Can Tampa grow into a world-class city??? (Miami, Orlando: schools, college)

[kbtoy7891]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

The Tampa Bay Area is a fairly sprawling area, constituting two major cities. As far as Vietnamese culture is concerned, Pinellas is more concentrated than Orange at this point. Orange may have the raw numbers, but Pinellas is the more concentrated county for Vietnamese in FL. You do know what concentrated means, right??? It's the population of a particular group in an area divided by the total population of that area, so Pinellas wins the concentration contest.

Also, I never said that Orlando didn't have Vietnamese communities, as it has some, but remember, I wasn't talking about the highest population but the highest concentrations, and that's what Pinellas has over Orange at this point!!! It's not a tie when you have about 0.2% above another county. It just proves that Pinellas has slightly more Vietnamese people by concentration, not necessarily by population.

You said “The West Coast of FL” has the highest concentration. It doesn’t.
The difference in all aspects is negligible. And this all goes back to your bizarre claim that Orlando lacks the ethnic neighborhoods that Tampa has.
The only part of Tampa that could be remotely considered an ethnic neighborhood would be Temple Terrace, where there is a fairly high concentration of Indian and Middle Eastern businesses.

And the shrimping industry in the region is largely controlled by white Floridians… As is the vast majority of the fishing industry overall.

[kbtoy7891]

To sum things up, no, Tampa is not on its way to becoming a world class city, and is rapidly losing its foothold as Florida’s second city. It is hardly the primary city of its own region anymore. No, it is not on its way to incorporating rail transit. No, it is not building tall towers. It is sprawling as much as the most sprawl parts of the state. Hillsborough County has no interest in turning it into an urban paradise. And downtown has a severe homelessness issue that I haven’t seen the likes of anywhere else in the state. A lot of work needs to be done… And at this rate, we will all be long dead before any solid progress is made.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by kbtoy7891

To sum things up, no, Tampa is not on its way to becoming a world class city, and is rapidly losing its foothold as Florida’s second city. It is hardly the primary city of its own region anymore. No, it is not on its way to incorporating rail transit. No, it is not building tall towers. It is sprawling as much as the most sprawl parts of the state. Hillsborough County has no interest in turning it into an urban paradise. And downtown has a severe homelessness issue that I haven’t seen the likes of anywhere else in the state. A lot of work needs to be done… And at this rate, we will all be long dead before any solid progress is made.

Tampa could've been a "world-class" city a while ago. Until leadership deficiencies and lack of vision are addressed, no one on CD will be around to see it.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

Tampa could've been a "world-class" city a while ago. Until leadership deficiencies and lack of vision are addressed, no one on CD will be around to see it.

Yes. I will say that IMO, Bob Buckhorn was one of if not the best mayor Tampa has ever had. He got great things done for the city and had an incredible vision plan. It's gone downhill since then sad to say.

[germanoricua]

Originally Posted by kbtoy7891

The only thing Orlando doesn't have is an Ybor City equivalent. [/url]

Orlando has downtown Kissimmee (Broadway) - not to be confused with Old Town Kissimmee near Disney! Downtown Kissimmee (also called Kissimmee Main Street) is smaller than Ybor City but nicer and cleaner. And very authentically Puerto Rican. It has restaurants, bars, stores, an antique mall, Casa del Artesano (Puerto Rican art), Casa de la Cultura de Venezuela etc.

About 2 blocks from there is Kissimmee Lakefront Park.

That whole area is very walkable. You could first take a walk through Lakefront Park, watch the sunset and then go and have dinner and entertainment downtown Kissimmee on Broadway, especially on weekends.

At the back of the Casa del Artesano is Pa'l Callejón, an outdoor Puerto Rican restaurant with a dance floor and a small stage. They have bands on the weekends.

And there is Miguelo's Ultra Lounge, a Puerto Rican family restaurant with a separate area with a bar, dance floor and stage. They also have bands on the weekend.

Another very walkable area in the Orlando metro area is Celebration. You can walk all of it and it is beautiful.

Originally Posted by kbtoy7891

There are Italians in Tampa?
Yes, the old Cuban culture can be nice, but it is mostly removed from the city, and many of those old neighborhoods have been reduced to abandoned lots, crumbling infrastructure, and downright blight.
[/url]

That is how I remember Ybor City. I took visitors there on different occasions. It is run down and there are strange people walking around during the day. It was not very appealing.

The same applies to parts of downtown Tampa. The walk along the river is OK but as soon as you get away from there into the downtown streets it becomes sketchy.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by germanoricua

The same applies to parts of downtown Tampa. The walk along the river is OK but as soon as you get away from there into the downtown streets it becomes sketchy.

Maybe north of downtown around I-275, but the majority of the downtown area is not "sketchy". I've worked downtown for nearly 15 years, and it's improved significantly over that time.

Please identify specific areas downtown you think are "sketchy".

RM

[kbtoy7891]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Maybe north of downtown around I-275, but the majority of the downtown area is not "sketchy". I've worked downtown for nearly 15 years, and it's improved significantly over that time.

Please identify specific areas downtown you think are "sketchy".

RM

Morgan and Marion, South of I-275, and again at Cass and Polk immediately comes to mind.

[germanoricua]

Originally Posted by MortonR

Maybe north of downtown around I-275, but the majority of the downtown area is not "sketchy". I've worked downtown for nearly 15 years, and it's improved significantly over that time.

Please identify specific areas downtown you think are "sketchy".

RM

We walked around N. Tampa Ave., N. Florida Street between Madison and Polk and were looking for a place to have breakfast on a late Sunday morning. Some of the blocks are OK but as soon as you turn the wrong corner, it can look run down.

It always reminds me of Jacksonville, where I lived before. Downtown Jax is very pretty at places, e. g. along the St. John's River but a few blocks down some streets it can be very different.

[saturno_v]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

Miami isn one of the densest major cities in the US, only behind NYC, SF, and Boston.

Not by my impression visiting it....still a long way from truly dense cities (Vancouver for example).

[saturno_v]

We should define what "world class city" means in the first place...there is a lot of BS and marketing fluff in some aspects of it.