Column

Succulents, steroids testing and the Centro Circus

By ERNEST HOOPER, Times Columnist
Published August 27, 2007

The circus atmosphere atlast week's Tampa's City Council meeting makes me wonder if we need a wrestling match to settle the Centro Ybor issue.

Mayor Pam Iorio wants to seal a deal to sell Centro to Chicago-based M&J Wilkow. Ybor business owners Alan Kahana and Joe Capitano seem to favor colleague Jacob "Booky" Buchman.

I see a tag team affair pitting Iorio and city attorney David Smith against Kahana and Capitano. Put Mary Alvarez and Steve LaBrake on the undercard.

Where's Gordon Solie when you need him? ...

Noam Yavin comes to Tampa from Katzir, Israel, to work with youth programs at the Tampa Jewish Community Center and Federation. The 1818 Philanthropic Circle is funding her visit, which will last a year.

Yavin, 21, hopes to learn more about America, but I hope she ends up teaching us a few lessons about appreciating the Tampa Bay area.

The University of South Florida Botanical Gardens holds a special "Cactus and Succulent Show" Saturday and Sunday. I'm noting the event because usually only the food critic gets to put succulent in a column.

A succulent, by the way, is a plant having fleshy or juicy tissues. Tune in next week and I'll tell you about gesneriads. ...

Seen on a bumper sticker: "01/20/09 - Bush's Last Day." ...

My son is one of the newest members of the Armwood JV football team, so I had to sign a form giving the Florida High School Activities Association permission to test him for steroids. He's 5-7 and weighs 133 pounds. If they send his sample to the UCLA Olympic laboratory, there will be no greater waste of taxpayers' dollars.

That's all I'm saying.

[Last modified August 26, 2007, 22:01:55]