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Look West To See Tampa Bay's Lost Future

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By JACK HARRIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

Local radio and television broadcaster and indefatigable master of ceremonies Jack Harris today begins a weekly column for The Tampa Tribune. - Editor.

Congratulations, taxpayers. You will soon be helping to pay for a magnetic levitation train that will run between Las Vegas and Disneyland in California, a two-hour trip at speeds up to 300 mph.

It's part of a transportation bill signed by President Bush last Friday that will allocate $45 million to the project.

Unfortunately, his brother Jeb helped kill a similar type of program that would have been an enormous benefit to the Tampa Bay area's tourism economy. The constitutional mandate to build a "bullet train" between Tampa and Orlando and ultimately down to Miami with speeds up to 200 mph was passed by 53 percent of the people statewide in 2000, but Jeb and then CFO Tom Gallagher decided we couldn't afford it and spearheaded an amendment in 2004 to repeal the earlier one.

I won't even get into the long-term environmental benefits, but the fact that such a project would have enabled enormous numbers of visitors to the theme parks in Orlando to come to our area with ease was killed by 64 percent of the people. Had the project gone through as scheduled, it would be up and running now and would have been a wonderful way to move people and very much a tourist attraction in itself, shuttling the masses from the playgrounds of central Florida to our beaches, and Busch Gardens, and the Seminole Hard Rock gaming casino, and our unique Latin Quarter, Ybor City.

It was a bold step into transportation in the 21st century that will now go unrealized ... but at least through our tax dollars we can help pay for a similar project in Nevada and California. Thanks, Jeb and Tom.

All-American Cities

I emceed the All-American Cities awards this past Friday at the Marriott Waterside in Tampa, an annual program put on by the National Civic League in Denver. Groups representing 16 conurbations around the country gathered to hear the names of the ten winners.

Tampa was a winner in 1990. It gives you a nice slogan upon which to build civic pride: "Tampa, the All-American City". Of course it wears thin after awhile and we really haven't had anything catchy to replace it. How about, "Tampa, where love is in the air and on your windshield." Naw ... not catchy enough.

Given that they chose our town for the awards, I guess it would be appropriate to call it "Tampa, the All-American Cities' City." There were only two Florida entries, Kissimmee and Sarasota County, and Kissimmee was one of the winners ... and mispronounced by the presenter.

Gridlock Preview

The enormous traffic jams that have resulted from the overturned fuel truck at I-75 and U.S. 301 near the Hillsborough-Manatee county line last week could be a precursor for what to expect if a major storm ever approaches the Bay area from the Gulf of Mexico. It could result in more 2 million people migrating to the north and east in search of a safe haven. We saw that kind of a boondoggle in Texas in 2005 as a result of Hurricane Rita.

I have spoken to storm emergency people about this in the past, pointing out what turned out to be the biggest need of the helpless evacuees out there ... port-o-potties. Unfortunately there's no program in place in the Sunshine State to bring that kind of relief.

Time For Rays Takeoff

I was flying out of Tampa International Airport last weekend and stopped by the sports paraphernalia shop to browse around. There were ample products from the Bucs and Lightning and even the Yankees, but nary a shirt or hat with the new Tampa Bay Rays logo on it. The Rays are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now and a lot of folks coming through the area are hankering to own a piece of it when they leave.

When I asked the clerk on duty about it, she said they hadn't had time to get the new stuff in stock. Those must be the same people in charge of on-time arrivals and departures.

Web Whimsy

Making the rounds on the Internet: "Given that they are both dogs, how come Goofy wears clothes all the time and Pluto runs around naked?"

Jocularly,

Jack

Jack Harris co-hosts AM Tampa Bay from 6 to 9 weekday morning on WFLA-AM and is involved in a number of other radio and television broadcasts.

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