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You know where Interstate 275 turns sharply to the north, just past downtown Tampa? Lying east of the highway there, between the road and Ybor City, is an area called Central Park.
A long time ago, before the interstate, this place really was "central." It was bordered by and connected to Ybor on the east, Tampa Heights on the west, and downtown and the Channelside district on the south.
Today, cut off by the highway, the area is mostly just the home of two public or assisted housing projects. Most people drive right past without seeing it.
But this, now, is ground zero for Ed Turanchik, the former Hillsborough commissioner, and leader of the unsuccessful bid to win the 2012 Summer Olympics.
He always thinks big. So it was a typically big, audacious plan that he announced Thursday morning to a room of 100-plus dignitaries, community leaders and reporters.
Turanchik and his private sector partners propose to redevelop 157 acres of Central Park into a new "city within a city," with thousands of residents living in a new style of urban community. The colorful artists' renderings looked kind of like Hyde Park Village, except, you know, nicer. Lots of trees and parks and happy pedestrians.
It is important to Turanchik and his partners that this not look like one more removal of poor black folks. So they intend to build as many public housing units as would be lost, except better ones, interspersing them in their diverse, mixed-income project.
"Diversity works," Turanchik says. "Diversity sells. Diversity makes money."
The invitees to Thursday's announcement stood amid the dust and bare studs of the offices under construction. Many prominent area African-Americans were on hand. But there were noticeable absences, too. No black elected officials were there. Neither was there a strong Hispanic or Ybor presence.
Most interesting of all was the absence of the city of Tampa, from Mayor Pam Iorio on down. When asked about that, the organizers said, hey, this is a private sector event. But the truth is that City Hall deliberately is keeping a certain distance, seeing how things go.
Turanchik has a huge sell job. His first task is the Tampa Housing Authority, which has to decide by January whether to proceed with its own plans for replacing one of the existing housing projects. The Housing Authority could mesh its plans with Turanchik's, or it could shut him down. Turanchik certainly made a good enough case Thursday that it would be a shame to reject him out of hand.
But beyond that, he most certainly did NOT present a thorough enough case Thursday to be given carte blanche. He and his partners are flush with enthusiasm and want everyone to share it; asking about details is just so ... pesky.
When one is rearranging skylines, it might not seem like a big deal to relocate a public housing resident. But a home is a home, and if you are reasonably settled in public housing next to Ybor City, it most definitely IS a big deal to be shuffled off to, say, someplace this side of 40th Street.
Turanchik and his partners also are being far too breezy and vague about the public participation required - condemnation powers, street relocations, right of way vacations, changes in the law regarding property tax dollars. I kept asking how much the public works would cost, and kept getting put off.
One breezy answer was that no "public" dollars were involved. But then just a couple of minutes later they said they want to keep part of the tax revenues that would be generated by all this expected new construction. That sure as heck is public money.
Also, they are being very, and I mean VERY, vague about their plans to skim a 1 percent cut of all land sales, for all time, for a "Foundation for a Better Place." Who runs this foundation? Who watches it? Who benefits from it? Details, details.
Overall this is an exciting idea, maybe even genius. All the government plans in the world are not as good as the private sector that Turanchik has energized. All he has to do now is guarantee the well-being of the current residents, change the Housing Authority's mind in six weeks, bring along a cautious City Hall and answer all these questions. Piece of cake, really.