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Letter to the editor

Talk of the bay: Progress is a shining light among utilities

By Times staff
Published September 19, 2007

Progress Energy keeps your lights burning, but who knew it was such a dynamic jobs creator? The economic development magazine Site Selection named Progress one of the country's top utilities, lauding the 6,782 jobs and $1.4-billion in investment it helped attract in its three-state service territory in 2006. The magazine singled out former Progress president Bill Habermeyer's role in landing SRI International to St. Petersburg. In a joint venture with the University of South Florida, SRI will develop marine sensors.

Land-based trolley gets port backing
Is the little yellow trolley that runs from downtown Tampa to Ybor City any of the port's business? Port commissioners couldn't say for sure Tuesday but decided it was their responsibility. Officials of the nonprofit that runs the Tampa Historic Streetcar came to the Tampa Port Authority seeking continued help to keep the trolley going. Commissioner Joe Hartley, a former shipyard boss, argued that the port authority's job was developing the port. Others, including Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita, countered that the streetcar helps bring tourists, including cruise passengers who sail from the port. By a thin 4-3 margin, the board agreed to give the trolley $150,000 for each of the next two years.

Bright House ups ante on wireless
They have bickered over landline, Internet connections and cable television turf. Bright House Networks and archrival Verizon may soon have something new to fight over: wireless territory. In August, Bright House and Sprint launched the Pivot wireless service in the Orlando market. If all goes well in the test market, the service would come to the Tampa area early next year, said Joe Durkin, Bright House spokesman. The company's fourth platform allows customers to make and receive unlimited calls between the wireless phones and their home digital phones for free. It also allows customers to watch select news and television programs, access e-mail and surf the Net while on the go. Other features include unlimited call forwarding from the Sprint phone to the home phone, and an option to integrate wireless and digital phone voice mail.

Correction
Steve Vazquez is a partner and securities lawyer at Foley & Lardner in Tampa. A story Tuesday listed a different law firm.

On the blogs
Find out how to buy stocks without a broker on Helen Huntley's MoneyTalk blog at blogs.tampabay.com/money.

[Last modified September 18, 2007, 22:19:40]