* St. Petersburg just hosted the largest Pride celebration in Florida, the Tech Data St. Pete Pride Parade. It speaks volumes about how far we’ve come as a community. It’s also a reminder of what it takes to mainstream anything in this society. Not just a worthy cause. It also helps immeasurably to have overlapping, collateral self interests. As in corporate sponsorships.
It’s a positive sign in a market economy when a large, impactful business steps up to underwrite a cause because it’s the right thing to do as well as good for image and its diverse employee base. When the LGBTQ community is celebrated–not merely tolerated or accepted–we’ve made progress worthy of a celebration to feel proud about.
* Rumor has it that retiring Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins might not be staying through his last year. Look for a buyout by the end of the calendar year instead of extended lame duck status, which makes sense.
* In the abstract, using reclaimed water to augment Tampa’s drinking water supply makes sense. But it surely can’t help when the most familiar shorthand for the Tampa Augmentation Project isn’t TAP–but “toilet-to-tap.” Some labels–such as “Obamacare”–are flush with connotations that can be counterproductive.