Hyde Park's less charming

Two stories this week paint the clearest picture yet of how much Tampa's Hyde Park has changed. The makers of Wonder Bread will close their 80-year-old bakery, putting an end to the pleasure of walking the neighborhood to the smell of fresh-baked bread. Meanwhile a mile or so away, on the western edge of Hyde Park, developers are looking to build a suite hotel on an increasingly crowded, two-lane road. Howard Avenue at Swann already looks like Carrollwood, so some must figure: Why not make the transformation complete?

All this building up has brought Hyde Park down. It used to be a distinctive place -- funky bars and restaurants, plenty of on-street parking, quiet streets to walk along and cross. What gave it charm was the balance between neighboring homes and businesses, the sense that commerce here played a supporting role, not the other way around.

The slide started six or seven years ago, spurred by bad planning on Howard. The city paid inadequate attention to the architecture going up, it never followed through on a plan for a pedestrian thoroughfare, and it failed to articulate a vision for retaining the district's historic character. Howard now is congested much of the day, not by walkers but by cars and trucks. It is increasingly unfriendly on foot, more dangerous at night. The intersection at Swann looks more generic by the day, crowded by chain businesses that add nothing to the local character.

In ways, the problem was self-fulfilling, for Hyde Park attracted a flood of new residents just as the businesses gentrified to appeal to a wider audience. The principle of maximizing property is furiously at work. New homes and apartments have gone up, there is talk of the potential for two hotels and the city, at this pace, will face more pressure to build a multistory garage.

Times change, places change, the world is more crowded -- the problem in Hyde Park is not change itself but an almost unconscious loss of perspective on why it was attractive from the start. Restaurant row is still popular. But the flavor also drew from the recognition that locals gave Hyde Park its character and strength.

As for the bakery, some residents are glad to see it go, and some businesses on Howard, mostly the restaurants, would do well with a business-class hotel. There is an argument for it, if the assumption is, as one proponent said, that Howard should be a "hospitality" district. But commercialism always was but one side of this mixed-use neighborhood. It had small-town appeal and modern amenities without feeling like an outdoor mall. And now the trade-offs are becoming ever more apparent.

-- John Hill is a Times editorial writer.

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