The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
This category is used of the post has some direct relationship to Tampa.
I’ve got to tell you that the City of Tampa’s Construction Services appears to be an epic failure. I’ve discovered an amazing disregard for the Citizen’s of Tampa; a significant lack of enthusiasm for enforcing even the most basic codes; and all of that at a fairly high level within the organization.
Read moreIt has been overcast all day, and rainy for a good portion of the afternoon, and now into the evening.
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I went to get a haircut Wednesday morning at the Gandy Barbershop. It’s owned by Steve, but Tony, a British guy, is the barber I use. When I was paying and getting ready to leave he showed me a framed article by a local Tampa Tribune columnist, Steve Otto, which talked about Tony and the barbershop. I got me thinking about my earliest memories of going to the barbershop. Of course I know I went before we moved to Kings Mountain, but the first memory I have of going was to Central Barbershop right downtown on Mountain Street, beside Griffin’s Drug Store.
Read moreThe unfortunate reality is that we simply don’t want to have see this kind of poverty in our own neighborhood. We don’t want to be reminded of how many people are hurting, and how badly they hurt. We are simply afraid to look in the eyes of these people. It makes us uncomfortable, and we want to banish them so we no longer have to see what we have wrought.
Read morePictures of Lay’s family over for the Labor Day weekend. We had loads of fun swimming, and making giant bubbles out of a soap solution. Bubbles are a favorite thing with the nieces, and giant bubbles just secured my place as favorite uncle for a while longer.
Read moreWe’ve got crazies coming out of the woodwork. In Tampa we have a guy calling 911 for phone sex, and another guy taking a tire iron to a Greek Orthodox Priest (because we all know how easy it is to mistake them for Arab Terrorists), and a “Christian” group wanting to try to incite people to gay bash so they can become martyrs charged under the revised hate crimes law. WWJW
Read moreSome of you will know that Lay’s been through a two and one-half year experience trying to get naturalized. Of course he had permanent status, and has lived here since he was 2 years old. In fact, he’s never been back ot Laos. So it was past time to go ahead and get this over with, but little did we know what an ordeal it would be. Then, I came away from the Naturalization Ceremony profoundly concerned about the complete lack of competence in how even the ceremony was conducted.
Read moreOK, I know that about this time every year I write something about Autumn being my favorite time of year. I know, Tampa, FL is not the place to be thinking about Autumn. I think we get our Autumn here in January, the time of year when these nasty live oaks dump a big portion of their leaves. Still, there is a rhythm that comes with the seasons no matter where one lives, and I love this time of year for the sense of “settling-in.”
Read moreI am glad I was not on the road for most of Sunday, and even then, we stayed on surface streets and around the neighborhood. Three crashes (I-75, I-4 and I-275) all had major accidents within a two hour window Sunday afternoon that involved over 100 vehicles, and sent 14 people to the hospital. Fortunately, no one seemed to have life-threatening injuries.
Read moreDale Mabry was closed at Bay to Bay all day yesterday and most of today, there was a bank robbery and shootout, a pack of cocaine was found in a fire station washer, and then they ran over someone they were going to help.
Read moreFrom yesterday, we’ve got a “pig” traffic tie up out in Pasco County, and today we’ve got rain, rain, and more rain, and do you know what one calls 1,000 lawyers on the bottom of the ocean?
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