Profiling: Wartime Necessity

As with a broken clock that is correct twice a day, sometimes former Vice President Dick Cheney actually says something that isn’t spiteful, arrogant, appalling, counterproductive and wrong. Case in point: He’s been known to advocate for serious profiling when it comes to national security.

We shouldn’t hold a good idea against a bad messenger. Now, in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Nigerian underwear bomber, is not the time for ACLU hand-wringing over stereotypes. Now is the time — actually, way, way past the time — when we should be upping the ante on profiling as one of our critically important weapons in defending ourselves against Islamic terrorists. We are at war and under siege, and we underuse it at our own peril.

Enough of the Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVey references. Enough of the sort of political correctness that resulted in the Fort Hood massacre. When it comes to those radicalized by religion who use planes to kill Americans, nobody else fits the statistical model but young Muslim males. Nobody else goes on suicidal, jihadist missions against the West, most notably the United States. While 99 percent of young Muslims may not be fanatics and terrorists, 100 percent of 9/11 and post-9/11 airline terrorist incidents have involved young Muslim males.

There are obvious reasons why Israel, radical Islam’s ultimate infidel, hasn’t had a terrorist incident in the air. In addition to state-of-the-art screening equipment and information-sharing: profiling that includes pre-boarding interviews of everyone. Some, to be sure, much more in depth than others. Even the otherwise pathological, the sorts who are looking to hook up with 72 virgins, disclose telltale signs of an impending afterlife to the skilled interrogator.

That sort of individualized, en masse approach is not practicable in bigger countries. But neither is sending your skivvies through the X-Ray machines with your sneakers. And it’s downright dumb – and harassing – to be withholding bathroom privileges from airline passengers and monitoring their use of blankets.

Forget — for rhetorical purposes — the Watch List incompetents. But is it asking too much to at least respond to every immediately discernible red flag? One-way ticket. Cash. No luggage. Problematic nationality. No need to be disrespectful or to act like a storm trooper, but how about some common sense? We’re talking lives needlessly at risk.

And if Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had taken exception to an airside Napoleonic Code or thought himself unfairly stereotyped when trying to board Northwest Flight 253 bound for Detroit, well, too terribly tough. It was only by luck that he didn’t murder hundreds. And the day is approaching when terrorists will be so sophisticated that al-Qaida will start springing for round-trip tickets and some Samsonite.

Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein of California, the former mayor of San Francisco, concurs with extra scrutiny – even if she’s uncomfortable with the word profile. “I’d rather, in the interest of protecting people, overreact rather than underreact,” said the liberal Feinstein, who now sees things through the lens of her Senate Intelligence Committee chairmanship.  

And, yes, Dick Cheney would surely agree. More to the point, so would most fliers, especially those on Flight 253. 

Admission and Omission

We know that Florida’s state universities have necessarily become more selective – and now we see this reality reflected in average test scores of incoming students. Average SATs, for example, range from New College’s 1322 and the University of Florida’s 1279 to Florida Atlantic’s 1069 and Florida Gulf Coast University’s 1031. USF came in at 1151, which was seventh out of 10 universities.

There are, however, 11 in the state system. FAMU didn’t reply. Here’s hoping that was an oversight.

List Outtakes

No end-of-decade news cycle would be complete without lists. We’ve seen them by the buckets. One of my favorites was a list compiled by the Associated Press that looked at 50 things that really impacted and even changed our lives since the beginning of the millennium. From blogs and BlackBerries to cable and cell phones to Google and GPS to Wii and Wikopedia.

I’ll add a 51st. Caller ID. If you have it, you know why.

Sports Shorts

*USF defensive end George Selvie was a first team All American as a sophomore. Some even thought he might jump early to the NFL. He was, by far, USF’s most celebrated player ever. But he came back for both his junior and senior seasons. Ironically, this year he wasn’t even the best at his position at USF. That was junior-college transfer Jason Pierre-Paul.

*Speaking of Pierre-Paul, the junior defensive end is now a serious candidate for the NFL after one year at USF. The downside: USF obviously could use him again next year. Moreover, it reinforces the reputation that USF is still too reliant on JUCOs — including the one-and-done sort — if Pierre-Paul bolts for the NFL.

*Florida State had its “coach in waiting.” Now Florida has its “coach in abeyance.” This is uncharted territory for all concerned. And it’s obviously a huge concern: Urban Meyer’s health. It’s as serious as brain cyst-induced migraines, chest pains and a 911 call. It’s enough to make a rich man with a wife, school-aged kids, a graduated Tim Tebow and a self-professed value system that begins with “faith and family” resign from a pressure-packed job as the point man for Gator Nation.

It’s also reason to think that a “leave of absence” spin is Meyer’s and Athletic Director Jeremy Foley’s way of buying time to save a banner, blue-chip recruiting class. 

After that, you can bet that an iPhone short list is never out of Foley’s reach.

Quoteworthy

  • “I think there are parallel possibilities with Wonderland. It can tell the rest of the performing arts world how to handle the ‘not invented here’ syndrome. The idea that ‘If it doesn’t happen in New York, it’s not happening.’ The second part is other communities saying, in effect, ‘Let’s see if we can have it travel here too.’”   —Frank Morsani.
  • “Everything is done in the context of the moments in which you’re living.” –Marco Rubio on why he’s altered his position on commuter rail.
  • “There were extraordinary cases of people still on the road driving after having caused not just five or six or seven crashes, but 20 or 40 or 50 crashes.” –State Sen. Don Gaetz on why he introduced the new law that forces chronically bad drivers to take a $300-$500 driver-improvement course and driving test.
  • “How long are we Americans going to go on thinking that we can thrive in the 21st century when doing the optimal things – whether for energy, health care, education or the deficit – are ‘off the table’”? –Thomas Friedman, New York Times.
  • “Culture precedes politics. If you cannot change culture, you’re reduced to arguing that people shouldn’t have the right to vote on defining marriage.” –Rod Dreher, Dallas Morning News.

MOSI Can’t Be Overlooked

No doubt about it, 2010 is a very big year for downtown Tampa. One that will feature the unprecedented debut of two museums, the new Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children’s Museum. The double debut has even been recognized — and saluted — by USA Today, which recently touted Tampa among its top five “Destinations To Watch” in 2010.

Well, USA Today might want to update that museum shout-out about Tampa. This city also features one of the top five museums in the country. That would be the Museum of Science & Industry near USF. Early in the new year, MOSI will be feted by the Institute of Museum and Library Service in a formal ceremony in Washington. More than 17,500 museums were eligible for the prestigious honor: the National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

MOSI is the largest non-profit science center in the Southeast. Its calling, science learning, has never been more relevant. In a global economy that increasingly places a premium on science and innovation, MOSI is much more than an impressive amenity. Arguably, it’s a necessity – one that understands the value of community outreach. And it’s in our own backyard.

Well done, MOSI President Wit Ostrenko.

Urban Renewal?

What to make of the Urban Meyer situation at the University of Florida?

For now, nobody knows – and that includes Coach Meyer and UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley. This is uncharted territory. There’s obviously precedent for a “coach in waiting” in this state, but this is a coach in abeyance. There’s no model to reference.

But this much is known. Interim Coach Steve Addazio, while apparently well liked, didn’t exactly distinguish himself in his first year as the Gators’ offensive coordinator. He’s not the answer – except to a future trivia question.

Also known: Meyer’s M.O. is the antithesis of what you would want in any positive health scenario. He’s intense; he’s driven; he’s never off the job. He’s hobby-challenged. He rarely relaxes. But it’s the key reason why he’s so good at what he does and why he’s won two national championships in four years. And that job — as the highly-compensated point man for Gator Nation — is inherently fraught with pressure of the highest magnitude.

                        More that is known: the sheer uncertainty of the UF situation is being used against the Gators by those who vie for the same blue-chip recruits. It behooves Florida right now to at least buy time. A Meyer leave of absence — as opposed to a resignation — can provide that.

Something else that is known: Meyer’s been experiencing worrisome, stress-related chest pains and migraines. Including very, very recently. It has everything to do with who he is and what he does. If he doesn’t change, he will pay a steep price in quality of life – and maybe longevity of life.

Right now Meyer, 45, is financially secure. His head coaching record is already legacy stuff. He has a “best friend-soul mate” wife and kids in school. His mantra on priorities begins with “faith and family.”

And Tim Tebow is now gone.

If I’m AD Foley, I’m keeping my Blackberry – with the short list of would-be Meyer successors – on me at all times. Especially the number of Chris Petersen at Boise State. The time is near.

Iorio Returns

How appropriate. The name Iorio is back at the University of South Florida.

For years John Iorio, the late father of Mayor Pam Iorio, was a popular and revered English professor at USF. Now his daughter has agreed to teach an honors class on mass transit at USF in the spring. She also agreed to forego the position’s $2,300 stipend.

The course will doubtless be, in part, a forum for light rail, the mayor’s most passionate priority. Moreover, nothing will be off the record. And it may presage something more permanent down the road for the mayor, who is known to be intrigued by a post-politics, higher-ed calling. She leaves City Hall next spring.

But for now, it means the Iorio name literally lives on at USF. As it should.

Hockey Holidays

To say the least, the National Hockey League doesn’t get everything right. Exhibit A is TV. It’s never been able to secure those lucrative network contracts that other professional sports have. Too often it doesn’t sufficiently showcase its marquee players. But one thing it does have: priorities at Christmas.

The NHL won’t schedule games on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Classy move. And it impacts more than players and coaches. It also means that all personnel that are part of putting on NHL games are where they belong: with their families.

As for those other sports, well, nothing says “Merry Christmas” quite like the Los Angeles Clippers vs. the Phoenix Suns in prime time on Christmas Day.

All That Straz – All That Lisi

Time was when Tampa was to the arts what Las Vegas was to family values. Guggenheim was “Crazy” – not Solomon or Peggy. Live entertainment meant spring training, wrestling, boxing, greyhound racing, jai alai playing and flamenco dancing at the Columbia Restaurant. And some never tired of reliving that vintage performance of Elvis at the Armory.

While other, often smaller, cities were turning to the arts for downtown revivals in the 1960s, Tampa was still clinging to its industrial roots – and ambience. Sarasota would have its Van Wezel Hall and St. Petersburg its Mahaffey Theater. Tampa had its Curtis Hixon Hall. USF played basketball there.

But by the 1980s, Tampa had fast-forwarded to the point that it was prominently mentioned in John Naisbitt’s best-seller, “Megatrends,” as one of “America’s Next Great Cities.” The futurist included Tampa on a short list of cities uniquely positioned to take advantage of the twin-dawning information and globalization ages. The Greater Tampa Chamber of commerce couldn’t order enough of those “great city” bumper stickers. It was decidedly heady stuff for a city that had been incrementally gaining recognition for its prototype airport; major seaport; growing, diverse economy; a large state university and even an NFL franchise.  

And yet. Tampa remained this embarrassingly late cultural bloomer. Even Clearwater had its Ruth Eckerd Hall by then.

And, candidly, how do you revel about being a “Next Great City” when the Nick Nuccio-era Curtis Hixon Hall is your concert venue? Sure, Janis Joplin played it and was even arrested there in the ‘60s. And, yes, CHH was quite suitable for Slim Whitman and the Miami Sound Machine. That, of course, was the problem.

Then came the game-changer.

Arts Awakening

Tampa knew it needed a first-class performing arts center because, well, cities worth their civic salt all seemed to have one. Arts emporiums were beginning to be touted as economic-development tools. They could help attract business. They could have a ripple effect in the economy. The result: the $57-million, 335,000-square-foot Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It debuted in 1987. It was a product of municipal bonds, nine city-owned, dirt-lot acres and a pragmatic cadre of visionaries, including H.L. Culbreath, Hinks Shimberg, Frank Morsani and Mayor Bob Martinez.

But while civic leaders and local luminaries basked in a waterfront, acoustics-touted venue worthy of great performance, TBPAC lost money. Every year.  

Enter Judy Lisi as TBPAC president in 1992.

The Fairfield, Conn. native had been executive director of the prestigious Shubert Performing Arts Center in New Haven. She had the know-how and the know-who and had been a performer herself. She was Juilliard School of Music-trained in opera. She was also a playwright and a director.

In Tampa, she met “incredibly nice” people, she recalls. She also saw an impressive facility that was state-of-the-art and presciently multi-venued. It featured the 2,600-seat Carol Morsani Theatre, the 1,042-seat Louise Lykes Ferguson Theatre plus three more intimate theaters seating between 300 and 130 patrons.

Then she looked at the books and saw a $4-million deficit. She looked at the programming and saw why.

“I saw where changes could be made,” says Lisi. “They were heavy in the classics. They were paying top dollar for less than first-rate Broadway.

“You have to have a product that people want to see and that you can market,” she underscores. “You have to manage risk. We may be a not-for-profit, but we have to run it like a business. And things can change quickly in this business.”

Indeed. TBPAC, recently renamed the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, has been in the black since shortly after Lisi took over. It is known for much more than being the largest performing arts center in the Southeast. Annual attendance averages between 600,000 and 700,000. Billboard magazine just named it the third most successful performing arts venue (5,000 seats or less) in the country for the decade. Its economic impact on the region is now estimated at $100 million by Americans for the Arts.

“From the day Judy arrived, she has thrown herself into that position,” says Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. “She’s energetic, positive and innovative. They do everything right over there.”

Thanks to Lisi, a nationally recognized impresario, the Straz has become a pre-eminent presenter of Broadway tours, the home of Opera Tampa and host of popular cabaret shows. She was also the driving force behind the Patel Conservatory, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Last year Lisi, 63, added to her myriad honors by winning the “Patrick Hayes Award” for lifetime achievement from the International Society for the Performing Arts.

“Judy is really an icon in this community,” says Stu Rogel, chairman of the Tampa Bay Partnership. “Having the arts prosper is such a critical factor in the growth and prosperity of a community. She took a great facility and just added so much. She took that center and shaped and molded and grew it. And Judy can certainly take it to the next level.”

“Wonderland” Hopes

That next level can be summarized in three words: Broadway Genesis Project. It’s the most ambitious undertaking in the 22-year history of the center. The goal is nothing less than to literally grow its own Broadway-caliber productions. From scratch. And then hope the launch carries all the way to “The Great White Way.” And succeeds. And then tours.

That’s how you recoup your investment and enhance your reputation a hundred fold.

“What you’re doing is creating a work,” explains Lisi. “That’s really how an arts center builds its reputation. And if we get that reputation for doing something especially creative and ambitious, then Tampa does too.”

The reason the Broadway Genesis Project was viable, points out Lisi, is the unique Straz/Tampa wherewithal. “First was our state-of-the-art facilities,” says Lisi. That includes, she notes, a “perfect Broadway-type theater” in Ferguson, as well as technical and production capabilities, a costume shop and rehearsal studios. Plus a proven professional staff, a large subscription base, a track record of group and individual sales, responsive audiences and major-market media.

For several years the center had been setting aside Broadway Genesis Project money — about $3.5 million culled from the endowment — to properly fund a made-in-Tampa production worthy of a world premier. It would be the largest single Tampa Bay stage production ever. And, yes, the dour economy did create some in-house soul searching.

“With the economy, we – the Board and staff – did reconsider,” acknowledges Lisi. “However, institutionally we had already committed time and effort that the conclusion was to stay with the plan. Also, it was felt that this kind of ‘big idea’ would propel the institution forward as well as stimulate jobs and growth in a time that it was needed most.”

To that end, according to Lisi, the production of the first BGP show, “Wonderland: Alice’s New Musical Adventure,” will have pumped some $8 million into the local economy by the time it ends on Jan. 3. The cast and crew have been here since early October and all sets, props and costumes were produced locally.

Assuaging much of the Straz stress is the fact that “Wonderland” has been very well received and applauded as a boffo production. And, yes, I’ve seen it. I highly recommend it. It’s uplifting; it’s a visual feast; and it’s funny. Janet Dacal (Alice) is a gifted, charismatic talent. And, no, I wasn’t the only one to perceive a bit of a Sarah Palin send-up in the Queen of Hearts.

By next week, “Wonderland” will be in Houston for a month’s run at the Alley Theatre. There will be additional tweaking of the book as well as some high-tech cue changes. And more than a few crossed fingers back here at the Straz.

“We feel the show has potential to be developed in various ways, and that these revenue streams should not only return the original investment, but hopefully, over time, would return more which could be used for future projects,” assesses Lisi. “About $1.5 million will be returned right here in Tampa and more in Houston.”

And for the record, the Straz will certainly be considering another made-in-Tampa, Broadway Genesis Project, but probably not for another two years. The development process, says Lisi, takes that long. No decisions yet on what it might be.

But even if “Wonderland” makes a splash in New York and the tour circuit, the advent of “Broadway South” won’t be the Straz’s or Lisi’s only — or even most impacting — legacy.

“The success of the Center was a crucial part of growing Tampa,” says Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena. “It gave us exposure to the wider world, and it gave the wider world exposure to us. It’s a marvelous showcase for Tampa.”

Imagine Tampa without its arts catalyst.

“I can say we would not have the Patel Conservatory, the three museums, downtown residential, maybe even the new Riverwalk, maybe even the Aquarium and Channelside,” posits Lisi. “Since the Center was the first major cultural project, if it had not happened or had not succeeded, one could question whether these subsequent projects would have happened at all.”

But memories of Elvis at the Armory would still linger.