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Letter to the editor

It's only logical to get history correct

By SHARON TUBBS City Times Editor
Published October 5, 2007

You know the bridge on North Boulevard that runs over the Hillsborough River, just north of Blake High School?

It may have seemed logical - to you and to me - to call it the North Boulevard Bridge.

But it isn't.

Well, it would be logical, it's just not the right name. Officially, it's the Eugene Holtsinger Bridge.

The city put up big brown signs with bold white lettering this week to tell you so. Of course, there's a little story behind all this, which we'll get to in a minute.

But the bridge is just one bit of Tampa history circulating in small pockets of conversation these days.

Members of a certain Tampa krewe struggled with a decades-long tradition and came up with an outcome different than some might expect.

But first, that bridge.

Some months ago, Mayor Pam Iorio got two letters, one from Hal Holtsinger, 81, the other from his cousin, Joan Turner, 73.

They wanted to know why no one, including public officials, called the bridge by its original name - the name of their grandfather, an early Tampa developer and lawyer integral in the beginnings of such neighborhoods as Hyde Park, Bayshore and Sulphur Springs.

With his letter, Hal sent a copy of the program from the original dedication ceremony in 1959, just as the bridge construction was completed. It was a bright, sunny day, as Joan remembers. A picture taken by the Tampa Tribune captured the event with her standing front and center in cat-rimmed sunglasses.

Then-mayor Nick Nuccio was there, as was the Moose Lodge Concert Band. As the years went by, the markers bearing Eugene Holtsinger's name disappeared, washed away perhaps by the waves of the Hillsborough River.

Iorio didn't know anything about Holtsinger Bridge. She passed the letters on to the public works department, which confirmed the story.

So early this week, the city revived something that had been lost, holding a quiet ceremony to re-dedicate the bridge and unveil a sign that gives it proper historical due.

Just because the public had forgot the history doesn't mean we shouldn't try preserve it.

"We're not going to change names just because the years go by," she said.

Joan was there. As was Hal, his wife, Alma, and other family members. A few city staffers milled about, shooting pictures and video.

Perhaps the ceremony and the new sign will encourage people to call the bridge by its rightful name, Iorio said.

Well, we'll see.

Now, for that krewe.

For decades a group originally called the Columbus Association of Tampa, now the Columbus Celebration of Tampa, has looked forward to the second Monday of October - better known as Columbus Day.

The group formed the Krewe of Columbus to participate in parades, civic events and local charities. And every year, on that special day, they gathered for short speeches.

Once again, logic would have it that this event take place at the Christopher Columbus memorial at Bayshore Linear Park, as it has for years. There, a statue of a fierce-looking explorer stands atop a pedestal peering out onto a tower and cars along Bayshore.

Angie Manteiga has been a face at the celebration since the early 1980s when crowds reached 200 or more. Reporters from various media outlets showed up with notebooks and cameras.

"We'd get a lot of attention for it," said Manteiga, a krewe member.

Nowadays, La Gaceta, the paper where Manteiga works as a graphic artist, is often the only media to show up. Last year, she guessed, about 50 people came.

Many of the older Italian-Americans who treasured the annual celebration have passed away, Manteiga says. And for those who are left, 21st century traffic presents a huge problem for the Bayshore tradition. You can barely find a place to park nearby, and if you do, you could risk your life trying to cross the Bayshore near Platt Avenue where cars whizz by.

So what's a krewe to do?

Come Monday, the annual Columbus Day Commemoration Ceremony will be held at noon in Joe Chillura Park downtown.

Former City Council member Joe Chillura will speak, and members of "Queen Isabella's court" will attend.

But Columbus, himself, will stand a mile or so away.

The downtown venue, Manteiga hopes, will generate more interest. "We're trying to give him the honor that is due."

[Last modified October 4, 2007, 07:52:23]