Mayors make play for putting bay area first

TRIGAUX E-mail: Click here Archive

Tampa Bay's three dominant mayors may not be quite as smooth as baseball's legendary double-play trio of "Tinker to Evers to Chance."

But when it comes to big-picture economic development, Mayors Brian Aungst of Clearwater, Rick Baker of St. Petersburg and the newly anointed Pam Iorio of Tampa clearly talk a good game of regionalism. At least when common ground can be found. The three mayors spoke Thursday morning at the latest forum in a series on regional leadership hosted by the Trenam Kemker law firm.

Why should the business community care what three local politicians think? Because in an era of federal deficit spending and starved state and local budgets, the Aungst-Baker-Iorio triumvirate must fight for the funds to freshen Tampa Bay's aging infrastructure. Who will provide better roads to ease dense, and soon to be crushing, traffic congestion? Who will get fresh water, and at what price? Who will set the tone to encourage redevelopment in a region long hooked on sprawl but rapidly running out of accessible open land?

Based on Thursday's limited and at times fluffy remarks by all three mayors, here's the bottom line: The region must not turn into an economic Tower of Babel. "People outside this area do not realize we are (made up of) multiple cities and counties - and they do not care," said Clearwater's Aungst.

Translation? If our squabbles get too local and petty, businesses looking to expand will go elsewhere. Aungst repeated an emerging theme that the bay area should team more often with Orlando and the Interstate 4 corridor when vying for scarce federal dollars, as they did in making a super-regional bid in 2001 for the 2012 Olympics.

St. Petersburg's Baker gave his blessing to regional cooperation, so long as each city maintains its individuality. One of his hot-buttons: persuading federal transportation officials to look beyond I-4's Malfunction Junction to help traffic-choked U.S. 19.

Tampa's Iorio, joking that she has not had time to alienate anyone just yet, still sounded like she was on the campaign trail. Touting the boldest vision, she said she wants lots of arts and condos to attract residents to downtown Tampa. And between Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, she called for a major mass transit system. If not in "our lifetime" then at least in "our children's lifetime," she said.

Weak mass transit? It's a looming liability, Iorio warned. "Companies look at the Tampa Bay area and mark us down because of limited mass transit."

If you don't believe her, you're just not spending enough time creeping along our major highways.

At 24, Geoff Persell was a Pensacola-raised, job-hunting Gator grad when he joined the ranks of the infamous Six-Month Club earlier this year. By looking for work for more than half a year, Persell became one more member of the long-term unemployed in the bay area and the nation.

Persell's plight was described in this column March 12. In the following weeks, I was contacted repeatedly by area folks who, at the least, wanted to encourage Persell to hang in there. In more practical terms, business people called trying to contact Persell to discuss possible employment.

That kind of response speaks well of this community and its businesses. Among the companies that sought to reach Persell were Eckerd Corp., PricewaterhouseCoopers and SouthTrust Bank. Eckerd had an internship that might turn into full-time work. PricewaterhouseCoopers offered a job in human resources. And Tim Hancock, who heads SouthTrust's Tampa Bay private banking business, helped Persell interview for a position in downtown Tampa.

"I remember oh so well after I got out of college" and was "competing for jobs against people with more experience," says Hancock. The banker emphasizes he did not give Persell a job. He just cleared away some of the bureaucracy so Persell could have an honest shot at an opening.

"He showed he wanted to work," Hancock says. "It was kind of refreshing to see in a young person."

Persell got an offer and took it. He finishes his first week today as a financial service representative. Full time. With benefits.

Getting that first paycheck will feel different after so many meager months, Persell admits. But he's already adopting a banker's outlook: "I'm still hoping not to spend more money than I have to."

A sweeping kickback scheme involving a former New York Life Insurance bond trader and a South Florida brokerage firm comes with a tawdry Tampa angle.

Several former executives and traders of Fort Lauderdale's now-defunct SunCoast Capital were accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of encouraging SunCoast broker Deborah Breckenridge to bribe New York Life's Anthony Dong-Yin Shen with cash and gifts in return for his bond business.

Here's how the kickbacks allegedly worked: New York Life's Shen received cash and gifts from SunCoast in exchange for favorable prices on bond trades. The scheme, which took advantage of the fuzzy prices of the bond market, cheated New York Life out of about $4-million.

The SEC's complaint says former SunCoast principals urged Breckenridge (now serving an 18-month federal prison sentence in Marianna) to pay at least $50,800 in cash and $6,400 in gifts to Shen during a 15-month period in 1998 and 1999.

Among the kickbacks? Reimbursements for $1,800 spent by Shen in strip clubs while visiting SunCoast's office - in Tampa.

- Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8405.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright