With a week as chock full of local political news as the previous one, there are several candidates for the Toast of the Bay and Dump Into the Bay. This being the first time I’ve handled this feature, I gave myself some flexibility and have several Toasts and Dumps.
A Toast to Joey Redner on the sale of his Cigar City Brewing to Colorado craft beer company called Oskar Blues. The Tampa Bay Times estimates the deal could be worth more than an astounding $60 million. Who would have ever guessed that Joey would make more selling beer than his dad would have selling T&A.
Speaking of vices, a Toast to the Tampa City Council for voting 5-1 to approve a new ordinance that decriminalizes the possession of marijuana. Tampa Police officers will now have the discretion of writing up a citation for anybody caught with less than 20 grams of pot. A first offense would be $75. A second would be $150, a third $300 and a fourth would be $450. For some this means, you’re more likely to get in trouble riding a bike in Tampa than you will from smoking weed.
Speaking of someone who sounds like they are smoking weed, a Dump goes to Congressional District 13 candidate Eric Lynn for a couple of reasons.
The Tampa Bay Times’ Charlie Frago reported that, “Lynn, who worked in the Pentagon under Obama, said he would like to continue the efforts he made on a previous trip to promote an artistic exchange between the Salvador Dali Museum and the Cuban national art museum. He said he also wants to see the fruit of his earlier efforts to help arrange the Rays game. He said he “scouted the condition” of the playing field at Havana’s Estadio Latinoamericano on behalf on the Tampa Bay Rays.”
So now Lynn, who was previously dinged for exaggerating his role as a “national security adviser” to Obama, is a field crew scout for the Tampa Bay Rays?? And he helped arrange the Rays playing in Cuba?!?!
Speaking of exaggerating, how else to explain the original design of the new St. Petersburg Pier. It was, um, an exaggeration.
“While much of what the public saw months ago remains intact, changes have been made and budget constraints may cause some elements to be dropped or postponed until they can be added later,” reports Waverly Ann Moore of the Tampa Bay Times.
Talk about a bait-and-switch.
The much-discussed “water lounge” at the east end of the pier head is one feature that is likely to be put on hold. A floating dock with a boat house also is potentially expendable, along with a section of a proposed breakwater off Spa Beach. Though the children’s splash pad will remain, some enhancements might be omitted.
The designers of the new Pier need to go right where they are building the new structure: Dumped Into the Bay.
