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Ex-Mayor Honored In Bronze
Tribune photo by JIM REED.
Sculptor Steve Dickey works with a wax likeness of former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, from which the final bronze statue will be cast.
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Published: January 14, 2008
Updated: 01/13/2008 11:55 pm
TAMPA - Ready to cozy up next to former Mayor Dick Greco?
As soon as March, Tampa residents and tourists will be able to take a seat next to the former mayor, who will be commemorated with a bronze bench and statue meant to honor him for his two stints as Tampa's mayor.
Dick Greco
"There were a lot of people who wanted to name something or honor him," said developer Carl Lindell, who owns the company where Greco works. "It's a fairly low-key approach."
Ron Rotella, who worked for Greco during his first time in office, said he and some friends, including Councilman John Dingfelder and business associate Jack Weisser, got to talking about a way to recognize the former mayor. Someone suggested a statue.
Greco thought they were joking but liked the idea, and a group of friends started raising money.
They raised about $55,000, Rotella said. Some donors wrote $10 checks. The largest single contribution was $5,000. Lindell said he wrote one of the first checks, for several thousand dollars.
Rotella wouldn't say who donated to the private group, but he said hundreds of people chipped in.
The group commissioned sculptor Steve Dickey to mold a bronze statue and bench. Now they are deciding where to put it: at the Southern Transportation Plaza, near the Tampa Convention Center and Marriott hotel, or at a nearby sidewalk. A dedication ceremony is tentatively planned for March.
"That area is very near and dear to Dick's heart and his accomplishments with the Marriott and the trolley," Dingfelder said.
As mayor, Greco oversaw the development of the Marriott Waterside Hotel. He also pushed for the trolley line.
Greco, 74, served as mayor from 1967-74 and 1995-2003. He already has a softball complex named after him, but that honor was given in 1979. Mayor Bill Poe, who followed Greco's first time in office, gave Greco that honor. Greco, in turn, named a tennis complex on Davis Islands after Sandra Freedman, who preceded him in his return to office.
An effort to name the street in front of the St. Pete Times Forum after Greco in 2003 never gained steam.
Generally, Rotella said, mayors present resolutions to the city council, asking the board to approve naming something for a former mayor. In this case, if the group decides to put the bench and statue on a sidewalk, the group will ask Mayor Pam Iorio to OK the plan. Council approval would be required.
If the group opts to put the statue at the Southern Transportation Plaza, HART's approval would be necessary, Rotella said.
Iorio says she'll endorse any site Greco would like.
"I saw Mayor Greco on Saturday and he looked younger than ever," Iorio said. "I hope the statue does him justice."
The statue is designed to resemble Greco in his 50s, about halfway between his terms in office. Playing off Greco's reputation as a chummy sort, the statue depicts him sitting on a bench with an outstretched arm.
Greco says the whole concept is somewhat surreal. He's impressed with Dickey's attention to detail on his likeness.
"It feels funny if you're still alive and there's a statue of yourself," Greco said.
A plaque will be erected next to the bench. Greco wants it to mention when he was born, a bit about his family - his father was born in Sicily - and his terms in office, including his time as a city councilman.
He also asked Tampa's Poet Laureate James Tokley to pen something for the plaque. It'll be a short poem, no more than four stanzas, Tokley said. Writing the poem has been difficult, he said, because the piece must be timeless.
"What was so challenging about this is you are writing about someone who is still among the land of the living," Tokley said. "This piece must speak about the power of the man, the abilities, the achievements."
STATUESQUE MAYORS
Some have parks named after them. Others have parking garages. The names of Tampa's mayors are memorialized throughout the city.
Here is a sampling:
Curtis Hixon, 1943-1956: former convention center on Ashley Drive; now a downtown park
Nick Nuccio, 1956-1959, 1963-1967: parkway in Ybor City
Julian Lane, 1959-1963: riverfront park on North Boulevard
Bill Poe, 1974-1979: parking garage at Cass Street and Ashley Drive
Bob Martinez, 1979-1986: middle school in Lutz; sports complex at University of Tampa
Sandra Freedman, 1987-1995: tennis center on Davis Islands
Dick Greco, 1967-1974, 1995-2003: softball fields in North Tampa
Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.
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