Politics

Letter to Ikea upsets council

The city signed off on the project, but City Council member Linda Saul-Sena had not.

By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published January 18, 2008

TAMPA - City Council member Joseph Caetano lashed out at colleague Linda Saul-Sena on Thursday for demanding that Ikea make its new building in Tampa more environmentally friendly.

He called a letter that Saul-Sena sent the furniture retailer embarrassing.

"This issue should have never come up," he said. "It was a 6-1 vote. It's a dead issue."

Saul-Sena cast the lone vote against the project in July when the City Council approved the company's plans for a store near Ybor City.

Last month, she sent a letter to Ikea president Pernille Lopez on City Council letterhead, criticizing the site plan as a "sea of asphalt."

"If you were Wal-Mart, which does not aspire beyond mediocrity, then I would not be expecting decent design," she wrote.

Saul-Sena said she planned to post videos of the site on YouTube to embarrass the company.

Tampa's economic development administrator followed up last week with a letter to Ikea assuring the company the city supports the project.

And at the end of a long meeting Thursday, Caetano made a motion to send a similar letter from the City Council. Council member Charlie Miranda seconded the motion, and chairwoman Gwen Miller voted in favor it.

Saul-Sena voted no, along with Council member John Dingfelder, who urged the board to drop the issue.

With two council members absent, the motion failed.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.

[Last modified January 18, 2008, 07:50:06]