Dream for armory has faded

Now that fall has blown into town, I thought I'd cruise around and admire the foliage and maybe get a cup of hot steaming Cuban coffee in West Tampa to hold off the chill.

I drove up Howard Avenue, just about to where the developers said they would be under way with Heritage Square by now. You remember Heritage Square don't you? Sure you do.

Remember back when they had all those developers presenting ideas on what to do with the old Fort Homer Hesterly Armory and the land surrounding it?

There were some interesting proposals; everything from an ice rink to a giant video and sound complex.

The winner was the Heritage Square project, a $98 million development. The centerpiece was going to be a 300-room Spanish themed luxury hotel. Next to it would be a cultural arts center. Finally, there would be the 10,000-square-foot open air farmer's market.

When they opened the doors in 2011, it would breathe new life into West Tampa.

All quiet on West Tampa front

I drove slowly by the fenced off armory. To tell you the truth, it didn't appear that much different than it had when I was a boy and my grandfather had taken me to the Tuesday night wrestling matches.

I'm told the project is still alive, although I seem to recall one of the first requirements of the deal was to find a place for the remaining National Guard units to locate; and they only were supposed to have 90 days to accomplish that.

It's not the developer's fault that this place now looks like that empty downtown lot where other developers were going to build the Trump Tower. But when you stare at that old armory where Elvis once swiveled his hips, you have to wonder what the future holds not just for the armory but for an entire neighborhood that was counting on this thing to happen.

Hey, buddy, need a taxi?

Did you see Trib reporter Mike Salinero's story Wednesday on the relationship between a lobbyist for the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission and County Commissioner Kevin White?

White has been in the news way too often recently and not for the right reasons. Salinero's story recounting how the commissioner stepped in to salvage lobbyist Victor DiMaio's job was one more embarrassment in a string of them.

What I want to know is this: Why does the transportation commission need a lobbyist in the first place? I mean, I've known DiMaio for years, and for a lobbyist he's a pleasant enough guy.

But why does an agency that really doesn't do more than regulate taxis, limos, ambulances and wreckers, need someone to take legislators to lunch?

What the commission really needs is someone like my old teacher in Nebraska who used to walk around the classroom behind you where you couldn't see her coming. If you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing, you likely were going to get thonked with her middle finger in the back of your head - and she could thonk like nobody's business. Yeah, that's what the commission needs at its meetings - a good thonker.