Letter to the Editor: 'How We See the Facts'

Here's how we see the "facts" regarding the Pier as it relates to other community issues and situations:

1) The mayor and virtually everyone in city government have shown no interest, whatsoever, in the idea of a municipal water taxi on Tampa Bay.

2) The mayor and city government reps have shown no interest in the idea of a legitimate streetcar to connect downtown St Pete (and Tampa, via the water taxi) to the Gulf beaches.

3) There has been no interest in federal Tiger Grants that have been bestowed to other communities in the hundreds of millions of dollars for streetcar projects.

4) There is no recognition, whatsoever, that the future of St Pete is integrally connected to our evolution as part of the Tampa Bay region, not as a competitor to Tampa.

5) There is some kind of "secret plan" with the Rays although most everyone is beginning to accept the fact that St Pete and Pinellas Co are not sufficient locations anymore.

6) There is no recognition by our elected officials, that the people in the trenches, living and working in the city, have some intriguing ideas. A Central Ave restaurteur believes that St Pete needs a major convention center to compete with Orlando and other major markets and that the Trop site is ideal for that, especially connected to a New Orleans style streetcar line and water taxi to Tampa.

Most eveyone we speak with are very excited about these prospects. Most everyone understands that this is the fundamental need we have in St Pete and that we need an aesthetic, practical, and fun mass transit line. This line will, not only, put Tampa Bay on the map as a unique destination, it will open up funding sources for the restoration of the present pier. All we hear from the mayor and city council reps is that we citizens are having difficulty with change and are being sentimental about the pier. That could not be farther from the truth.

The concept of using the Pier as a transit hub is not new. The Million Dollar Pier had a streetcar stop. Transit stations, in other cities, are real gems when a marketplace is part of the station. If you haven't experienced a vital community-gathering place like this, please check out the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia online. You will be able to envision how a market like this would be totally successful at the present pier as there is ample room and much need for a real, city experience here.

Get the facts? Just ask the mayor and city council reps why they are ignoring the possibility of a transit options at the Pier? Could it be that it would uncover the real motivation for installing the Lens proposal? Do they really think that "rebranding" St Pete will continue with the Lens?

Hardly. What the Pier is a major issue to the people here, it is really a provincial matter, and very little national recognition will occur with the Lens. Most will see it as an updated, conventional pier.

Even the stalwart Rays fans we talk with are okay with the idea of, someday, getting on the water, via a municipal ferry, to get to downtown Tampa to see a Rays game on a hot, summer night! In fact, some have said that this would even be preferrable to attending a game in their hometown of St Pete. Tampa Bay is the way. Provincial St Pete keeps fighting for center stage. Get the facts, city government. Talk to the people you represent. Open your minds. You'd be surprised what people are really saying.

Rand Moorhead, Director Ride the Tide, Tampa Bay