory in 1994. The state of the building was no longer favorable to our events. Poor lighting, the location and other factors pushed us toward only presenting shows in Manatee County. Yet a show in Tampa was always at the back of our minds since the model train shows we did in Tampa were so successful.

Currently, our budget for a model train show, held at the Manatee Civic Center in Palmetto, runs about $7,000. We would love to come back to Tampa. As I said, the shows we did in Tampa were some of our most successful, not only financially but also in the number of dealers and customers who attended.

I have looked far and wide for affordable space in both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. I've looked at every major hotel and all convention space. I hit one of two roadblocks with every location I found. I can't find a minimum of 15,000 square feet of space, or when I could find the space, the cost was astronomical and substantially exceeded our budget. A comparable event at the Fair Grounds would cost us more than $10,000. The same event at the Tampa Convention Center has a cost of more than $17,000. At both of these venues, our customer would also have to pay for parking. Now all of a sudden, a very affordable family event (children do not pay to attend our model train shows) starts to get expensive.

Hillsborough County needs affordable space that is accessible for events presented by smaller, nonprofit groups. Whether that space is in the City of Tampa or not, it is sorely needed in the area. Only two proposals for Homer Hesterly make this happen.

The Armory needs to be and should be a draw to the area. It should bring people in the West Tampa community there for shopping and dining. It should draw people to events presented in the refurbished armory. It should be a commercial and retail venue that provides all kinds of jobs to the West Tampa area. It should provide space for creative juices to flow, and present a place for the community to be entertained and recharged. It should be and could be the location that becomes the gateway to West Tampa.

A housing component will only bring problems. Residents will face noise and parking issues, which will create friction between them and the commercial side of the venture.

An all-commercial development with added support for community events brings much-needed jobs to West Tampa; it creates a "magnet" to bring people together and can kick the redevelopment of West Tampa into a higher gear.

Dan Cioffi

Bradenton

LIGHTEN UP, MAN

Shut down the guy's store — go ahead — will that put even the slightest dent in the number of people who use marijuana (Urban Explorer, "Messing With Our Heads," by Alex Pickett, July 12-18)? Nope! As he proved, any multitude of household items can be fashioned into paraphernalia. And when people do that, they risk inhaling some nasty stuff like sealants and other chemicals sprayed onto items that were not intended to be smoked out of. At least this stuff is safe. What old people and closed-minded people need to realize is you can't get rid of marijuana … it's been a part of human history since … well, before history! Incarcerating innocent smokers just further clogs up our already congested justice system and crowds our prisons. When a rapist gets paroled to make room for someone who sold pot, you know the "war on drugs" is screwing over America. And needless to say, alcohol has proven to be much more damaging in terms of addiction, physical health, personal relationships and managing one's affairs. People need to stop being so reactionary and just look at the FACTS. So much of our money and so many of our resources are wasted on this diversion. We have no health care for our people and our schools are the worst in the developed world, but we can justify spending billions of dollars to make sure people don't smoke joints on the weekend … great priorities everybody!

Mike

Via website

TWO TENORS? THE NERVE!

I read Mark Lieb's review (Arts Column, "Making Sweet Music," June 28-July 4) primarily to learn the identity of the Barbershop quartet — as I am an erstwhile "shopper" myself. Didn't get my query answered. But I did learn that the reviewer needs to learn more about barbershop, "…quartet's two tenors…" WHAT??? Some genre of vocal harmony do call the two top voices; first tenor and second tenor. BUT NOT IN BARBERSHOP! The voices, without exception (even if they are female) are labeled, from the highest to the lowest thusly: Tenor, Lead, Baritone and Bass. If you're going to report on a subject, at least acquire a modicum of information first.

Jack Wilhite

Clearwater

This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2006.