No person shall engage in unnecessary repetitive driving, also known as "Cruising" as defined herein, while operating a motor vehicle, and no owner of a motor vehicle shall permit another to engage in cruising while operating a motor vehicle under his or her care, custody and control, after notice as described in section 14-141 hereinbelow.
Of the myriad of things that lend to the character of Ybor City, the vehicles that cruise 7th Avenue most evenings are one of the more picturesque. Of the many hours I've spent enjoying life on 7th Avennue, I've not once heard either a patron or a business owner complain of the cruisers. It simply isn't an issue but now the City of Tampa has decided it is.
It's clearly obvious that the "cruisers" spend a great deal of time and effort building and restoring the vehicles they drive down the heart of Ybor City. I believe those who spend evenings on 7th Avenue enjoy seeing the love these cruisers have put into their creations. Cruising has been an age old tradition in Ybor City and now some city bureaucrats have decided to outlaw cruising for at least the next 90 days in order to ease the traffic congestion on Ybor City's main drag. "NO MOTOR VEHICLE CRUISING" signs have been installed at both ends of 7th Avenue. This cruising ban has been tried before without apparent success.
According to the county ordinance (Sec. 14-141), if a vehicle is seen to pass the same "traffic control point" 3 or more times, they can be stopped by local law enforcement and given notice that any subsequent operation of the vehicle past any traffic control point will constitute a violation of the law. I can only imagine the mayhem that will result from city police stopping every cruiser next Friday night to give them a warning.
As anyone who has been seriously following the Tampa Bay Rays franchise's efforts to move their baseball team to Hillsborough County knows, the intricacies of the negotiations between the Rays and both St. Petersburg and Hillsborough County have been very complex, confusing and uncertain. One thing that is clear though is that these negotiations are far from over. I'll start with a video containing excerpts from the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) January 9 meeting, which makes it obvious that our County Commission has postured itself to continue negotiations with the Rays to entice them to move the team to Hillsborough County. To avoid claims of my taking comments of the commissioners out of context, the video of the complete meeting can be found HERE (The motion and discussion begins at 3:28:24).
I'd like to give a shout out to Noah Pransky of WTSP for his relentless pursuit of the truth behind the secret negotiations being held between Ken Hagan and the Tampa Bay Rays, negotiations so secret even fellow commissioners were left in the dark. Thanks to Mr. Pransky, the Ybor activists were able to organize and react to Hagan's attempts to close a deal using $500 million of public funds to build the Rays stadium in the heart of Ybor City. We must stay on our guard though because Hagan, who secretly revealed the Ybor location to influential friends of his before it was made public, has openly stated that negotiations WILL continue under the umbrella of the Tampa Sports Authority (TSA), of which he is a board member and whose activities are even further outside the light of the Sunshine Laws. So what can happen now? The Tampa Bay Rays, who have a contract with St. Petersburg which terminates in 2027 will most likely go back to the St. Petersburg City Council and present an ultimatum, threatening to sell the Rays team to another owner, as they did in 2010 to begin these negotiations in the first place, the intent being to coerce them into extending their time for negotiations with Hillsborough County. It seems more than a coincidence that the lawyer, Irwin Raij, originally retained by Hillsborough County and now retained by the TSA, is also a consultant for a group in Portland, Oregon who is looking to bring baseball to Portland. There are also those who were given inside information who have most likely invested heavily in properties in Ybor City on the promise of a Rays stadium there. They are not going to be too anxious to give up on the deal.
By the efforts of a good investigative reporter and the dedication of the Ybor activists who faced the BOCC and whose "shot across the bow" made it clear that we would not allow our county to appropriate a half billion dollars of public funds without the word being spread to the citizens of what was being done, we managed to throw a rather big wrench into efforts to scam an unwitting public. Lastly, for those who really love Ybor City, I want to bring something to your attention. Part of the plan to build the new Rays stadium in Ybor City would most likely rely on revenues from 4 million square feet of new development in the area of the stadium. Using an online mapping tool, I measured the area of land that would be the most obvious location for this new development, bounded between 6th Ave. to Adamo Dr. and Nuccio Pkwy to 22nd St., and found it to be almost exactly 4 million square feet. As Ken Hagan admitted in his interview with Sports Talk Florida, this new development, modeled after the Atlanta Braves deal, which was also conducted secretly, would consist of new restaurants, bars, retail spaces, and high-rise hotels and apartment buildings. It is completely absurd to pretend that this new development would not drastically change, perhaps destroy, the culture and historical value of Ybor City.
In conclusion, I find it mind boggling that so many people, including at least one candidate for Mayor of Tampa, choose to believe the word of those who have the most financial interests at stake when they claim that the "Rays deal is finished" rather than clearly documented evidence that this is far from the truth, It isn't over.
The guilty pleas entered last week by former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox and a confidante is not the end of public corruption investigations in Florida.
That’s the word from Lawrence Keefe, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, and sources at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Maddox and Paige Carter-Smith have agreed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities about other possible misdeeds in Tallahassee and Leon County.
A sentencing date for the pair has been set for Nov. 19. They could receive up to 25 years in prison on fraud and income tax charges for their role in helping ride share giant Uber get a favorable ordinance in exchange for cash and accepting payments from a developer that turned out to be an FBI front company.
But Lawrence Keefe, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, declared the Maddox investigation should put all Florida public officials on notice.
“A public office is a sacred trust,” Keefe told the Tallahassee Democrat in the wake of the Maddox and Carter-Smith plea deals.
The FBI never discusses its ongoing investigations but the agency should look at Hillsborough County if it isn’t already.
In his 2018 re-election campaign, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan solicited and accepted donations from real estate interests that stand to benefit from construction of a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays in Ybor City.
St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field, considered antiquated by 2019 standards, has been the home of the Rays since they first took the field in 1998. Despite recent success, attendance has perennially stood at or near the bottom of the 30 major league baseball teams.
Owner Stuart Sternberg has maintained that a new stadium will solve the team’s attendance woes and found a ready and more-then-willing ally in Hagan. Talks between the Rays, Hillsborough County, and the City of Tampa struck out last year when it was determined no public funding existed to finance a $850 million stadium in Ybor, even with Sternberg willing to chip in $200 million.
Ybor City as the site for a new Rays home has always been puzzling. Low and middle income families would be displaced. One of the country’s iconic historic districts would be destroyed. And the rationale for any projected attendance increase never has been documented.
But Darryl Shaw, who acquired thousands of acres around Ybor, and Jeff Vinik, whose Water Street Tampa project is in nearby Channelside, would reap benefits from the increased traffic generated by a new ballpark.
Sternberg’s latest canard—sharing the franchise with the city of Montreal—has not being taken seriously by most observers. St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman did not disguise his disdain for the scheme. His initial response:
“The Rays cannot explore playing any Major League Baseball games in Montreal or anywhere else for that matter prior to 2028, without reaching a formal memorandum of understanding with the City of St. Petersburg,” Kriseman said. “Ultimately, such a decision is up to me. And I have no intention of bringing this latest idea to our city council to consider. In fact, I believe this is getting a bit silly.”
The City of St. Petersburg continues to investigate whether or not Sternberg violated the terms of his lease agreement which decrees he must get permission to discuss relocation with representatives of other geographical entities.
As for Hagan, he continues to promote Ybor City for a Rays Stadium, despite the fanciful prospect of sharing a split season with Montreal. Hagan and Sternberg, at least publicly, are a minority of two in that respect.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the Maddox plea deal, federal law enforcement authorities have put Florida politicians on notice that violations of that “sacred trust” will be prosecuted. By Jim Bleyer
For the last regular meeting of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, held on January 9, there was an item (Item F-8), which was added as an addendum to the agenda as the last item for discussion. Yesterday, Item F-8 was listed as an agenda item "F-8 Discussion concerning the County's representation in any
future negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays baseball
team regarding a stadium in the County.". Today, the official agenda (HERE) shows that Item F-8 has been deleted and relisted at the end of the agenda as "F-8 Off the Agenda". The discussion DID take place at the end of the Commission meeting, as you will see in the following videos, so it WAS officially addressed during the meeting. The following videos and texts will clearly show that the negotiations to bring the Rays franchise here to Hillsborough County and very possibly the original selected site in Ybor City are still very much active and still being held outside public scrutiny. During the discussion Mariella Smith, one of our new commissioners, placed a motion to disband the commission's involvement in the "informal" work group created in 2015 to negotiate with the Rays. In a 4-3 vote, Commissioner Smith's motion was defeated (Commissioners Hagan, Miller, Murman and Overman voted to retain the Commission's active involvement in the work group and therefore continuing negotiations). It was mentioned during the discussions that the contract for the legal firm hired by the Commission to represent them during their involvement in the negotiations will be taken over by the Tampa Sports Authority. Ken Hagen stated "The TSA assumed Council's contract and any future negotiations will be led by the TSA.". The TSA has no obligation to make public any of their proceedings.
I will present here segments of the video of this County Commission meeting, touching on the most pertinent statements during the discussion. With each segment, I will give some commentary of the VERY obvious implications that arose. The full video of the meeting can be found HERE and the Item F-8 discussion begins at 3:28:24 in the video.
In the first video excerpt, Mariella Smith explains why the working group, which was intended to work "out of the sunshine" is no longer needed.
In this excerpt, Ken Hagan explains why Commissioner Smith's intended motion is "moot" and, as he has many times, expressed that he is not and never was a "negotiator" during the dealings with the Rays. Hagan, quite obviously does not want negotiations to end because he, the County Administrator, Mike Merrill, and other friends of his, who were given information withheld from the public, have made serious financial investments into the success of a Rays stadium in Ybor. At the end of the video, I have added an excerpt from a radio interview Hagan did in 2017* (HERE) which clearly shows that he was taking a lead in the negotiations with the owner and manager of the Rays and that he was having private meetings with both. Though he stresses that he was never "officially" a negotiator, he was definitely a negotiator, if not the lead negotiator.
Pat Kemp states that things have changed since the last meeting, alluding to the fact that much of what the Commission intended to keep secret was ultimately reported by local media and that the public, namely the Ybor 6, responded. She also explains that even she, a commissioner on the board, had difficulties obtaining information from the working group. Les Miller then asks Commissioner Smith, "Do you think a motion is necessary at this point?", seemingly trying to encourage Mariella Smith to retract her motion. She doesn't but instead places the motion before the board.
And that leaves a couple final comments and the vote. Ken Hagan again tries to counter the motion by offending Commissioner Smith and calling it "meaningless", in a patronizing and insulting way. He then contradicts his "meaningless" comment by explaining that voting Yes on the motion might effectively "kill the deal" with the Rays. Les Miller climbs onto the misogynistic challenge to Commissioner Smith by calling the motion "fruitless" and "not appropriate". The motion is then voted on and defeated. Kimberly Overman, had she been the progressive she purports to be, could have been the vote to help kill the negotiations with the Rays but, instead voted to NOT disband the working group.
To wrap it all up, our County Commission is making it clear that negotiations are going to continue with the Rays franchise and that, because their plans for secrecy were thwarted by a local media outlet and the appearance of several citizens at the last meeting, voicing their clear opposition to RAYBOR, future negotiations will be conducted even further from the public eye. The negotiations are being handed chiefly to the Tampa Sports Authority in order to further conceal from the public what they are doing, in effect moving the back room dealing to a back room in the back of the back room. During the discussion, both Mike Merrill and Les Miller stated that "We have the money!" but they continue to ignore that they have only private investor's money, which amounts to 50% of the projected cost of a new stadium and ignoring that they ultimately intend to use $500 million, or more, of taxpayer funds to make up the other 50%.. Besides the private investments to partially fund the cost of the stadium, there is is also money invested in properties in the area surrounding the originally proposed Ybor City site and I have no doubt that the continuing negotiations will focus on Ybor City.
We have GOT to continue to pressure the officials in our government to listen to the citizens they are sworn to serve and end forever any further negotiations to move the Rays to Hillsborough County, and especially to Ybor City, and to realize that the voters of this county will NEVER accept having to fund half of the third most expensive stadium ever built, yet the smallest stadium in all Major League Baseball, smaller even than Tropicana Field. It would be doomed to fail and destroy Ybor City along with it. * Correction: Ken Hagan's interview with Sports Talk Florida took place on May 31, 2017 instead of in 2015 as I mistakenly stated.
Ybor City was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and was populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.
Ybor City was unique in the American South as a successful town almost entirely populated and owned by immigrants.
2011 Florida Netroots Awards Run-off Voting Now Open
"I vote for the The Ybor City Stogie. The Stogie is not the most complicated, in-depth site, but it is unabashedly progressive and it is wonderfully local. The Stogie’s ongoing series’ ‘Tampa Bay Homeless‘ has, with its haunting minimalism, developed into the most thought-provoking ongoing series published on Florida’s blogosphere.".......Peter Schorsch
"I nominated the Ybor City Stogie for the Progressive Courage Award. Look at that description again: Florida politician or political activist who has been a leader on a particular progressive issue in the last year, making a difference in the lives of Floridians. I nominated him for the amazing work he continues to do highlighting the issue of homelessness in the Tampa Bay area. He does this by keeping what amounts to a running photo journal of homeless people, up close and personal, right there on his blog. When you see these folks face to face, it's really breathtaking. And it is exactly the kind of work progressives should be doing. And in a number of ways, it is courageous. Thus my nomination. I hope you'll look at the work from the Ybor City Stogie, and I urge you to vote for him."......Benjamin Kirby
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Behind every small business, there's a story. Stop by the Ybor City Saturday Market, hear the stories behind our true entrepreneurs who create our community! Info
Car lovers, buckle up for Carmada en Ybor, where art cars cruise in Ybor City. Get up close and personal with cars like you’ve never seen before as you experience Ybor’s flourishing art scene at art galleries and artist studios along Seventh Avenue from 12 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 3. Join NOMAD Rolling Studio for free activities while listening to DJ Donnie Luv spinning the soundtrack to your afternoon.
“Carmada is rolling into Ybor City to highlight the artistic resurgence that is taking
Carmada en Ybor celebrates 10 years of the Carmada Art Car Showcase and the revitalization of the arts in Ybor City on Saturday, February 3rd.
place,” says Silver Meteor Gallery Owner Michael Murphy. “In addition to viewing creatively decorated cars, NOMAD Art Bus and the HCC Art Club will have art activities for visitors to enjoy. The Art Galleries and Artists' Studios in the Kress Collective will be open for art aficionados to explore. You can get a sneak peek of Marcolina's Fine Art Gallery's first-anniversary show, which is opening that night. Check out the unique and macabre art in Dysfunctional Grace's new space above Big Easy Bar. Visit Drip Ybor and the recently relocated Florida Museum of Photographic Art to round out your artistic excursion.”
This event is free and for all ages, so bring the whole crew for a one-of-a-kind afternoon of art, cars and community.
----- "The Ybor City Stogie is a great blog that highlights our progressive causes and champions!" Rep. Sean Shaw -----
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"Awesome photojournalism, great ideology, powerful direct action," Remi Martin
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"The Stogie captures what the community is doing that Big $$$ Media often refuses to cover. You'll find the good acts that happen on the street in the images of the Stogie." Russell L. Meyer
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"Beautiful images of the progressive movement in Tampa. The photographs show our power, our passion and document our justice work." Debbie King
----- "Thank you, Ybor City Stogie for being one of the leading outspoken progressive voices in Tampa Bay. Keep highlighting the issues, but more important, keep talking about the people who make a difference for our community, for our region, our state and our nation. You're the best, Stogie. Stay awesome." Benjamin J. Kirby ----- "The Ybor Stogies is a radical, revolutionary and inclusive community outlet! Through acts of solidarity with people's struggles and existences, it captures our shared histories and creates a critical and conscious building platform that showcases the diverse voices and stories of our communities." Pamela Gomez ----- "One of my go to sources for local news is The Stogie. I can rely on The Stogie to bring me the latest happenings in my community and connect me with the local activists who are leading efforts in their respected cause. An added bonus: Julio is a trusted ally" Adnan Aida Mackic ----- If you care to leave your own, love or hate, please do so in the comments section.
Tampa is a city of readers, and there’s a new bookstore coming soon to Historic Ybor City: Bookends. Owners and Tampa natives Laurie and Teresa Rodriguez secured a structure in Ybor City for the future home of Bookends: Literature & Libations. Renovations began summer 2022, with a planned opening in 2023. The shop will open at 2208 E 2nd Avenue.....MORE
At long last, those going to shop or dine in Ybor City can enjoy free parking at some locations. The city is removing meters from the streets of Ybor City and turning the spots into two-hour parking spaces.......here
Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee stood before City Council members Thursday clutching a report from the Department of Homeland Security he said detailed all the dangers that could befall his operations center in Ybor City. But he wouldn't tell them what it said. Instead, he asked the council to let him close off 20th Street, which borders the center, from Palm to Eighth avenues. In the end, the council voted 5-1 to let him gate it off........here
Even council member Mary Mulhern, who is opposed to closing off streets, made an exception: "There are so many other areas that have been closed off for less important things. This is a necessary thing to do." The only dissenter was Linda Saul-Sena.
The negotiations to entice the Tampa Bay Rays to a new stadium near Ybor City are still ongoing but now are being conducted by the Tampa Sports Authority behind closed doors and beyond public scrutiny.
This writer wants to know....what is more disturbing, the look of the new proposed Tampa Bay Rays stadium (pictured above) or the hundreds of baseball fans, having no concept of the cultural beauty of Historic Ybor, who will be invading 7th Avenue several nights a week during the baseball season?
In 2018 we came razor close to closing a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to move to Ybor City but a concerted public pushback convinced the Hillsborough County Commission to nix the deal.
Now we are again faced with the looming prospect of the monster called Raybor reappearing in the neighborhood. Will we again see RAYBOR banners hanging from the 2nd floor balconies of Historic Ybor buildings? One of the more prominent real estate developers in Tampa, Darryl Shaw, is gobbling up properties, including the site of the proposed stadium, in and around Ybor City with the clear intent of gentrifying the neighborhood and a major league baseball stadium would be a glaring benchmark of this gentrification.
This stadium would cost over $1 billion and a large portion, perhaps half, of that would be funded by public funds, primarily the county bed tax. This is money that should be earmarked for the benefit of the local economy and not a cashcow for wealthy property owners and investors in the Tampa Bay Rays franchise. Numerous academic studies conclude that major sports stadiums are of little or no benefit to the local economies where they are built. In fact, money spent at sports stadiums that would often be spent in local entertainment establishments ends up instead in the hands of land owners, investors, athletes and other sports personnel, where it has no impact on the local economy at all.
I only hope that I, and others, have the energy to fight another round against Raybor.
No one really knows how long chickens have been roaming Ybor City. I’d guess they have been there since the late 1800s, but I know I have seen them strutting around Ybor for the last 25 years or so, which makes the “Chickens of Ybor City” an older franchise than many of the businesses currently found on 7th Avenue........here
Ybor City grew and prospered during the first decades of the 20th century. Thousands of residents built a community that combined Cuban, Spanish, Italian, and Jewish culture. "Ybor City is Tampa's Spanish India," observed a visitor to the area, "What a colorful, screaming, shrill, and turbulent world." more
Ybor City is one of Tampa’s most famous and one of its most colorful neighborhoods. Minutes from downtown, this charming historic district of about 300 acres got its start in the 1880s when Spanish immigrant Vincente Martinez-Ybor brought the booming cigar industry to Tampa.
Today, this national historic district is teeming with the Sunshine State’s biggest industry, tourism. On this episode, Chad Gallivanter shows you around this Tampa neighborhood and highlights the best things to do in Ybor City.
Dr. Pacheco was born in the immigrant community of Ybor City in Tampa, Florida, to J.D. and Consuela Pacheco. He is of Spaniard-Cuban descent, and bilingual. His father was a pharmacist, and Ferdie sometimes helped out in the neighborhood drugstore owned by his father, sparking an interest in medicine. In his early teenage years, Pacheco got a job as a waiter at the Columbia Restaurant.
Boxing was a popular sport in Ybor City, with amateur matches regularly held at the Circulo Cubano de Tampa and other clubs and venues around the neighborhood. Though not a boxer himself, Pacheco took an early interest in the sport and attended many bouts. wikipedia
Local soccer fans already knew that Ybor City developer Darryl Shaw had plans to bring a professional women’s soccer team to Tampa, but he’s apparently got his eyes on a stadium, too.
Shaw told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the 2024 start means the team will have to play in a temporary venue, but that he’s hoping to build a roughly 5,000-person stadium plus office space for the team—and preferably in Ybor City where he’s assembled dozens of properties.
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