Goodbye St. Pete, Hello Tampa Bay

What’s in a name? Maybe the fortunes of a newspaper and the region it represents.

At midnight Tuesday, the St. Petersburg Times announced it will become the Tampa Bay Times to ring in the new year, 2012.

The column attributed to CEO Paul Tash offers a lengthy defense of the change. As Tash explains it, the new name was needed because most readers of the paper reside outside of the St. Petersburg area. While acknowledging the significance of messing with a respected brand that has been established for over 110 years, Tash offers a few justifications, among them the common denominator of “Tampa Bay” among the area’s professional sports teams, “Tampa Bay” as the listed destination for flights to Tampa International Airport, and the newspaper’s history of philanthropy throughout the region.

He even provides a cute, nostalgic anecdote about Orlando ridiculing St. Pete while competing with the area for a Major League Baseball team over 20 years ago.

My initial thought was that money is the driving force  behind the change, and perhaps it is. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this is about nothing more than getting more eyeballs in order to move businesses to spend their advertising dollars with the Times (assuming enough is out there to be made in this economically distressed period we’re suffering through).  Tash noted the St. Petersburg Times is already the region’s most-read newspaper, so I’m not sure swapping out a name will have that much of an impact in the short term.  Most likely the upper brass isn’t expecting it to, and this could be just part of a larger overhaul of the paper’s infrastructure. As recently as this month, the Times has been dealing with its financial hardships through layoffs and furloughs.

It was another passage, however, that got me to thinking the Times could be trying to change more than just its fortunes by swapping “St. Pete” for “Tampa Bay”:

But like other citizens and civic leaders, we recognize that all our communities have a stronger future as part of a dynamic Tampa Bay region, rather than a constellation of towns and cities jockeying for advantage against each other.

This sure sounds like Tash editorializing about the alleged rivalry between Pinellas and Hillsborough (not without significance regarding the paper’s financial interests). While I’m not convinced that dynamism and competition among municipalities are at odds with one another, the point Tash is making about the benefits of cooperation comes through. Personally, I’m looking forward to the Tampa Bay Times, and to see whether something as simple as a name change could be the catalyst to something far more important — an area’s revival and growth as it alters its self-perception.

What’s in a name? We’ll see.

What’s happening with St. Petersburg’s Crystal Bay Hotel?

Each weekday I drive my son to his preschool, winding south along Park Street and into Pasadena. And each day I pass the wide-angled structure once known as the Crystal Bay Hotel, which now sits weathered and dilapidated at the corner of Park and Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

And I’ve begun to wonder: What has happened to the plans to renovate the Crystal Bay and transform it into the three-star Park View Hotel?

In a St. Petersburg Times story dated February 25, 2007, Paul Swider reported that real estate developer Norman Kerr had purchased the 90-year-old hotel that January, began calling it the Park View, and had started repairs on the prominent landmark.

My first week at Midtown Summer Journalism Camp

Today marks the end of my first week as a volunteer for Midtown Summer Journalism Camp, a joint effort of John Hopkins Middle School, Melrose Elementary and Lakewood High, my alma mater. Go Spartans.

Anywho …

The three-week program helps students from J. Hop and Melrose hone their skills as journalists, sending them out to cover various businesses and citizens in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg.

Some of the volunteers are high school students, while others I’ve met are photographers and writers for The St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune. I believe a few are students from Eckerd College, which helps fund the camp.

Each day, we mentor the pair of students we’ve been assigned to (or, in my case, assigned themselves to me), assisting them with their newsgathering and writing.

Today, the team I’m working with went out on their first interview and did a commendable job. We’ve got do some follow-ups, but should have the article done by Tuesday. Then, as reporters well know, it’s on to the next story.

My experience at the camp has been nothing but positive, as was the volunteer work I did over the past three months for John Hopkins’s journalism program. There’s a reason why J. Hop and Melrose are consistently recognized as the best student newspapers in the nation in their respective categories — the teachers and students are that talented and dedicated.

Stories and photos produced by the camp will be published in Midtown Magazine, which will be available at the “Midtown: Through Our Eyes” exhibit scheduled for Oct. 2-11 at Studio@620.

What will save St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue?

Tampa Bay journalist Alex Pickett adds some valuable perspective to the St. Petersburg Times‘ story about attempts by city leaders to address the dilapidated 600 block of Central Avenue:

So what’s our fair city to do? Well, they want to “revitalize” the block. But they don’t mention that back before 2006, this block was already thriving with unique local small businesses.

There were bohemian joints like the Surreal Bowl and eccentric boutique shops like Woodies Hat Box, all centered around one of the city’s historical treasures, Crislip Arcade.

That is, before another developer — Gerald R. Pacella of 601 Central Ave LLC — came in, bought that part of the block and evicted all the shops to construct a bunch of condos. Condos that never saw the light of day. Another developer, Thomas Gaffney of Oldsmar Land Holding Group, bought the property in 2008. His intentions are not yet known, but some Google sleuthing shows his company likes to hold on to property and then sell it to the highest bidder. He’s already mentioned to the Times that he has no plans to refurbish the storefronts.

Here’s one question: Are plans to fill the empty storefronts with art studios simply a stopgap until the market improves and Gaffney decides to raze the block? And if so, what incentives are the city and/or Gaffney offering to entice temporary tenants?

How the St. Petersburg Times can use beat-blogging for gay issues

If  the St. Petersburg Times wants to start a constructive conversation about St. Petersburg’s relationship with the gay community, they’ve been presented with as good an opportunity as any:

Thus far, Cristina Silva’s story about the clash between St. Pete Pride and the city has generated well over 100 comments.

That’s the kind of reader interest the Times needs to take advantage of — and strike while the iron’s hot.

The issue: Pride organizers want to hang rainbow banners from light posts in the city’s gay-friendly business district throughout the month of June, to coincide with Pride Month.

According to Silva’s story, the city has rebuffed their initial proposal, citing a policy that states “all banners must carry a written message.” Pride organizers see that rejection as a violation of their constitutional rights.

Considering that this story has clearly touched a nerve, the Times would do well by itself — and the community — by dedicating a blog to the issue, one where reporters give continuous updates while also providing a forum for interaction with readers.

Off the top of my head, I can think a few questions prompted by Silva’s article and the reader comments that beg to be answered:

Be accurate or be irrelevant

A friend of mine announced that Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra might be shut out of this Saturday’s Preakness by owners looking to enter additional horses in order to prevent the filly from making the field, which is capped at 14 horses.  When I responded that I’d heard a radio report that Rachel Alexandra would be running, he was incredulous, and showed me a story in today’s St. Petersburg Times to verify his information.

“Right,” I responded with a tinge of smugness. “That was from this morning.”

To settle the disagreement, I quickly found an update on ESPN.com, which confirmed the radio report:

From PolitiFact to Pulitzer

Matt Waite, news technologist for the St. Petersburg Times, is also the man behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact. In a post on his personal website, Waite explains how his mantra of  “demos, not memos” has helped guide him as a designer.

In other words, “show, don’t tell.”

Waite offers three reasons why this philosophy has worked for him:

1. Ideas are cheap and plentiful, execution is hard (thus, a demo stands out from the “blizzard of ideas”)
2. Meetings suck (they should be about the demos, and less about the ideas)
3. Requirements documents suck (they ensure that the software will never be any better than the document)

This is why journalists and readers need to communicate

The St. Petersburg Times‘ Lennie Bennett is a passionate art critic and defender of the arts, and so I would love to have heard her response to some of these reader comments to her article about FSU’s consideration of closing the Ringling Art Museum:

• Bob from St. Pete

  Apr 23rd, 2009 10:31 am
  Close it! The voters have spoken. This is not the sort of thing that government should be funding. Or is it that the voters just want a free lunch and want someone else to pay for their quality of life?

• Jonathan from Jacksonville, Fl

  Apr 23rd, 2009 10:26 am
  The Ringling should be sold. There is no reason for the state of Florida to be subsidizing an art museum (according to the story, operations only fund half of the Ringling’s budget) in this climate.

• Andrew from Palm Harbor

  Apr 23rd, 2009 8:58 am
  If its so wildly popular and successful, WHY DO YOU NEED A STATE SUBSIDY? It should be autosufficient. There are enough blue blood art-lovers with guilty consciences who will endow millions for a plaque on the wall.

At my previous employer, Creative Loafing, staff writers readily engaged readers who commented on their blog posts, explaining why or why not they were wrong — which led to some spirited discussions.

But the comments on Bennett’s article, absent a response, have all the effect of yelling into a void.

One other nitpick — the Times really needs to provide permalinks to its reader comments.

Local news — property taxes, Starbucks and ridiculous legislation

The city of Gulfport says its budget will be $3 million short in October, but wants to avoid raising property taxes.

The city has frozen all hiring, except what is considered “mission critical” positions.

Unfilled positions include city manager, the police chief, a police sergeant, two police officers, a police department records technician, a fire lieutenant, the leisure services administrative assistant and a staff assistant in the administrative services department.

The city had already eliminated several library positions, as well as a fire captain, firefighter, maintenance worker, recreation coordinator and a clerical position in the city clerk’s office.

My question — can the St. Pete Times please provide city documentation with its story to give some context to that $3 mil figure?

Tommy at Sticks of Fire explains why delinquent property taxes means more money for newspapers.

Teen shot at Childs Park Rec Center.

Kenneth City’s mayor-elect could be sworn in, 44 days after winning in a landslide. The takeaway here is that Kenneth City, with a population of about 4,400, and a land area of 2 square miles, has a mayor.

Ybor City loves its Starbucks. Take that, Cuban coffee!

Alex Pickett has expanded his Bipartisan guide to ridiculous leglislation.

Bay area pitcher in media spotlight

Patrick Schuster is getting a lot of well-deserved media attention of late. The J.W. Mitchell High left-hander tossed his fourth straight no-hitter last night, striking out 17 in route to a 5-0 victory over Pasco High. The remarkable feat — a first in Florida high school history — earned Schuster a highlight segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter.