What's Going Where Wednesday VII

Once again we venture just outside the borders of Port Tampa City to the surrounding area. The fences are finally up at Rembrandt Gardens, the Public Housing Authority's notoriously troubled complex across the street from Robinson High School, and demolition will begin soon. Replaced by mixed income apartments at the Gardens of South Bay on Lois just north of Interbay, the Rembrandt Gardens property was transferred to the school district and is slated to become athletic fields.

The disappearance of Rembrandt Gardens has been in the works for a long time. The land swaps that made the Gardens at South Bay possible were promoted long before funds became available. Then in 2003 a builder who had been awarded public money to develop the property at South Bay backed out and the PHA jumped on the opportunity to apply for the newly available funds.

Rembrandt Gardens will remain a painful part of Port Tampa's history for a long time. Residents believe annexation led to a higher concentration of poverty and crime as ill considered public housing was forced into an area that, while never rich, was full of owner occupied homes and generations of families who lived across the street or down the block from one another. More than one person has traced our current issues with the apartments around the library to "bad elements" from Rembrandt Gardens moving into the area as emptying of one public housing project invariably moves ahead of the next one being ready for occupancy.

Good bye, and good riddance Rembrandt!

The new community center at Gardens of South Bay

Miss Prudence Fipwhistle Leads Port Tampa Tours

Photo Reprinted by permission from The Sunland Tribune, journal of The Tampa Historical Society., 2005
If you were lucky enough to meet the fictional Miss Prudence Fipwhistle before her death in 1899, from a broken heart, you might have enjoyed her tales of Tampa's early days as cow town and Port Tampa's role as embarkation point for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Happily, being fictional allows Miss Fipwhistle to continue in her role as social director of the Plant Hotel and lead tours for conventioneers and others interested in seeing Tampa's rich historical legacy.

Miss Fipwhistle, aka Maureen Patrick, was kind enough to respond to my query about the Port Tampa portion of one of her popular tours. One of an emerging class of professional women, the composite character of Miss Fipwhistle leads tours decked out in authentic Victorian attire and informed by Patrick's skill as a professional historiam.

Here is what she had to say about Port Tampa:

PORT TAMPA. This destination is part of my "Victorian Tampa" (bus and walking) tour. We usually reach Port Tampa via Interbay, since we have toured Bayshore Blvd. and Ballast Point. Not the most scenic route, it nevertheless allows me to use the Interbay Subdivision (founded 1924) as an example of a deed-restricted middle-class development in Tampa. Some points of interest in Port Tampa:

The site of Henry B. Plant's FIRST hotel in Tampa, the rustic Port Tampa Inn. Built on pilings alongside the Plant System rail/steamship terminus, the Hotel boasted that guests could drop a fishing line from their room windows into the Bay. At that time, the Bay was so thick with fish that guests complained they had trouble sleeping; the jumping and slapping into the water of the fish kept them awake all night. The Hotel was built at the same time the rail terminus was completed: 1885. Tampa was woefully short on "four star" accommodations at that time, and the luxury travel trade (which Plant was courting with his rail and steam service) demanded them. Thus, Plant built the Tampa Bay Hotel along the HIllsborough River in Tampa.

The area in Port Tampa interacted with the "new" hotel in many ways. For one, the area around Port Tampa was rich with game: quail, squirrel, deer, etc. Hunting groups from the Tampa Bay Hotel - led by Guide Arthur Schleman and his dogs - were led from the Hotel. The game they bagged was cleaned and served at dinner by the Hotel staff, and their trophies were enumerated in the Plant System Railway newsletter. This, read by travelers on the rail and steam lines, increased interest in vacationing at the Hotel.

Many of Port Tampa's early prominent citizens were employees of the Plant System. Some have streets named after them. Some streets - Mascotte - for example, are named after Plant System ships. (The Mascotte and the Olivette were the most famous of Plant's steam vessels, and represented state-of-the-art steam technology. They had huge, 1000+ hp stainless steel engines and were elegantly appointed.)

Another linking of the Hotel with Port Tampa occurred during the 1898 Spanish-American War, when the Port was used as the embarkation depot for the U.S. Expeditionary Forces to Cuba. Most of the "brass" stayed in comfort at the Tampa Bay Hotel, while the troops were billeted in a variety of tent cities around Tampa. The largest of these was at Port Tampa, where conditions rapidly deteriorated in the summer heat as troops waited to be loaded - along with massive amounts of materiel and horses, cannon, etc. - onto ships. (Frederic Remington, the noted illustrator, did many drawings of the Port Tampa camp for his employer: Harper's Illustrated Magazine. I own a particularly nice one, showing black soldiers exercising horses in the surf at the Port.) Food was short, since supplies were backed up along the rail line and spoiled in the heat. Mabel Bean, the daughter of the Postmaster at Port Tampa, remembered her dining room table being filled every night not only with family but also hungry soldiers. Not all families were so accommodating. Many defended their gardens and livestock with fences and firearms. Typhus, cholera, and malaria spread in the crowded and unsanitary conditions in the camps.

For an excellent overview of the loading of men and supplies from Port Tampa at the start of the War, see the 2005 Sunland Tribune. An article by Joe Knetsch deals with this topic. The Sunland Tribune (annual journal of The Tampa Historical Society, of which I am President), is available through the Society: 245 Hyde Park Place, Tampa, FL 33606 or by e-mailing me at info@historicguides.com) The cost is $10.

You can find out a lot more about Fipwhistle's tours, and other Tampa historic guides, by visitinghistoricguides.com

What's Going Where Wednesday VI

No news to report from the CAPT meeting last night as it was cancelled. Everybody too busy with hurricane season prep? I hope so. I'm new here so I'll defer to Tommy at Sticks of Fire to advise and provide links.

Still out of town and my intrepid assistants have been busy comparing generator features and prices so the news is slim. In fact, we don't know where they're going but they are going-the mobile homes that is.

Several lots at the Interbary park, south of Interbay between Manhattan and Tanker Way, were vacated this week. As reported in the Tribune last year these folks have until the end of this month to be out. A PODS container is parked prominently in the middle of the park.

With an October deadlne looming, and an offer by park owners to provide space in another property near Orlando, residents of Holiday Mobile Home Park, on the north side of Interbay east of Lois have started to move their homes as well.

Many of the homes in both of these parks are pretty old so some residents will be moving out but leaving their trailers behind for disposal.

It's Not Too Late

to attend the May Civic Association of Port Tampa meeting. On tonight's agenda are representatives from Keystone and Centex Homes. Come hear about, and talk about, potential commercial development on Commerce St. across from the library. Meeting starts at 7:00 PM at the Rec. Center on Lancaster. This is not a long winded group, you will only miss Idol if you hang around after.

Picnic Island Adventure Races

Three race series starts May 26th.The off- road course is roughly 3.5 miles and has added challenges that may include getting your feet wet, crawling under a cargo net and jumping or climbing over obstacles. The husband claims this looks like it will be as much fun as the Marine Corps' Kaneohe Bay Swamp Romp in Hawaii but with a cool DJ and great catering.

This is the 4th annual running of this series so expect the race organizers to have things running smoothly. Register through active.com, or download the registration form from tamparaces.com All races are on Friday evening with a 6:45 PM start time. Race day registration is available.

Cancer Survivor Dinner On, Relay Cancelled

Our two local school teams pulled out of the Relay for Life scheduled at the Port Tampa Rec. Center for Friday so the Relay was cancelled for lack of participation as only one team remained. However, the free catered dinner honoring survivors is still on. Funds raised can be turned in to the American Cancer Society, contact your team captain for details.

This is an activity near and dear to me so I hope the American Cancer Society will look at Port Tampa again for next year and set the date early so more teams can be recruited.

What's Going Where Wednesday V

I've been away from the neighborhood, and my computer, for a few days and will be gone for a while yet but my intrepid assistants are helping me out.

These properties aren't in Port Tampa, but are so close they are of interest:

The old MacDill Credit Union building which has stood empty since the headquarters was moved to Brandon has been leased by SOCOM (Special Operations Command). Personnel should be moving into the building soon and I certainly hope they configure the entrance, and any required security, to get people off Dale Mabry and separated from the morning back up at the base entrance. Failing that, I'd suggest transportation look at having a "don't block intersection" sign at Dale Mabry and Interbay.

A confidential source reports the trailer place between the old Credit Union Building and the McDonalds at Interbay and Dale Mabry has been sold. Surveyors were out the other day so I anticipate permitting for something will follow shortly. (Wild guess) My source was not at liberty to say what is planned for this location but did say the billboard will stay. I hope the ad on the south side is changed as it currently reads "the seach is over" for an apartment complex. If I weren't afraid of heights, and opposed to even well meaning vandalism, I'd climb up and paint in an R. It drives me nuts.

Finally, it looks like "Interbay Self Storage" on Interbay just east of Port Tampa will be open for business soon. I don't know what this building was before as it has been empty and for sale since we arrived in the area. The new owners have beefed up the landscaping to the entrance and put up a new chain link fence topped by razor wire.

Calling All Cancer Survivors!!!

Relay for Life May 19, 2006 6PM
Port Tampa Recreation Center

In honor of your battle against cancer, we invite you and your caregiver to join us in a celebration of your cancer survivorship by walking the first lap of the Relay for Life. There will be a complimentary reception for all survivors and caregivers. Your strength and courage are a personal testimony of the progress we are making in our fight against cancer. One person, hand in hand with another, can make a difference. We hope that you will stay and enjoy the festivities after the Opening Ceremony.

It's about being a community that takes up the fight... Call (813) 254-3630 extension 306 for more information!

VRB vs. Idol

For reasons it would probably take therapy to figure out the daughter and I have bonded over American Idol this season. I'd never watched a single episode of the preceding four years so it took her a couple weeks to teach me the ropes. Now we make popcorn just before show time and share critiques. She is a huge McPheeverite. I am really bummed that Chris is out and Taylor is still in.

Where then was I on Tuesday night at 8:00? Not in front of the TV, but in front of the TV cameras, testifying at the Variance Review Board (VRB) hearing. Our rear yard neighbors asked for, and got, a setback variance for a screened porch they want to put on the back of the new house they are going to build. After watching the preceding cases and seeing the board deliberate, I have to say the tension is nearly as exciting as watching the Idol results show, and the outcomes a lot more important. A family will not be able to expand their family room any farther into their backyard, a middle aged guy who needs hyrdotherapy will not be able to build a 20' wide extenson on the back of his house to enclose a hot tub, and an elderly woman described by her agent as "substantially built" will have to come back with a plan for extending a car port that will accomodate a wheel chair but not a big boat. All of these were turned down because the board saw alternatives to encroaching on the setbacks that set the tone for their respective neighborhoods AND the homeowner was suffering no "hardship."

It's taken me a long time to get to it, but hardship is the point of this post. Under the legal definition a hardship that justifies granting a variance has to do with the property and its situation, not the situation of the owner. Needing a larger house for yourself and 4 children is not a hardship. Having a tree in the way of the new house that makes your lot unbuildable could be.

People who are successful with the VRB usually:

1. Have neighborhood support, either in person or by letter. However, many letters are too vague indicating the project might not have been fully described. In my neighbor's case for instance, the posted legal notice was for "reduction of rear yard setback" it didn't have to mention tree removal or that the porch would be attached to a brand new house. The minimum legal requirement was met. Importantly though, when asked, the builder and owner were very forthcoming with information about their plans and it showed at the hearing. The VRB takes neighbors' support more seriously if they can tell the surrounding property owners have full information.

2. Are sensitive to the surrounding architecture and landscape. Just because you can legally build form setback to setback doesn't mean you should. I am convinced my neighbor was successful because he is maintaining the current spacing between his new house and the old cracker style cottage next door. The cottage is built far closer to the property line than would be allowed now and he has no legal requirement to preserve the distance the adjoining property has enjoyed since the 1920s. Board members specifically mentioned the builder's accomodation of the house next door when they moved to approve the request.

3. Show a willingness to mitigate the adverse affects of their request. Volunteering to beef up landscaping beyond requirements or maintain the feel of an older home, even if it isn't designated as an historic structure, are both persuasive.

All in all my little sojourn into the world of public hearings was worthwhile, even though I totally missed Elvis night on Idol.

Ashton Woods Update

According to sales personnel at their South Green development, Ashton Woods is clearing property on the west side of the far south end of Westshore. A drive down there yesterday confirmed that all old vehicles and other junk that occupied this property is gone. They plan to start construction on four model homes in September, but the person I talked to couldn't remember if they would be on Shamrock or Sparkman. That means the models and sales office will not be located on the Westshore site. The homes will be similar to the South Green houses that are nearly sold out and priced from the high 500s to low 700s, options extra of course.

There was evidence of illegal dumping on the right of way at the end of Westshore so I'll let you know how the city responds to my complaint.

What's Going Where Wednesday IV

Ivy Homes: Drive down any street in Port Tampa and you'll see a new house, or two, going up. Some are filling in empty lots, others are replacing tear downs. Taken all together we probably have as many in-fill houses under construction as Inland and Castillo are building at South Tampa Square. This week I caught up with Ed Rechak, President of Ivy Homes, to ask him about the homes he's already built in southwest Port Tampa and where he's going from here.

Driving down Commerce Street toward Picnic Island Park most people don't even realize a residential enclave lies behind the industry on Commerce St. and Ingraham. Back in 2004 Rechak saw a neighborhood that had already turned a corner for the better and a larger area that was ripe for the developments like Casa Bella, Westshore Yacht Club and New Port Tampa Bay. "I saw where prices were going north of Gandy and saw potential south of Gandy. Once you get behind Ingraham there are some brick streets, beautiful trees, it's a neat place."

Named for his sister, Ivy Homes is Rechak's company. He came up through the ranks with some national home builders and decided to venture out on his own "to build the kind of home I would want to live in," he says. Apparently Rechak wants to live with hardwood floors, an enormous master bath, high tech gadgetry, high ceilings, crown moulding, granite countertops, screened lanais, and leaded glass entry doors. Ivy Homes' first two Port Tampa houses were finished in spring 2005, the second two houses were sold before the footings were poured. With each round of homes Rechak has aimed more square footage and a higher price point. His Eduard Isle model, just started on Shamrock near the Rec. Center, will have 2700sf of living space and a Victorian flare. The Padraic, planned nearby on Sparkman will have bay windows and 3400sf under roof. In keeping with the character of this area some would like to see designated an historic district, Rachek removed just one tree from the heavily wooded Shamrock lot.

Nearing completion in southwest Port Tampa are two more Ivy Homes models with a Mediterranean Revival character. Rechak says with these houses he'll be the first builder in Tampa to use a new "green" building product for sidewalks and driveways. The city has approved his use of Flexi-Pave, a permeable material made from shredded tires. Rechak chose a color that I think will read as weathered brick from a distance. In addition to providing a use for old tires the material reduces storm water runoff, and very importantly for homeowners does not puddle. When asked what he wanted the world to know about Ivy Homes Ed said he didn't really know, his aim as a builder is to provide a quality home with great customer service. He then called me back to mention he provides a 2-10 Home Warranty that is transferable when the house is sold, mold protection, and anti-microbial paint.

Ivy Homes has 2 houses going up on the 7400 block of S. Elliott, 1 at the corner of Bradley and Germer, 1 on the east side of Shamrock just south of the rec. center, and 2 in permitting for 2 adjacent lots on the west side Sparkman north of Interbay. Prices start in the high 400s.

A Litte Background Info

It appears the Centex/Guyton Energy site plan for the Commerce St. property across from the library has been scrapped and new drawings will be forthcoming. Jill Buford, CAPT President, noted at the "Sale at the Jail" on Saturday that their spokesperson wanted to postpone presenting to the Civic Association until after a new plan was drawn up. Jill pointed out, quite rightly I think, that the time to talk to the neighborhood is before plans are set. Sue Murphy of Centex is still on the agenda for May 23. Meeting starts at 7:00PM at the Rec. Center on Lancaster. Here's some background info. Take a look and be sure to bring some ideas along to the meeting.

Disclaimer: The blurbs and links that follow are just for info. There is nothing in the information presented at CAPT meetings so far to suggest that the Commerce St. property will be developed in any way similar to any of the projects shown. Speculate wildly if you want, but don't blame the Port Tampa blog!

Just about everyone in the southeast is aware of Centex as a homebuilder but it appears they have an enormous commercial building division doing everything from military housing to expansion of the Miami Airport terminals. Although the company does not provide links from its website I did search around for a few projects and found:

This picture of Starbucks at the Village Center at Dulles, a Washington DC area suburb. Forgive them the dated Tudor look, but I've been there and for some reason this area of Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) went hog wild with the faux timber frame look and can't seem to stop. I don't know which portion of this growing center Centex is responsible for, but the entire area is trying to revitalize from a car dependent area to pedestrian friendly.

Here is a link to a Boca Raton photo album where you can scroll down to seeMizner Park another mixed use development noted on the Centex Retail Portfolio web site.

I could not find any pictures of the Plaza at Delray which was a conversion from enclosed mall to open air strip, or the Blakeney Retail Center in Charlotte, NC. Blakeney is a "town within a town" in South Charlotte that is trying to adhere to a pedestrian friendly model while it straddles a major interstate interchange.

Finally, again with no link, the Centex site notes that they've built numerous Publix supermarkets.

Guyton Energy, is known for developing Texaco/Shell gas stations. However, founder Bryan Guyton was noted in this story about the Channelside 212 Lofts.

Boating Class Registration Closes May 14th

The Tampa Power Squadron is offering a Boat Smart class at the Port Tampa City Library on May 20th from 9:00AM to 4:30PM. The $40 registration fee is due May 14th. Click here for more information. Boaters who take the Boat Smart class qualify to take the Smart Chart class on May 24th, also at the library. Registration deadline for Smart Chart is May 17th.

Some Libraries Friendless

Some of our libraries don't have friends. I don't know which Hillsborough county libraries don't have active "Friends of the Library" groups but Port Tampa City is not one of them. Other news from the last Friends meeting on April 26th:

The purchase and placement of an identifying sign was discussed at the March meeting. Next year's library system budget includes a sign for the Port Tampa library so we will not be using Friends funds.

More information on digitizing the old city records will be forthcoming in the next couple months.

The library staff asked for support from the Friends to buy a table, some bulletin board materials, mouse pads and headphones for the computer lab. The membership immediately voted to authorize purchase of the table and bulletin board items. Four dozen mouse pads were donated to the library on May 4th, and headphone discussions were tabled pending further direction from library HQ. Sanitation and petty theft were sited as concerns with headphones.

Supporting documentation to name the meeting room after James G. Yeats is being assembled. The administrative labyrinth has prompted some (ok me) to call for pulling a "Port Tampa City permit," painting the name on the door, then letting the library system figure out what paperwork is needed to have it removed.

Here's a little info on Yeats, and the building that would become the library, from Port Tampa City, A History of Change published by the Port Tampa City Woman's Club, Inc.

"The First Bank of Port Tampa City was organized on September 30, 1924, on Ingraham Street, west of Davis' Corner, with Mr. James G. Yeats as president. Mr. Yeats was a prominent citizen, newspaper publisher, had served as mayor from 1915 to 1921, and had contracted to pave the City streets the year before. He also served as Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners and was responsible for building paved roads in Hillsborough County, Tampa, and throughout the state of Florida.
In 1926 Mr. Yeats, at a cost of $125,000 constructed a large building of imported Italian marble on Plant Avenue (now Commerce St.) at Mascotte Street and moved the bank there."

I'll have more on the building and it's revival as a library in future Friends posts.

View Port Tampa Photos as Slide Show

raginglily was kind enough to organize all 35 of her Port Tampa photos into a set in her flickr stream. I've changed the link at right to go straight to the set and highly recommend you view them as a slide show.

O'Brien St. and Ashton Woods Redux

Last Sunday I posted that there were objections to New Millennial Homes' rezoning request for the S. Obrien St. properties. Turns out they were city staff objections. Transportation wants sidewalks on the property line going through the driveways noted on the site plan. Storm water wants some water retention. Added to those are the council's request that they come back with a plan that shows more variety in facades and gets the cars parked to the sides of the houses instead of out front. The next hearing will on May 18th.

An anonymous commenter asked about Ashton Woods and I had hoped to be able to include something in What's Going Where Wednesday last week. Except for their development called South Green located 12 blocks south of Gandy on Sheridan in the Ballast Point area I haven't come up with anything. I did e-mail the company but did not receive a response so I guess it's time to get on the phone. I'm not optimistic though. Last year I called them when we were househunting and a rep told me they weren't going to be building in Tampa, then they broke ground a few months later.

Sale at the Jail Raises over $550

That about says it all. If you slept in on Saturday you missed out on some great 36" mahogany doors. I arrived just as the last two of that size, and a sink, were loaded on a truck to be on their way to Ybor City. By the way, those aren't just burglar bars on those windows. This was a working jail for Port Tampa City.

There are two doors left, one as pictured here and another of solid wood. If you want one contact president@porttampa.org

Foil Hats No Protection!!

Your usual Sunday "Pie and Chips" brought to you by Sam T. Gecko.

Though little noted by the MSM, or not noted at all, in early 2005 researchers at MIT tested the effectiveness of foil helmets in blocking radio waves and found they actually strengthened signals. Which begs the question, didn't anyone ever wonder why putting foil on the old rabbit ears helped the TV come in better? Then again, the daughter only knows cable. Here's the link for the details On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets: An Emperical Study. Sam posted this anonymously as a comment on the Seminole Heights blog.

Waste a few minutes on Improv Everywhere: Best Buy Mission. For more leads on insane hilarity, and more than a bit of the just plain strange, check in on the Houston Chronicle's MeMo blog. NPR listeners will know Kyrie O'Connor from the game show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."If the link above doesn't work, try again later, or check out the flickr stream and follow another Improv link from there:Best Buy mission flickr stream.

Tribune Highlights "Crime and Grime" in Port Tampa

Today's Tribune featured a story by Dulcinea Cuellar headlined Help Sought To Fight Crime, Grime. I scraped myself down off the ceiling after about my third read through, having become just a little agitated that our whole neighborhood might be painted with the "crime ridden" brush. Even though Cuellar used terms like "little pockets" that have problems ,and was very specific in which blocks of Kissimmee and Mascotte are involved, I'm sure there are some people who will think all of Port Tampa is "ghetto." Now that I've settled down I'd like to share a few details and some observations not in the article.

Details:

Cookie Wideman, a concerned citizen quoted in the piece, is a dynamo who brought her concerns about criminal activity to the attention of the civic association. The city transportation department has already started working the issue of people parking on a corner that includes a bus stop, apartment mail boxes, and poor sight lines. This is important to the crime prevention, in addition to the traffic hazards, because criminal activity is being conducted out of parked vehicles in front of the apartments closest to Commerce Street. Hidden behind an empty building the occupants feel safe from discovery, and thus arrest. (See Street Parking to End on Block of Kissimmee from the Tribune.)

CAPT President Jill Buford has representatives from TPD coming to the June civic association meeting. She'd like to start the revival of the Neighborhood Watch group then, rather than delaying action by waiting to have an additional organizational meeting. If you want to volunteer to participate in the Neighborhood Watch, attend the meeting at 7:00PM on Tuesday, June 20th at the Rec. Center on Lancaster or email president@porttampa.org. She already has volunteers committed to be "block captains" on S. Morton Street south of Commerce.

Observations, all my personal opinions:

I am a little peeved with the undertone of helplessness voiced by some of the apartment building owners. I think Mary Ann Hoffman, owner of a building I have written about before said it best. As quoted by Cuellar, "It's just something that's been allowed to go on for a long time. And it's time we stand together to do something about it."

This is a critical time for Port Tampa City. We can wait for gentrification alone to clean up this corner, but lose some much needed affordable housing. Or we can "stand together" to make the buildings attractive to law abiding residents and unattractive to criminals. I'm a big fan of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPED) and hope that building owners will make some improvements out of enlightened self-interest.

Finally, though I mentioned this block of "unfortunate" buildings before, Port Tampa the blog, will not be posting pictures of them in their current state. The other day when I was taking pictures of vacant property across the street I was going to swing my camera around but there was a group of children waiting for the school bus. I simply do not have the heart to take pictures of their homes, then hold them up as an example of "Crime and Grime."

Returning to Gengiz Khan

The daughter lobbied for a return to Gengiz Khan Mediterranean Grill, on MacDill Ave. at Interbay Blvd. from the moment our January visit ended. The husband and I were reluctant because our past experiences told us we'd need to reserve a whole evening for the meal. I am pleased to report that previous service issues were 100% absent last night. We enjoyed a delicious, well paced, efficiently served meal in about an hour, from ordering to all but licking our entree plates. It will take a few more visits to see if they've completely worked things out, or we just got lucky. Either way the food is consistently good, with some dishes worth ordering over and over.

Our dinner:

We started with Haydari and Sigara boregi. The Haydari, a yogurt dip thickened with garlic which we spread on freshly baked flat bread, was truly exceptional. The bread, a favorite from past visits, has been flattened to just a tad thicker than a pita and comes straight from the oven.

We like to use the Haydari to spread on the Sigara boregi too. Phyllo is rolled around a cheese filling and baked until golden. The cheese has a salty tang that could be a bit much if one person ate the whole plate of five "rolled cheese pies" as they are described on the menu. The saltiness is just right with the Haydari, or alternatively the yogurt Gengiz Khan serves with some meat dishes. Just ask your server for a ramekin full of the yogurt sauce.

Meat dishes at Gengiz Khan feature some pretty large portions. We are a family of carnivores, but we can't eat that much, so the three of us ordered just two entrees and put them in the middle of the table to share. Kus basi, beef kebob, and the Gengiz Khan Special. The special includes Doner kebob (ground lamb), Chicken Adana (chopped chicken seasoned and grilled on a skewer), chicken kebob, beef kebob, and a baby lamb chop.

I won't say much about the meats, they were all superb. If your meal doesn't come with the yogurt sauce, get some. It is a wonderful cool accompaniment to the seasoned meat that comes hot off the grill. All kebobs are removed from their skewers before service and served with rice. The daughter and I could make a meal of the rice by itself. The Mediterranean style grain is thicker, plumper, and not as sticky as the rice you'll find in Asian cuisine. After I finish this entry I'm going to spend some time searching for a recipe to start trying to duplicate this dish at home (my highest praise for a restaurant). In addition to rice, entrees come with a choice of vegetables or fried potatoes. We ordered both and really appreciated the freshness. They are obviously made to order, not prepped and then microwaved, or worse yet, held under heat lamps or on a steam table.

A word about the dining room. The decor is simple and quite fashion forward for a start-up ethnic restaurant of any variety. Turkish music plays lightly in the background. Just exotic enough to be fun, but not harsh on western ears. I do wish the hanging pendant lights had been placed after they set up the tables. One hangs a bit low, and is placed rather unfortunately off center at what would otherwise be the best table for 6 in the house.

It's also a bit unfortunate they don't serve alcohol. The Sigara boregi cries out for a nice red counterpoint to the cheese. That could be solved by calling for takeout as most of last night's customers did. We were too full for dessert but the daughter swears she will drive down there and eat by herself if that's what it takes to try their baklava. (Noted as home made on the menu.)

Gengiz Khan is open for lunch and dinner. Closed Mondays.

Entrepreneur Brings Advertising/Graphic Design Talent to SOG

my GANDY The "Real" South Tampa's Bi-Monthly Business Forum
Derek Reusser was a bit bleary-eyed at the last Friends of the Library Meeting. It's understandable, he's a new parent with a start-up business so sleep is hard to come by. Despite the fatigue, Derek's enthusiasm for Port Tampa and his new direct mail advertising vehicle, a magazine/coupon book makes you think "Here's a young businessman to watch."

Reusser's first two issues are available in the my Gandy archives. Deadline for editorial content and advertising is Tuesday, May 9th.

From March/April-
CALLING ALL WRITERS!
We will be publishing S.O.G. sories of 250 words or less. Let's keep the memories alive. Include pictures if appropriate. Email to mygandy@tampabay.rr.com.

Rental Units Needed to Have Affordable Housing

You have to love the easy access people in the Sunshine State have to public records. While taking some pictures for last week's WGWW I noticed a permit box hanging on one of those yellow 4 unit apartment buildings Port Tampans love to hate. This one is just south of the library on Mascotte Street. Windows were missing but work was obviously in progress so I looked up the owner and exchanged a few e-mails regarding the building's future.

Turns out two units were damaged by arson back in Jan./Feb. and repairs are in progress to make them habitable. Though investigators are sure the fires were set intentionally, the police say they cannot prove who did it. That's too bad, since there is a prime suspect.

On the positive side, the building is not being remodeled to become a condo conversion, nor torn down to build townhomes. "How is that positive?" you ask. Of all people, Port Tampa the blogger, an unabashed booster of home ownership and believer in community redevelopment, should be looking forward to the day all these buildings are long gone. Au contraire mon frere.

To have permanent affordable housing you must have rental units. I'm not saying individuals, of any income level, should occupy rented apartments forever. The apartments should be available to a series of occupants who stay for a while then move on in their lives-perhaps to buy a house or maybe take a job in a new city. Thus, I find Tampa's current investigation of how, or if, to require condo developers to reserve some units as "workforce housing" a great move but I worry that there is no way to write regulations that will keep those units within reach of teachers, police officers, artists, or personnel from MacDill. We must find a way, through tax incentives, or zoning variances, or things other cities have found to be successful, to include decent, affordable, rental housing in the mix.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal covered area jurisdictions' attempts to support affordability. You can read it all for yourself.

The part that really piqued my interest was:

"...But rental inventory in the Tampa Bay area continues to drop in a hot condominium conversion market, and existing home values are still rising. That's causing some programs to be less effective.

Potential homeowners in Tampa have help from a down payment assistance program through which city officials working from state and federal grants can place a 20 percent down payment on qualified homes that cost up to $164,000, which is paid back if the owner ever sells the home. While up to $35,000 in assistance can go a long way in reducing monthly house payments, there's been a problem. Few houses meet the criteria.

'We can't find it [homes that qualify]," said Cynthia Miller, director of Tampa's Department of Business and Housing Development. "If you find a house for $200,000, then we can't be of any assistance.'"

This is the lowest priced single family home listed at realtor.com for Port Tampa. They are asking $205,000.

What's Going Where Wednesday 3

Saw Loren, proprietor of VT Clark's, working in one of the empty spaces in their building located at the corner of Westshore and Interbay the other night. Stopped in to introduce myself and ask what's up. Here's the scoop from the interview.

Port Tampa: "Hi, saw you working in here two nights in a row now. What's going on?"
Loren: "Getting it ready to rent to an Army colonel from MacDill. He has a lot of military stuff like WWI and II posters."
Port Tampa: "Oh cool, so this is going to be retail space then?"
Loren: "Yes."

(The space the new military memorabilia shop will occupy is the one in the middle above. The door is right behind the orange "buried cable" sign.)

Now you see why the great, and now late, Louis Rukeyser was such a genious in financial reporting. It's pretty darn hard to make business writing riveting.

Loren and I then went on to a much more interesting conversation about Port Tampa and "newbies" such as myself (no offense either meant or taken). If you want to sport a "Port Tampa City" shirt VT Clark, purveyor of General Merchandise, is the place to go.



In other developments, this sign at the junction of Commerce, Ingraham, and Hoadley has been up for more than a year but pretty much escaped notice because it didn't look like anything was happening. The area behind the fence was recently cleared so I talked to Bill at Precision Design Builders. They've been trying to get through permitting for a while now and the sticking points with the city revolve around parking and fire department access. Precision Design wants to move their offices to this site, locate some warehousing for their own use here, and put in 3 retail spaces. Their current office is located on Barcelona St. near MacDill Ave. in the Palma Ceia area. Originally slated to include more warehouse they've determined that doesn't make sense with recent Port Tampa development and the emphasis would be more on the office/retail with the warehouse disguised to fit in with the office. Ingress and egress are also an issue as the three streets meet at an unfortunate angle on the east side of the property. When asked if he thought they'd get started within a year, Bill said they still hoped to be done within the next year

Images of Port Tampa (Updated)

A talented photographer has posted quite a few pictures of Port Tampa to her flickr stream. Check out the most recent pics of the library from ...and the lily raged. If you take a look at her daily stream you'll see more Port Tampa photos and I think I recognize at least one Picnic Island Park picture in the Beach collection. Hey raginglily, if you read this how about making a comment and telling us a little about your work?

(Update: raginglily uploaded new photos this morning, you'll have to scroll down to see the library pictures.)

FCAT Scores and School Quality

The Florida DOE released 3rd grade Math and Reading scores today. Click here to check the score reports for any district, or school in the state.

My quick perusal shows that our own Westshore Elementary really struggled with the test this year. The percentage of third graders getting a Level 3 or above on the Reading test fell from 66 to 63, the Level 3 and above rate for Math fell a whopping 18 points from 70 to 52. This likely means the long held "A" rating will be lost, but the scores must come as a shock after the 4th grade writing climbed 6% in one year-to 90%. Westshore's Writing results, reported last month, beat many schools in wealthier areas.

Newsweek magazine also reported the results of their latest ranking of America's high schools. Hillsborough High slid from 10th to 21st in the nation. It will be interesting to see if they outdo last year's "D" grade under the state's A+ plan.

If you are confused by the myriad ways schools are rated, and how Hillsobrough can be one of the entire country's best but regarded as one of the state's struggling schools, join the club. When I talk to parents who complain about the long commute from the burbs, the lack of time they can spend with their kids, and lately the price of gas, they earnestly believe all those negatives are offset by the education their kids get in suburban schools.

Or they want to believe it, some seem to think they've been hoodwinked. They ask me for an opinion of which schools in the area are "best" and I never know what to say. As a parent, and a teacher, I learned long ago that you cannot judge a school by its ratings. I am committed enough to public schools that I have always taught in them, and always in alternative programs dedicated to getting "problem" students back on track. However, the daughter has attended public school, Catholic school, home school and private school. We have always tried to find the right fit for her and ratings don't have a category that says "Excellent setting for highly social, right brained female, who is an auditory learner, and needs to build a relationship with a teacher before tackling challenging curriculum. Math teachers all have novel approaches to overcome math phobia and your student's slightly delayed development of abstract reasoning. Teachers will return phone calls and e-mails the same day received and have no other life than teaching your child." Even home school can't provide all that 100% of the time.

Having gone through the process of choosing a school for the daughter 8 times in 10 years, what do I look for?

Safety- There's a federally mandated rating for that, but see Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews' explanation of why it's a joke in his column "The 26 Most Dangerous Schools in America." (Sorry you'll probably have to register with the WaPo site to get to his columns.) Instead of looking at that, I make an appointment with the principal for just after dismissal and arrive before the last bell rings. Will I be run over by students who don't even seem to recognize there's an adult around, or will students and staff greet me and direct me to the office? Is there a general sense of boisterous cheeriness at being set free for the day, or are gaggles of meanspirited students lingering around the lockers, or classroom doors, ready to descend on their hapless prey? I'm less afraid of an intruder getting in, or even students with guns, than I am the daily destruction of children's spirits by other kids. All the bully prevention programs in the world can't take the place of a school climate that doesn't tolerate students treating each other like crap, whether by word or deed.

Connection- There is no rating for this, but it can be generally evaluated by class size and school size. I ask, "Is every child here known, by name, by an adult other than his classroom teacher?" Eating lunch in the cafeteria is a good way to find out. Nothing is more lonely than being a little kid and the lunch lady doesn't even know your name.

One large, thousand student, elementary school the daughter attended did a good job with connection. The principal simply divided the school into "upper school," 3-5th grade, and "lower school," or K-2nd grade. He then devised a schedule that kept the two groups from crossing paths in the hall or other common areas. Except during fire drills you'd never know there were over 1,000 kids in the building and as students moved to the library or out to the playground the custodian assigned to their "school" could greet most of them by name.

Teachers- I really look more at teacher satisfaction than the federal definition of highly qualified or exemplary teachers. It may surprise education critics to learn that most teachers are most satisfied when their students are performing at high levels and their schools are safe, comfortable, places to be where everyone is treated with respect.

Nose around. Are rats deserting a sinking ship? Perhaps you've entered a situation where teachers are incompetent, and should be shown the door. But, as in any industry, high turnover is as much a symptom of mismanagement as it is incompetent employees. Again, being at the school at dismissal time is a good idea. Are teachers as likely as students to mow you down on their way out the door, or do they linger, perhaps gathering in twos and threes in each other's classrooms sharing ideas or just bs'ing while they unwind from a stressful day? Evesdrop a little. Do they speak of kids with contempt, or do they show some sense of humor and understanding when recounting the latest tales of student insubordination?
Most importantly, do they sound like they are trying to figure out what is going on in their classrooms, with both kids and curriculum, and looking at how to get everyone to learn? Finally, I give a lot of bonus points to teachers who keep a "new student kit" ready to hand to the new kid. Too many assume that the beginning of the school year is the only time they need the supply list, phone number info, or class procedure handouts. Even if your child is not going to be changing schools at mid-year you could be affected. I prefer the daughter's teachers to be organized enough that a new student doesn't throw off the entire class for weeks while everyone adjusts. By the way, teacher organization is highly correlated to student achievment.

Having said all that, I do look at school ratings. However, I believe they tell me more about the parents of the kids my kid will be sitting next to than they do about the education she'll receive. If you are still reading this you may well be wondering where we decided to send the daughter. After much research, and the husband's discussion with some achievement oriented parents who chose Robinson High for their children, like SOCOM's General Daly, we chose our Port Tampa location. In the interest of full disclosure though, the daughter will not be going to Robinson. Our house wasn't completed until November so we home schooled this year because of the mid-year move. Now she'll be finishing high school in December. We look forward to seeing how Florida's community college system measures up.