.. tomorrow the world ..... It would be DIFFERENT if you didn't DESTROY THINGS AND PEOPLES' LIVES AND HOMES to create a dream that already EXISTS. I really had no problem strolling along the river PRE BRICKS.
(you might remember this goes with my comments about the riverwalk and the ART which won't succeed but will be subsidized on into eternity while real art and culture RAN from tampa .. so here we go ... still arguing with a blogger via the Tampa Tribune which, by the way ... would NOT be going on at all if you weren't driving cars into trees in front of my family, car-wrecking my family TO DEATH, trying to threaten us from our property, burning us out and then burning us out AGAIN .... but I have a post on this coming)
By the way, umm Tampa firemen, you're getting dangerously close to making me angry. I would appreciate if you stop burning down homes in the vicinity of my family's home. Considering that your evil bastard employee who already burnt down two or three houses in my family was at work last night when the others burnt down. AND considering that you've threatened to burn down their houses a number of times.
Tampa's Strolling On The River
By JOE GUIDRY
jguidry1@tampatrib.com
Published: January 17, 2009
Updated: 01/17/2009 12:13 am
TAMPA - A proposal for a Riverwalk in downtown Tampa has been around in some form or another since the 1970s. And, through the years, some folks have ridiculed it as a pipe dream, a boondoggle and a waste.
While the naysayers were nattering, though, the pipe dream was slowly becoming a reality. And if you attend the Tampa Bay History Center's grand opening today, look out on the waterfront.
You'll see the Riverwalk exists. And it's nice. Close to a third of the planned 2.2-mile linear park is open. You can stroll from the history center to the Brorein Street Bridge. Some major gaps remain, including one section that will be built over the water, but the broad promenade already is helping transform the feel of a downtown that historically has turned its back on its waterfront.
The Riverwalk opens up the river and channel to the public. The seabirds, boats and tides create ever-changing vistas unavailable in most cities. Eventually, the walk will lead from Channelside to North Boulevard, linking the history center, the convention center, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Children's Museum, Curtis Hixon Park, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and several residential developments. Along the way will be restaurants, shops and boat slips. The Columbia Restaurant is opening a branch at the history center, accessible to Riverwalk pedestrians. The city plans to work out a deal for a restaurant in Curtis Hixon Park. More likely will follow.
All this will make the downtown waterfront a fun place to visit.
The bill for the project will be about $27 million. That's not chump change, but half will be covered by private dollars, from contributors and developers with waterfront projects. It's often overlooked that parts of the Riverwalk were constructed years ago when the convention center and performing arts center were completed. A second phase, which will cost about $13 million, will build a pedestrian underpass at Cass Street, a walkway over water around the convention center and a pier at the convention center. But the project is not dependent on those improvements.
The return for investment should be considerable. San Antonio's 2.5-mile Riverwalk attracts 7 million visitors a year and sustains thousands of jobs. Officials say it generates $40 million a year in direct tax revenue for the city.
Maybe Tampa's Riverwalk won't be that kind of success. But it's hard to see how the boondoggle label will stick to a park along the waterfront that links museums, stores and restaurants.
And this is a pay-as-you-go project, with Mayor Pam Iorio insisting work proceed only as the necessary private or public dollars become available.
By February, the entire walk will be either completed, under construction or in design. It's going to happen, regardless of what skeptics say.
The city is eager for residents to know a useful portion of it is ready to experience now. Signs and maps are going up. Events are being planned. As the city's Riverwalk manager, Lee Hoffman, says, "The Riverwalk is open for business. It's yours to enjoy."
Joe Guidry is deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune.
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TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
tampa bay history • tampa bay history center • tampa bay performing arts center • pedestrian underpass • curtis hixon park • chump change • cass street • north boulevard • columbia restaurant • tampa bay performing arts • waterfront projects • private dollars • street bridge • linear park • channelside • tampa museum • downtown tampa • riverwalk • residential developments • hixon
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Posted by ( rsgandy ) on 01/17/2009 at 08:15 am.
I perdict the operating loss for this project will exceed the trolly. The childrens museum will loose even more (except the local pols will pay most of the loss through the school budjet).
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Posted by ( japster ) on 01/17/2009 at 08:50 am.
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Posted by ( japster ) on 01/17/2009 at 09:30 am.
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Posted by ( tebowcutsforeskin ) on 01/17/2009 at 11:26 am.
I'd rather use public money funding the riverwalk then our useless pathetic schools where retarded teachers sleep with their students.
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Posted by ( Stardog ) on 01/18/2009 at 09:16 am.
Where are the riverwalk planks we payed for,back in the 70's,at?
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Posted by ( Sarasota_Joe ) on 01/19/2009 at 09:51 am.
response to RS Gandy--Ok then, lets just leave our city as a 2 bit run down backwater dive, making it desirable for more people like yourself and those knuckle draggers with the confederate flag.
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Posted by ( Todd ) on 01/22/2009 at 01:46 am.
Why would a riverwalk not be a success? Jacksonville's is awesome. Tampa, with all it's conventions and emerging downtown museum district 'needs' something like this. It's a "quality of life" issue and it will draw jobs and people to it like a magnet.
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Posted by ( same ) on 01/22/2009 at 08:13 am.
Support projects like the Tampa's Riverwalk. It leads to needed jobs and improves our area's quality of life.
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Posted by ( peak ) on 01/23/2009 at 09:25 am.
Todd:The big reason the Riverwalk may not happen is that Tampa residents are largely idiots, south of Kennedy included, and do not have the education, common sense, or vision to support quality of life issues.
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Posted by ( FLCRACKER ) on 02/16/2009 at 12:54 pm.
I'm looking forward to enjoying this worthwhile project. What's not to like? The price tag is ok and it's being paid for the money is available. And half is not from taxpayers. So what's the problem here? Why not just take the family down and enjoy it?
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Posted by ( TOOPRETTYforprison ) on 02/17/2009 at 10:57 am.
peak, you must not be from around here. LMAO. Why do people want to come from all over the country and see the same junk EVERYWHERE????? it's so old and stilted not in the least progressive. Do you not GET OUT? It's a copy and a knockoff and while the homeless population SURGED this administration LAID BRICKS.And, I might add argued with a blogger through the tampa tribune.Do any of you folks GET OUT up there in the ivory tower?I agree this is a complete, horrendous waste of money.In about five years or less all of sheriff gee's imported gangsters will be down there shanking people and ut students.It'll be awesome.Why not just take the family?I used to take my family to the river and the beach ALL THE TIME. Till the scumbags took over davis island and the river.Seriously ... are you not FROM HERE??
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Posted by ( TOOSMARTforyou ) on 02/17/2009 at 10:58 am.
dear lee hoffman, where should everyone park??
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The City of Tampa and it's assorted city-sanctioned gang members need this property because it's in the middle of land they intend to develop for gambling facilities.
LaS VEgas here in Tampa : Ta-Vegas or Tam-Gas.
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