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MacDill Park called part of grand design

Dedicating the park honoring MacDill Air Force Base, Mayor Iorio views it as a significant feature of an eventual 2.5-mile walkway.

By JANET ZINK
Published December 23, 2005

TAMPA - With the sparkling Hillsborough River reflecting the blue sky and sunshine behind her, Mayor Pam Iorio on Thursday dedicated the city's new MacDill Park.

The three-quarter-acre park, adjacent to the Sheraton hotel on Kennedy Boulevard at Ashley Drive, honors MacDill Air Force Base's contributions to the city with six granite pedestals holding historical information about the base.

The opening of the park, Iorio said, marks a significant moment in the creation of the Riverwalk, a proposed 2.5-mile walkway along the Hillsborough River from Tampa Heights to the Channel District.

The MacDill park eventually will be one of five connected by the Riverwalk. There's also Waterworks Park in Tampa Heights, Curtis Hixon Park near the preforming arts center and Cotanchobee Park by the St. Pete Times Forum. In January, the city will open a park named in honor of the University of South Florida near the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

In the coming months, Iorio said, MacDill Park is likely to be a spot where office workers can munch on bagged lunches while enjoying the water.

That will change, she said.

"One day, this will be the MacDill Park along the Riverwalk and will be used in a very different way," she said.

She imagines that some day, people from all around will visit Tampa and remark that they visited the city's "wonderful Riverwalk."

Iorio wants the walkway to be a signature feature of downtown Tampa where people can walk, run, bike, attend events or just river-gaze amid green space and public art, with events, restaurants and museums along the way. She wants as much as possible done before the city hosts the Super Bowl in 2009, and hopes it will be her administration's legacy.

There's no cost estimate for the project yet, but the price tag is likely to be in the tens of millions.

One-mile stretches of riverwalk along each side of Fort Lauderdale's New River cost $20-million, said Patsy Mennuti, executive director of the Riverwalk Trust. Construction on the project began more than 15 years ago, and it's almost finished.

It has been a worthwhile investment, Mennuti said. More than $1.5-billion of commercial and residential development has taken place around it.

So far, Tampa has practically no money budgeted for the Riverwalk.

"We're looking at every opportunity for funding," said Lee Hoffman, who directs the city's Riverwalk project.

In June, the city awarded an $848,000 contract to EDAW, a California company, to develop a design plan. The company has hosted two public meetings to hone their ideas. A final concept - and price tag - are due early next year.

This year's city budget also included $1.7-million to build a small strip beside the Platt Street bridge.

The city will also tap developers building along the river and the Channel District special taxing district for money to pay for the park. The district, which directs a portion of property taxes raised in the area back into the neighborhood, recently earmarked $62,000 for the Riverwalk.

That didn't sit well with some Channel District residents.

"I love the Riverwalk," said Jimmie Overton, a Channel District resident who established the neighborhood group, United Residents of Channelside.

He said he would be happy to coordinate a fundraising effort to help bring it to fruition. But the special taxing district was established to eliminate blight in the Channel District.

"It's hard to argue that it's a blighted area, but we still have old power lines sticking up out of the ground. The sewer system is so deeply behind the construction that's going on," he said. "A blighted area is not a blighted area because it suffers from Riverwalk anxiety syndrome.

Hoffman defended the allocation.

"Infrastructure needs to be a priority but you need to do groundwork on amenities," he said. "If this is urban living, you need to have linkage to things."

Eventually, he said, the Riverwalk will probably be a popular feature of Channel District living.

Hoffman said he will also pursue money from the state and federal governments for the Riverwalk. He's getting ready to hire a grant writer to help with that, and is working with state legislators to find financial help.

MacDill and USF did not contribute money to the parks named in their honor, but the land for the parks was purchased in 2000 with the help of $3.3-million in grants from Florida Communities Trust, which provides money to buy land for parks. The city matched the grant to make the purchase.

State Rep. Trey Traviesa, R-Brandon, last year got a $200,000 appropriation included in Florida's transportation and economic development budget. Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed the request, but Traviesa said he will try again next year.

"There are some instances, especially in economic development, when an investment can be made and the payoff can be great. With Tampa Bay growing, and ascending in the world of great cities, projects like the Tampa Riverwalk can really be a great asset for us," he said. "It aligns the commercial and residential priorities of downtown Tampa and can really be a destination that makes the whole area more attractive."

Traviesa said he has been impressed with the progress of the Riverwalk.

"I see so many presentations and there are so many interests and people coming before you all the time asking for money," he said. "These guys are doing it right. It's professional, it's strategic, it's well thought out."

Friends of the Riverwalk, a nonprofit established in part to run a private fundraising campaign for the project, has received $35,000 in donations so far - $10,000 from a wine store on N Dale Mabry Highway and $25,000 from an individual. A major capital campaign is scheduled to begin in March.

"For so long we have looked at the possibility of what could happen here in downtown Tampa on the river banks," state Rep. Faye Culp, R-Tampa, said at Thursday's park dedication. Those possibilities are "finally coming into being."

[Last modified December 23, 2005, 01:13:18]