We're still four and a half months away from the Republican National Convention coming to Tampa, but the conditions that the city will impose on those thousands of protesters expected to demonstrate in the Cigar City are getting full attention this week.
Last night the ACLU hosted a forum on the proposed ordinance announced last week by Mayor Bob Buckhorn that goes before the City Council Thursday morning.
Earlier in the day the mayor held forth in Curtis Hixon Park with his State of the City address, his first after a year on the job. The speech struck many as campaign-like, with a questionable conclusion.
One item the mayor mentioned just once in passing was transportation, but guess what? Tampa remains the biggest region in the country that still doesn't have or isn't starting up a light-rail transit system. A majority of Tampa residents voted for the 2010 measure — but that vote was obviated by the larger anti-rail vote in Hillsborough County. Yesterday the Hillsborough MPO voted to request that their legislative delegation try to pass a bill that will allow cities, and not just counties, to put such referenda on the ballot.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2012.