Parking Permits In SOHO ?

Several neighborhood associations have been raising the issue of jammed parking, mostly on Westland, where the narrow street raises the potential for an emergency service vehicle not being able to get through. These neighborhood groups have been getting louder and louder as the problems continue to worsen. The underlying problems come with a virtual non-existent transit system, the continued removal of single family homes being replaced with multi-family dwellings, businesses being allowed to form and expand without accountability as to parking requirements.

SOHO is fortunate to have such a postive business climate, but, are RESIDENTS Parking permits the answer ?

Ybor City has implemented this same approach recently. As you walk down Ybor's 7th Avenue with the many closed up businesses, you have to wonder what the solution is. Admittedly, the permits are not the main cause for Ybor's problems.

Council Member John Dingfelder seems to think that SOHO visitors will be willing to park on lots on Kennedy Avenue and walk down S. Howard Avenue to visit their favorite locations. Additionally he seems to think that all the Kennedy businesses with parking lots will make them available for SOHO customers in the off hours (seems he hasn't noticed the NO PARKING signs and the tow trucks circling like sharks waiting for their next meal).

Their is NO single solution. But there are several.

First: re-evaluate the allowance of any permit for a multi family dwelling without adequate parking. At $400,000 plus per unit, it is astounding that the city does not even require them to have 2 parking spaces.

Second: don't allow new businesses or current businesses to expand without a plan for parking. One SOHO restaurant just added an outdoor seating area that resulted in the removal of a couple of parking spaces - no new parking was added. Who allowed that to happen ?

Third: with SOHO a clear and definable concentration of businesses, provide a workable trolley system so that people in the immediate neighborhood can leave their cars at home.

Fourth: take the current trolley from downtown and Hyde Park and expand the hours and route to be viable for use. With nighttime hours ending at 9 PM on most week nights and 11 PM on weekends, the current schedule is a very bad joke. The idea of bringing back the firing squad to punish whoever came up with this route and schedule is very justifiable .

Recently the number of Police officers to write parking tickets in SOHO was increased and other actions have been taken. We have told you about that in the On the Street section of SOHOTAMPA.COM
We are eager to hear your ideas and opinions and you can post them here. But most important is to send your council members your opinions. To stay silent is going to cost you ! Cost you money and convenience. Here is the address to Send them your email tampacitycouncil@tampagov.net

Ok, I want to Go Home Now !

In a recent Associated Article I learned something I definitely did not know: Iraqi soldiers can leave their units virtually at will. The article further cited Iraqi officials as saying that if they did not have this policy they might get no volunteers.
(unfortunately I cannot provide you with a link to the article, but if you go to www.associatedpress.com and enter the subject search of Iraq - you will find the article by Antonio Casenada from April 13)

So just imagine it, it has been a quiet day on patrol and then all of a sudden things get tense - so you just go home.

That is the policy in the Iraq army while our soldiers departure dates are extended and while National Guard members are pulled off their jobs and away from their families and sent to Iraq.

The Jim Lehrer Hour acknowledges US forces killed in combat as their names and pictures become available. One night this week 13 names were listed. The youngest was 19, the oldest was 52.

Calling for Rumsefeld's resignation are six retired Generals:
Major Batiste - former division commander in Iraq
Army Major General Eaton - Head of training Iraqi forces in 2003
MArine Lt. Gen. Newbold - Former Joint Chiefs of Staff operations director
Army Major Riggs - Decorated for action in Viet Name, forced to retire
Major General Swannack - former airborned division commander in Iraq
Marine General Zinni - former head of US Central Command

The Immigration Issue Hits Home

Some in Tampa seem to think the Tampa immigration issue is really those SOK'ers that won't go North of Kennedy. The several thousand area residents - legal and illegal - that protested the proposed immigration laws made it clear that it is a lot more than a neighborhood issue - it is a citywide issue - a state wide issue - and a national issue.

Admittedly the SOK'ers (South of Kennedy, for those that don't know the reference) try to act insulated to this "poor" type of "nuisance". But they need to look around in their own neighborhood a little closer.

There are many illegal aliens SOK, just like in most of Tampa. They are living there and working there. You probably know a few without even realizing it.

They provide labor, pay rent, pay taxes, and generate revenue that helps provide additional tax revenues. They are not here for the free ride.

Unfortunately, many have no health insurance (just like many Americans these days too). Many have kids in public schools.



Our country is based on welcoming people to our shores. The idea of a fence or wall blocking access at our borders is a little offensive, but the threats we face today make those ideas something to consider.

However, with millions of illegal immigrants already here; enforcing our borders at this point seems a little late.


When we visit or see pictures of New York, the Statue of Liberty always comes in to view. A gift from the French people. The inscription reads:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

These words have formed the basis of our Nation's thoughts about welcoming immigrants for over 100 years. Are we now at a point where the basics of American idealogy are to be discarded ? And if so, what does that mean for other basic ideas and freedoms that we have built our country on ? What do you think ?