Month: June 2005

Here’s the part I don’t get about that vote. You know the one.

It wasn’t just Ronda Storms. Media-seducing, yahoo-pandering, red-meat rhetoric still only gets you one vote.

Hers was one of five Hillsborough County Commission votes in favor of adopting a policy that prohibits the county from “acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride recognition and events, little g, little p.” Only Kathy Castor, who has to answer to her constituents, her conscience and her mother, voted the other way.

For the record, Brian Blair, Jim Norman, Tom Scott and Mark Sharpe supported Storms the way the Jordanaires used to back up Elvis. Ken Hagan wasn’t there. On a subsequent vote – stipulating that the policy can only be repealed by a (5-2) super majority — Hagan joined the majority in a 6-1 vote with Castor again the lone dissenter.

The obvious legal and public relations ramifications should have been foreseen – if not the sense – and perception — of right and wrong. Mayor Pam Iorio, who wasted no time distancing the city from the ham-handed policy and its Storms trooper rhetoric, probably preferred another fire house photo-op to “Take Back Tampa: The Sequel.”

Actually, there’s another part I don’t get either. It is equating acknowledgement with promotion.

In a society with constitutional qualms about displaying the Ten Commandments in public venues, “promotion” will always lend itself to contextual and legal parsing. As it should.

But “acknowledgement?”

Gays and lesbians – and their lifestyle and attendant pride – don’t exist in a vacuum or a closet. Or only in incorporated Hillsborough. They are an integral part of every community’s fabric. This one is no exception. An acknowledgement is little more than a nod to reality. What they don’t deserve is an official, demeaning cheap shot that deigns to speak for more than a half-dozen small-minded commissioners.

One final point. Topical Storms Ronda is, in a perverse way, good at what she does. She’s smart; she’s calculated; she’s never sound-bite challenged; and she knows which visceral hot buttons to push. She can pervert populism with the best.

On the county’s new gay pride policy, she got what she wanted. It will play well to the usual “us vs. them” (Big U, little t) suspects that she patently panders to.

But that still doesn’t explain – much less justify — those other votes. The other commissioners, at least, should have known better. Shame on them. Big S, little t.

For many Floridians, having a refreshing, man-made body of water in their backyard is no mere amenity. It’s a Florida lifestyle necessity.

Over the years, the needs would include more elaborate pools with more sophisticated bells and whistles and increasingly lush landscaping.

But the fastest growing segment of the backyard waterscape business is spas, according to the National Spa & Pool Institute. There are now more than 6 million spas and hot tubs in the (contiguous 48) United States – 10 per cent of them in Florida. Only California has more.

“Almost everyone today wants a spa with their pool,” says Jim Holloway, vice president Holloway Pools Inc., a Tampa-based builder of classic, concrete pools and spas. “Ten years ago, we hardly saw any. There are even folks who only want a spa.”

The explanation is easy, says Laraine Hancock, a yoga instructor who had Holloway build a stand-alone spa – with accompanying, bricked-over patio slab — in her South Tampa backyard.

“We don’t have kids, and I’m not into swimming laps,” explains Hancock, 58. “It’s therapeutic; it lends itself to entertaining; it’s relatively low maintenance; and it’s the aesthetic centerpiece of our backyard.”

Hancock could be Exhibit A for the surge in spa popularity, says Wendy Parker, the director of marketing for the Florida Swimming Pool Association.

“Baby boomers have more disposable income than any generation before,” she points out. “A priority is creating backyard living space. For that, a spa works wonderfully well. Some like the feel of a resort. It’s more for adult entertaining. Often they’ll add grills and barbeque islands.”And a lot more. Spas with custom art work can easily cost at least $50,000.

“Spas now have every accoutrement you can imagine,” says Parker. “It can get very personalized. It’s way beyond cup holders.”

Indeed, it can range from electronic controls that work from a cell phone, fountain-type statuary and variations on a lighting theme to murals, foggers, oxidizers, sound systems, therapy jets, below-the-water-line tiles and 24-carat gold step edges.

In fact, spas can now be customized with glass tiles containing digital images. As in corporate logos, family photos or commercial aquatic scenes.

“As long as an item isn’t copyrighted, we can print it,” says Phil Williams, the owner of Seminole-based Tilesque. “There’s certainly a market for custom looks. We’ve seen exponential growth the last year or so.”The myriad of aesthetic and comfort options also has created an inevitable niche: design consultants. Their advice is a lot more than “Just add water.”

“The visual element is much more important today, and many contractors don’t have the time to spend on design,” says Brian VanBauer of Miami, perhaps the state’s pre-eminent designer. “We do lots of stand-alone spas. Space is at a premium. Smaller lots. Zero lot lines or townhouses. A lot of aging baby boomers with aches and pains.

“Probably two thirds of our projects involve some sort of covered area outside,” adds VanBauer, whose international clientele includes the Tampa Bay area. “Cabanas, trellises, gazebos. You have to focus on the clients’ needs. They’re all different in their own way.”

That recent, headline-grabbing shooting in Ybor City – in the parking lot beside La Tropicana Café – was unfortunate and troubling on a couple of levels.

Two Haines City visitors were pistol whipped by (five) armed predator-cowards, but were not seriously injured. Traumatized to be sure, but not hurt badly. They won’t soon forget the frightening experience.

And, chances are, they won’t soon return to Ybor. That – and the attendant publicity — makes Ybor City another victim.

An ironic one in that the incident, in which three of the perpetrators were wounded and one killed by plainclothes officers, actually belies falling crime statistics in the historic entertainment district. More aggressive law enforcement has resulted in lower numbers across the board – rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts – for the first four months of 2005 compared with the same period in ’04. Murders for the period remained the same – zero.

“The vast majority of the time – even late — things are pretty comfortable,” says Tom Keating, president of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. “I think the word is out that people are paying attention.”

Keating was alluding to the beefed up police presence, including plainclothes officers on the streets, uniformed officers on horseback and off-duty cops in clubs. He also salutes the ongoing liaison between police and the business community.

“We do a lot of events here,” Keating explains, “and we need to know what happens and what is happening on a regular basis. The interfacing with police – and I want to single out Cpt. Marco Trigiano – has been outstanding.”

He also underscores the importance of merchants looking out for one another.

“This isn’t a business district,” he points out. “This is a business community. The people are very aware and very good about covering each other’s back.

“A shooting is not some daily activity, to say the least,” says Keating. “But the real trick is getting more traffic – literally more eyes on the street – in the early part of the evening and then de-emphasizing the really late night.”

Someone else had something pertinent to say about the shooting incident. That was Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy, who stressed a TPD bottom line.

According to a Bay Area daily, she said, “A police shooting is something you never want to have to deal with. But this is the best outcome. The officers walked away, the victims walked away, and the suspects are paying a price for their actions.”

In a revolving-door criminal justice system, one which all of the Ybor predator-perps were well acquainted, this qualifies as justice ultimately dispensed.

Bottom line, indeed.