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Talk of the bay

By TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Published April 24, 2006

Channel homes are wave of future

Forget phosphate barges, petroleum tanks and cruise ship revelers. A Tampa economist says the city's Channel District in the next 20 years will swarm with 12,000 new residents housed in 6,000 apartments and condominiums.

They'll need offices, stores and restaurants to keep them happy on the harbor. So projections call for an additional 3.3-million square feet of nonresidential buildings, employing about 8,800 people. "There's no other place in the region with so much going on," said Chris Jones, an economic consultant hired by Tampa.

The Channel District's renaissance isn't exactly news - the city has splurged on a trolley, aquarium and parking garages - but Jones delivered an updated forecast at a business breakfast last week.

Not that everyone abides by Jones' crystal ball: The economist joked that some city leaders challenged his population projections as an overcount, while developers took him to task for undercounting.

What's certain, judging by the construction cranes towering over waterside condo blocks, is that thousands of urban dwellers will be barging in on the barges.

- JAMES THORNER, Times staff writer

Is engineering giant URS Corp. getting a black eye in the way it's handling a dispute over fixing the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway?

A section of the new 6-mile overhead roadway collapsed in April 2004 when a support column sank. The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority sued URS, the project's general engineering consultant, for $120-million in October after settlement talks broke down.

Subsequent mediation hasn't gone smoothly. "Why don't they just step up to the plate and settle?" said authority spokeswoman Beth Leytham. "They're the 800-pound gorilla . . . and figure, "We're just going to beat up on this little expressway authority.' "

Last week, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms took a shot at URS, warning Tampa Port Authority officials to scrutinize any URS contracts.

"I've seen the way they behaved and attempted to shirk their responsibility," she said. "I think other agencies should watch carefully." Port officials said they haven't had problems with URS but will review liability and insurance protections in their contracts.

URS says conflicts with the expressway authority are resolved and the company is working to move the mediation forward. The battle hasn't hurt the company's bidding on local government projects, says Tom Logan, a URS vice president who oversees its Florida offices.

"At no time when we lost a project has anyone told us it's because of how (we) dealt with an unrelated party," he says.

- STEVE HUETTEL, Times staff writer

Officials from Scripps Research Institute and Palm Beach County will make one last effort to break a stalemate in their contract negotiations today.

And in a novel twist, Scripps has requested that the talks, held in secret to date, be open to the public and broadcast on local TV and the Internet.

For folks who thought California-based Scripps was well on its way to settling on a Palm Beach County campus, 21/2 years after Gov. Jeb Bush offered the renowned research organization $369-million in state money as an incentive, here's why you're wrong:

- When Scripps' original site in Palm Beach County was delayed by legal challenges, a new site in Jupiter was chosen.

- The move triggered the need for a new contract between Scripps and the county, which is paying to construct the facility.

- If Scripps fails to maintain at least 545 jobs in the county for 30 years, commissioners want the right to sue to recoup the taxpayers' investment, now estimated at about $235-million.

- Scripps refuses to agree to this condition, saying it would imperil its California operations.

This morning, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, acting on behalf of the commissioners, and Scripps officials will try to resolve the crisis. If neither side budges, Scripps has said it will consider site offers from elsewhere in the state.

Spectators of the high-stakes showdown are welcome in person or via Palm Beach County's Web site, www.pbcgov.com

- KRIS HUNDLEY, Times staff writer

It doesn't get the attention of winning a national title in basketball, but the members of the Whitehatters Computer Security Club at the University of South Florida are pretty happy with second place.

The group of eight students was runnerup at the first Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition last month at Kennesaw State University near Atlanta.

"The kids said it was very stressful but fun," said Jeremy Rasmussen, an adjunct professor who organized the club. "It was just continuous pressure the whole time."

The competition, one of a growing number of such high-tech events among colleges, involves teams fending off various cyber attacks while continuing to operate their Web sites. The team that defends and keeps running best wins.

The Whitehatters' team spent four hours the first day setting up its system and a full 12 hours the second for the competition.

Rasmussen, who teaches in the departments of Computer Science and Engineering and Information Systems and Decision Sciences, was particularly happy about USF's showing because it has no specialty in information security and it competed against teams from schools that do.

While there are no specific plans for the next competition, the team does have its sights set high.

"We have a dream of competing in the one at DEFCON," Rasmussen said, referring to the annual hackers' event in Las Vegas. "That's the cream of the crop."

- DAVE GUSSOW, Times staff writer

Progress Energy Inc. chairman and chief executive Robert McGehee has been busy firing off companywide memos of late. In March, it was to deny rumors that the Raleigh, N.C., parent of Progress Energy Florida of St. Petersburg was seeking to be bought out.

On Tuesday, McGehee sent out a memo on an altogether different topic: allegations that a Progress employee had embezzled about $250,000.

Paula McCowan, an administrative assistant in Progress' corporate communications in Raleigh, is accused of using management passwords to forge approvals of expense reports and check requests, McGehee said.

McCowan, 26, was placed on administrative leave Jan. 31 and fired Feb. 20. A Wake County, N.C., grand jury indicted her last week on one count of embezzlement. Vonsuala Rountree, a Progress employee and McCowan's sister, was fired Feb. 21 after she was accused of receiving some of the stolen money and failing to report it to the company.

McCowan, Rountree and McCowan's attorney couldn't be reached for comment.

"Over the years, you have helped us achieve an outstanding record of integrity at Progress Energy," McGehee said in his memo to employees. "This incident is a reminder that we must always be vigilant."

- LOUIS HAU, Times staff writer

Recruiting has gone high-tech at St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial Services Inc. The company is handing out video iPods to brokers it considers hot prospects. Those who are affiliated with other brokerages and thinking of jumping ship get one of the flashy toys to take home when they attend a Raymond James-sponsored conference or visit the company's St. Petersburg headquarters.

When the brokers turn on their new iPods, they discover an audio-video presentation on Raymond James Financial Services. (They can download the Red Hot Chili Peppers when they get home.)

Raymond James has handed out 50 of the iPods in the past two months at a cost of about $300 a pop.

- HELEN HUNTLEY, Times staff writer

[Last modified April 22, 2006, 18:19:02]