Olympic stadium plans proposed

A local group lobbies to transform some of Tampa's poorest neighborhoods into an Olympic village for the 2012 Games.

By WAYNE WASHINGTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 29, 2000

TAMPA -- Dirt stains the pale concrete walls of Central Park Village. Its streets are an interlocking maze of narrow, one-way lanes. A sign proclaiming the area to be a "drug-free" zone seems preposterously optimistic.

It's hard to imagine the complex being something other than what it is, one of Tampa's poorest sections of town, a place many residents want to leave and the Tampa Housing Authority wants to tear down.

During an announcement at Union Station at 2 p.m. today, the local group trying to bring the Olympics to Florida is expected to propose a plan to do just that.

Central Park would, if Florida 2012's hopes come to fruition, give way to an Olympic stadium that seats 110,000 and would later serve as the new home of the University of South Florida's football team.

Another public housing complex, North Boulevard Homes, would be remodeled for use as an Olympic village. The Caribe Royal Hotel in Orlando would serve as a satellite village for athletes who participate in events there.

Florida 2012 plans to tell Tampa's City Council about its Olympic proposal on Thursday and has set up a meeting with Housing Authority officials on Friday.

The village and the stadium are the last major pieces of Florida 2012's expansive Olympic bid, which will be submitted to the United States Olympic Committee on Dec. 15.

As detailed as Florida 2012's plans are, the odds of Florida hosting the games remain formidable.

Seven other cities are competing against Tampa to be the U.S. candidate in the international competition to host the games. If the USOC chooses Tampa's bid over those competitors in 2002, it would then go up against bids from cities across the globe.

Paris, Istanbul, Johannesburg, London and Tel Aviv have all been mentioned as likely candidates to host the 2012 games. The International Olympic Committee will make a final choice in 2005.

Tampa, however, won't have to wait that long to discern its chances for ultimate success. What happens in July, when the host city for the 2008 games is selected, will have a major impact on the chances of an American city being chosen for 2012.

Beijing is widely viewed as the favorite to host the games in 2008. Toronto, which is competing against Beijing for the 2008 games, would see its chances to host the 2012 Olympics improve dramatically if it lost a close competition to Beijing and resubmitted its bid.

If Toronto were to somehow win the 2008 competition with Beijing, that would likely kill the chances of Tampa or any other North American city hosting the games four years later.

The past success of American cities in bidding for the summer and winter Olympics could also prove damaging to Tampa's chances.

"The U.S. will have hosted four games in a 22-year period, the last being the Salt Lake City Games in 2002," Anita DeFranz, an IOC vice president told the Associated Press earlier this year. "It seems the rest of the world is very interested in hosting these games, and I don't know if a city in the U.S. would be able to make a competitive application."

Florida 2012 President Ed Turanchik has heard that argument but remains undaunted. He said the first order of business is convincing the USOC that Tampa should be the American candidate city.

Even before that, however, local public housing residents will have their say about the Olympic plans.

At least one official who will have a say in approving the plan is unhappy about being left out of the initial planning. Fran Davin, a member of the Housing Authority's board, said Florida 2012 should have been more inclusive in putting its bid together.

"You get a community effort when you have community involvement," Davin said. "By and large, it is their plan for us."

A community meeting is scheduled for Blake High School from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today to tell residents how those plans could affect them. Another meeting is scheduled for St. Peter Claver Catholic Church from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Residents at Central Park Village have heard rumors that their complex could be torn down to make way for a stadium. Many residents are untroubled by that prospect -- as long as they get a newer, safer place to live in return.

"As old as this place is, people deserve another place to live," said Regina Reynolds, who has lived in a three-bedroom apartment at Central Park Village for more than six years.

Turanchik said all public housing residents would be relocated to a better place if their complexes are used as Olympic venues.

- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.

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