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Storms Preclude Conventions

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

The city of Tampa made an unsuccessful bid to get the 2008 GOP National Convention a couple of years ago, and though no one is saying it was a deal killer, the fact that it would be in the peak of hurricane season was certainly a factor in our rejection.

Given the media coverage of hurricanes today, it is unlikely we'll ever get one... and there are a few other cities that have hosted the political gatherings in the past that will likely be ignored in the future for the same reason as us.

Miami Beach hosted both conventions in 1972, with the Democrats convening in early July and the Republicans in mid-August. Houston was the site for the Democrats in June of 1928, and the GOP in August of 1992.

And even New Orleans was the place where the Republicans gathered as recently as the middle of August in 1988.

I'd say storm concerns will preclude any of these metropolises from being hosts again, unless the conventions are moved out of the August-September time frame.

Good thing the Super Bowl isn't in hurricane season.

Struck From The Ballot

For the time being at least, the Florida Supreme Court has scrapped the so-called tax reform amendment, number 5, that was submitted by the Florida Budget and Tax Reform Commission. It also struck down two others, numbers 7 and 9, regarding school voucher programs, that came from the same group.

The tax panel only meets every 20 years to offer up what they consider improvements to our pecuniary process. Which means it'll be another 20 years before they can offer anything new, or a total of 40 years of accomplishing a grand total of nothing.

Downtown Stadium

The head of Progress Energy Florida, Jeff Lyash, was chosen to head up a committee of 11 Tampa Bay citizens to help develop a plan for a future home for the Tampa Bay Rays, since the attempts to build a home on the site of Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg have apparently fallen through.

The chosen 11 have been announced, and I was a little disappointed to learn that there was only one Hillsborough resident in the bunch. Chuck Sykes of the Sykes Corporation is the guy chosen to represent what is a pretty big chunk of Ray fandom.

Frankly I was hoping there would be more from the far reaches of the Tampa Bay area, particularly from Hillsborough and Pasco Counties, from which a lot of team support emanates.

These are the folks who can certainly help develop a plan that will be more attractive for the people who have to drive the farthest distances.

Jocularly,

Jack

Jack Harris co-hosts AM Tampa Bay from 6 to 9 on WFLA-AM.

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