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Tampa Councilman Fails In Effort To Comfort Ikea

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 18, 2008

TAMPA - The bickering continues over a city councilwoman's threat to embarrass Ikea by posting a video on YouTube.

As Thursday's council meeting wound down, Councilman Joseph Caetano requested that the city council attorney write a letter to Ikea reaffirming the council's approval of the company's plan to build a store in Tampa.

Caetano is upset that Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena wrote a letter on council stationery to Ikea last month threatening to post a video on YouTube about the project.

During rezoning hearings last summer, Saul-Sena cast the lone no vote, saying the project wasn't environmentally friendly.

"It was a 6-1 vote," Caetano said, clearly annoyed. "It's a dead issue."

In response to Saul-Sena's letter, Mark Huey, city economic development administrator, wrote a letter last week to the furniture giant to assure the company the city welcomes the store, which is slated to open in summer 2009 on Adamo Drive.

Caetano's motion Thursday didn't go far. Council members Charlie Miranda and Gwen Miller supported his letter request, with Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder opposed. Council members Tom Scott and Mary Mulhern were not present for the vote.

Four votes are needed to pass a motion; city attorneys are considering whether the issue should be brought up at the next meeting when a full council is present.

Dingfelder said he opposed Caetano's idea because he did not want to revive the discussion. He said lots of people have been talking about it since the Tribune wrote about the issue this week.

After the vote, Miller made a motion to find out under what circumstances council members can write "personal" letters on official stationery.

"I'm just saying check into it," she said.

"Let a dead dog die," Dingfelder countered, before Miller's motion failed 2-2.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

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