Letters

SPACE CHASE

Your informative and thoughtful article (Cover Story, "Empty Spaces," by Wayne Garcia, Nov. 2-8) about downtown was terrific! I learned a great deal about the history of downtown development — the players and the challenges. I hope that articles like yours will educate and motivate the public to demand better land use and planning from our elected officials and property owners.

Ellen Brown

Old Tampa Book Company

OFF THE MARK

I can appreciate Wayne Garcia petitioning for artists in his article "Empty Spaces." As an artist myself, an old bastard who has migrated from one arts community to another in this country and abroad since the early '60s, I have to say, he's missing the mark a bit. Dropping the cultural nuke in a community essentially doesn't do shit. Why? Because community is the key word. The time-proven formula being the group, the club, the station and the paper.

Let's face it folks, there are no freebies. When you get something for nothing it usually ends up an empty space. At first. Commitment is the key word there. I only mention all of this because we are not the only ones who have to work in an environment of bigotry and financial polarization. Art is more than an occupation; it's a lifestyle.

We might be small but we are strong. Yet, we want to plant the seed. But you have to eat where you crap for a while, and pay for it, until the leaves pop out and the flower appears.

Roy D. Zaun

St. Petersburg

DOCKS OF THE BAY

Your article (Urban Explorer, "The Island Way," by Max Linsky, Oct. 12-19) was especially interesting to my husband who used to sail to Egmont Key with his brothers in an old whaling boat in the late 1930s. He remembers that Egmont Key was the quarantine docks for all ships coming into Tampa Bay. There were quite a few people living there then in connection with supporting these docks, including medical people, caretakers, etc. He never returned there after that period of time and of course it was off limits during WWII. He left the area after the war for a military career.

In the early '90s, after he had retired, we moved to Sarasota. He wanted to visit Gulfport where he grew up. We made regular trips to St. Pete, since that's where we met in 1946. We took a trip to Ft. De Soto but we never got to Egmont Key. Interesting that it's been "discovered" and also has a "godmother" in Barbara Schmidt.

Sylvia Knight

Sarasota

FATHER'S DAY

Just a little hello to let you know my dad, Clarence D. Hobbs, Sr., enjoyed the article (Urban Explorer, "Hanging With the Junkman," by Max Linsky, Oct. 26-Nov. 1) about his life's work. It pleased him to finally get some great feedback from the Bay area media. He is a strong stubborn man who has taught me quite a lot as well. I, too, am thankful he is being recognized for his passion and strength.

Brandi Dodson

Via e-mail

CONGRATS

Last week the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists presented its first Griot Drum Awards for coverage of people of color, and the Planet was honored to be among the news organizations recognized. Senior Writer Eric Snider received a First Place in the Features category (publications under 100,000 circulation) for his April 2004 story, "Blues Cruise: Highway 61 Revisited."

This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2005.