Shuttle Launch: A Tailgate Party Like No Other

Everybody, I suspect, has this list – even if it’s just in your head. Doable things that you would really, really like to do some day.

Somewhere on my list — along with taking a hot-air balloon ride/check; attending a game at Yankee Stadium/check; visiting the Catacombs/check; bussing the Blarney Stone/check; and meeting Timothy Leary/indeed, check — was seeing a space launch.

Until last Tuesday it had been too long deferred and unchecked.

As a journalist, I was never on the NASA beat. Science-oriented, Renaissance reporters like the Tampa Tribune’s Kurt Loft have that detail. As a citizen, I kept finding it logistically inconvenient. A launch was more likely to be scrubbed than to occur. As a Floridian, I took it for granted.

But last Tuesday made up for it.

The scene: the otherwise nondescript banks of the Banana River, near Port Canaveral, about 10 miles south of Kennedy Space Center launch pads. Perhaps a thousand people, mainly couples and families, had parked two- and three-deep along State Road 528.

The ad hoc hub was an RV with a big American flag and a large antenna representing the Launch Information Service & Amateur TV Systems, part of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Its speakers were chronicling count-down information. It was also there just in case. Just in case something went wrong with the space shuttle Discovery that sits atop a half million gallons of rocket fuel and belches 7 million pounds of thrust. LISATS helped defray expenses by selling – for a donation – Space Shuttle Discovery Launch Witness certificates with names computer-printed. Of course, I got one.

Ninety minutes before scheduled launch, the atmosphere, although rife with anticipation, was casual and friendly. Refreshingly so. The air was occasionally punctuated with heavily-accented German, French and Spanish. Some of the English speakers were British, Australian and Welsh. Out-of-town license plates – from Oklahoma and Texas to Massachusetts and Pennsylvania – were almost as numerous as those from Florida. For some reason, North “First in Flight” Carolina plates seemed especially plentiful.

Folding chairs, blankets, binoculars and video and still cameras were much in evidence. People sat on roofs and hoods. But no music, no grills, no adult beverages and no boorish behavior. Tailgating NASA-style. Folks ready to revel with a cause.

That’s what makes it special. This is Team America accomplishing something important by flawlessly sending up the 23rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station. It’s a respite, however brief, from everything else. From the geo-politics and tragic jingoism that is Iraq. From the partisanship and pandering that is our political system. From the world of natural disasters and celebrity meltdowns.

It’s seeing “Mission Accomplished” without the cynical spin.

Say what you want about domestic priorities and the relative merits of travel beyond earth’s orbit, the moment you see that orange sphere separate itself from terra firma is an uplifting, patriotic rush. At that second, man realizing his potential to transcend his own limits is no mere abstraction. No more than earthly applications of space-travel technology and weightless experimentation.

We overuse and insult the meaning of “hero.” But these Discovery astronauts — six Americans and the Italian representing the European Space Agency — redefine it. Memories of Challenger and Columbia , especially the former, are ever-present and unspoken as eyes squint to follow the diminishing, booster-less dot and breaths are collectively held as the contrails slowly diffuse.

Godspeed, Discovery .

NASA Outtakes

A shuttle launch is best seen as a culminating activity. It’s worth a pre-game, if you will, visit to the Kennedy Space Center. Especially worthwhile:

*The Shuttle Launch Experience. Sights, sounds, gut-feelings of a vertical launch. But more interesting than exciting. Don’t think Disney or Busch Gardens. But do think frame of reference that’s available nowhere else.

*Apollo/Saturn V Center. Plenty of photo ops, including a 363-foot moon rocket. The Firing Room Theater re-creates an Apollo launch and the Lunar Theater depicts the first moon landing. The video is moving – on several levels.

Includes vintage footage of President John F. Kennedy delivering a space-program stump speech at Rice University in 1962. Kennedy was on his game as he addressed the skeptics who had questioned the value of a space program. He made the case for man’s eternal quest to forge new frontiers. He spoke of “why” we climb the highest mountains; “why” someone would fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean; and “why Rice plays Texas every year.”

*Bonus: The Kennedy Space Center is in the heart of the 140,000-acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We’re talking bald eagles (in the winter), manatees, alligators and some 340 species of birds.

*Bonus: Pet kennels are available free of charge at KSC. They’re clean and functional. The attendants are conscience-easing friendly.

They Said It

*“September 11 was terrible, but if one goes back over the history of the IRA, what happened to the Americans wasn’t that terrible.” – Doris Lessing.

For openers, you’d think a Nobel Literature Prize winner could be more precise with the language. Surely she didn’t mean to say that 3,000 people dying a death by inferno “wasn’t that terrible.”

*”African-American football players caught up in the rebellion and buffoonery of hip-hop culture have given NFL owners and coaches a justifiable reason to whiten their rosters.” – Jason Whitlock, black sports columnist for FOXSPORTS.com.

Had a white journalist so speculated, it would have been a media firestorm.

“Green Dividend” Is Really Enlightened Self-Interest

Time was when a societal reference to “green” mainly meant hard-core, environmental activism. It conjured up the Sierra Club, pricey solar panels and visceral opposition to the pave-over-paradise crowd. And it connoted trade-offs: What’s the economic downside to tree-hugging naiveté?

That time has long passed, says Portland, Ore., economist Joe Cortright. He’s the author of “Portland’s Green Dividend,” a study that extols the benefits of smart transportation and land-planning policies.

In a telephone interview before his recent “smart-growth planning” address to a Tampa business luncheon, Cortright gave green a more contemporary context.

“The rhetoric around green has been one of ‘noble self-sacrifice,'” said Cortright. “Noble, but not economic. People foregoing consumption and giving up stuff to better the environment. The hair shirt environmentalists, if you will.

“But we’ve come to realize,” he emphasized, “that green wasn’t just a good idea. It was also good business.”

And Portland, of course, could be Exhibit A. To liberally paraphrase Gordon Gecko: “Green is good in Portland.”

“We haven’t achieved Nirvana, but a base-level of agreement on priorities,” noted Cortright. In effect, the combination of mass transit and anti-sprawl land-planning have saved Portland money and fashioned its progressive identity.

According to Cortright, Portlanders are experiencing more than $2.5 billion annually in green dividends, which is money that gets re-invested in the local economy. These savings derive from a steady reduction in vehicle miles traveled per person. In the Portland region, the cost now averages $20 per person per day; $24 is the national average. Houston, for example, is $40. The Tampa Bay region is $28. And with oil ratcheting toward $100 a barrel, the dividends should grow commensurately.

Cortright’s message to locals is encouraging – and blunt.

Tampa Bay, he acknowledged, is not Portland and reflects newer housing patterns and much more sprawl. Having said that, Cortright underscored that making major inroads in smart growth is “definitely doable.”

“There is stuff you can do short-term,” he explained, “such as where you choose to live (i.e. the urban cores) and how you encourage mixed-use development and afford opportunities for people to live closer to where they work. Employers can encourage telecommuting. And in the longer term, there’s transit. All of this moves you in the right direction.”

On the other hand, what if politics and parochialism continue their short-sighted impact and the Tampa Bay region never gets the religion of smart transportation and land-planning policies?

“Well, you’ll pay the price,” warned Cortright.

A Street Car Named TECO

Recently the TECO Line Streetcar System celebrated its fifth anniversary. It was an occasion to reflect on more than the record ridership that exceeded 437,000.

It was also an opportunity to ponder the role of the streetcar, an easy, controversial target of criticism for certain pundits and politicians.

The point is this, and it’s worth reiterating: the streetcar is a key economic development tool. Ask Tampa Bay & Company. Ask the developers and merchants in the Channel District. And, yes, it is a mass transit starter set. And, yes, that is good for Tampa.

Ask Joe Cortright.

Teasures For Tampa

Attention all non-profit organizations that have specific needs. And who among you doesn’t? Well, some of those needs could be met by the Junior League of Tampa.

One of the JLT’s annual projects is the Treasures for Tampa. It is merchandise — from new to “gently used” — that has been requested by organizations in need.

But applications for this free service are down this year – and the JLT would like to hear from you if you’re in need. An application is available at the JLT website (www.jltampa.org). Additional TFT information is available at 254-1734.

Food For Thought Served

Maybe you’ve had this experience. My wife Laraine and I certainly have.

You make dinner-for-two plans. It’s special. It’s special because the company is still special.

And the occasion still mandates all the traditional touches. A favorite restaurant, where the view, interior ambience and menu are perfect complements. Where countryclub-casual attire looks — and feels — just right. Where a good Merlot matters.

And then the 20-something waiter (oops, “server”) welcomes you on your special date: “Good evening, my name is Justin. What can I start YOU GUYS with?”

Call it the rhetorical equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard. My knee-jerk, mental rejoinder is: “This just in, Justin. I am not with a buddy or a partner or a lodge brother. I’m with my wife, who looks like a million bucks tonight. We plan to linger long and even order dessert. You can start us off with a more appropriate introduction.”

Of course, I’m accused (but not by Laraine) of making much ado over nothing more than a familiar mainstream colloquialism. “Get over it” is the usual injunction.

But I’m not taking a pop-culture chill pill on this one. Look, it’s a special night out. We are a heterosexual couple enjoying all the little touches of an intimate dinner for two.

And, oh yeah, that off-putting intro was followed by: “Are YOU GUYS ready to order?” And “How YOU GUYS doing?” And “Can I get YOU GUYS anything else?” And “Was it YOU GUYS who ordered the Bud Lights?” (OK, I made up that last one.)

So, get it right, Justin & Co. You guys make the accommodation, not the customers you serve. You’re, alas, part of the dining-out experience. And if this seems unduly constraining, please look for a sports bar that’s short-handed.

Hopefully, it’s not yet politically incorrect to acknowledge gender and romance in a nice restaurant. And presumably this doesn’t have First Amendment implications.

And another thing, Justin, the correct response to “thank you” is “you’re welcome.” Not “no problem” – unless it truly is problematic to do your job.

Thank you.

Re-branding Not Necessary To Improve Ybor City

Ybor City, to be sure, remains a work in progress.

It is, of course, the historic, immigrant soul of Tampa, but since the oxymoronic heyday of urban renewal, it has been in identity-crisis mode. No need to re-chronicle that here, but suffice it to say that wooing business relocatees, residents, shoppers and diners to a wet-zoned venue frequented by drunks and punks is quite the challenge.

One that, quite arguably, warrants curfews, decibel-ordinances and a high-profile police presence.

It also involves proactive marketing or “branding” of Tampa’s venerable historic — and entertainment — district.

But there’s been recent talk of “re-branding,” and it has created a stir among some vested Ybor interests. They’ve not taken kindly to elements of the gay community aggressively promoting Ybor as “Gaybor.”

In the Ybor-based, weekly newspaper La Gaceta , publisher-editor Patrick Manteiga took the gay-themed re-branding move to task. He said that a “Gaybor” gambit “will only confuse the consumer and disrespects the area’s historic name

Crackdown Update

The year was 1986. Crack cocaine was a scary, mushrooming epidemic. Inner cities were being ravaged. Some of its overdose victims, such as Boston Celtics’ number one draft choice Len Bias, were high-profile. Authorities were implored to do something.

And Congress did. The result: sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine that were off the charts. To wit: trafficking in 5 grams of crack would mean a mandatory sentence of five years, but it would take 500 grams of powder to warrant an identical five-year term.

The 100-to-1 disparity, which has major racial implications, will now be pondered by the Supreme Court.

“When I first saw what Congress did, I thought it was a misprint,” recalls David Krahl, a criminology professor at the University of Tampa. “I thought it was 10-to-1. Trying to do something about the problem, Congress overreacted. It was almost legislative overreaching. And in the process, lower-level offenders and people of color were swept up. The law of unintended consequences.

“The assumption was that crack was inherently worse,” says Krahl. “Powder had a kind of glamour – that of a party drug. But the bio-chemical structures are identical. The physiological effects are the same. The difference is the route of administration. Crack is smoked; powder is snorted.”

But Krahl is confident that the days of the 100-to-1 disparity are numbered. Earlier this year the U.S. Sentencing Commission recommended lowering the federal minimum sentence for crack. Moreover, there are five Congressional bills filed on the crack-powder disparity. Three would reduce the disparity to 20-to-1; two would even it a 1-to-1.

“There’s a lot of broad-based, bipartisan support for this kind of legislation,” adds Krahl. “I think what the Court will do is wait until one becomes law.”