TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
For $15 Million, Design Better Have La-Z-Boys
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Published: February 13, 2008
The Tampa City Council, which is to architectural design what the Exploding Chicken is to art, wasn't overwhelmed last week when presented with plans for a new Curtis Hixon Park.
I mean it was picky, picky, picky.
They didn't even like the entrance - five 50-foot-tall glass structures that each would contain a letter spelling out T-A-M-P-A. Each of the structures would cost a six-figure sum.
"It doesn't look like a gateway," Councilwoman Mary Mulhern said. "It looks like a barrier. I hope we can lose those." Councilman John Dingfelder echoed the complaint, wondering whether the city had an "identity crisis."
To tell you the truth, the glass pillars were about the only thing I liked about the plan.
It's not that they aren't hokey enough. I mean, if they light them up at night it might look like the entrance to a miniature golf course.
A Few Bucks For Us
But we're talking about a park that is projected to cost $15 million - and that's just for Phase One. There aren't too many ways the taxpayers are going to get any of that back, but this just might be a possibility.
Think about it. How do all these venues make a few extra bucks? They sell the naming rights.
Remember when it was just Tampa Stadium? Now people drive by and ask what position Raymond James used to play. How about the Ice Palace? What a great name for a hockey arena. It just sounds cool.
Now it's the St. Pete Times Forum, which is not as cool a name and is in the wrong town. But somebody was willing to shell out millions, so there you go.
If a city is willing to sell the name of its arena to another town's logo, why not a park? Of course, it might be a little weird for tourists coming off the interstate to suddenly see a row of 50-foot glass pillars that spell out O-R-L-A-N-D-O, but a buck is a buck. We could even set up a kiosk in the park and sell tourists tickets to Ybor City and tell them it's a new Disney theme park.
Gimme Shelter
The other bone of contention about the proposed new park seemed to be the park benches. You might think when you're talking about spending this kind of money on a park you wouldn't get too caught up in park benches, but remember we're talking about the Tampa City Council. How many years ago was it that the St. Petersburg politicians got so worked up over their green benches they painted them pastel as a way of shedding the image of green benches where old people sat?
It was Councilman Joe Caetano who wondered whether the benches would have dividers on them to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them. In a more rational world, if the council had $15 million to spend they might consider using it on a shelter for the homeless. At least for that kind of money the city could put out some La-Z-Boys along with the benches.
As for the rest of the plans, it's pretty difficult to tell from the renderings, but $15 million? The designer is a New York person, so you have to expect to spend a few bucks. The city already shelled out about $11 million for the design of the art museum that's supposed to be in the park and then tossed out the design. Somebody has some money out there.
Steve Otto has joined the cyber world. Keyword: Otto Graphs, to read more of his musings.
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