* One of the most anxiety-producing headlines in memory was this one in USA Today: “For Tampa, ‘Our Day Has Come.'” To be in Seattle and read Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s apocalyptic forecast for our home town was numbing.
* There was no lack of teachable moments in the wake of the Hurricane Irma experience. Ask Santa for a generator. Have a higher-ground plan and a stash of bottled water. Utilities need to expand tree-cutting in advance of hurricane season and bury as many power lines underground as practicable. And the county and its hub city need to be on the same page, especially when it comes to evacuations. Hillsborough/Tampa should not be less in synch than Orange/Orlando and Pinellas/St. Petersburg.