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Ok, forget what anyone has said about pivotal moments for the Rays. The three game series against the Boston Red Sox that began last night is undoubtedly the biggest thing to ever happen in Tampa Bay baseball history…to date anyway. After Wednesday night’s game, the Rays could find themselves anywhere from feeling free to place [...]

I’ve been thinking about two things in the past week or so, and both have to do with the opportunity, artistic and otherwise, provided by living on the edge of a frontier, an exurban terra incognita.
Thing One: Getting in on the ground floor of any movement or trend is an appealing thought. Your chance [...]

As far as local elections go, we complain that the local media don’t give us the coverage we want.  Of course, the local parties themselves are not all that forthcoming with online information.  For as much “communicating” they claim to want to do, local party websites sure are bare:
The Hillsborough County Republican Party website has [...]

Excerpt from Agenda for 9/17 Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners’ Meeting (page 14):
Commissioner Norman
[Item #] F-2:  Give authority to County Administrator to ask the Hughes family for permission to name the Moral Courage Award after Mr. Ralph Hughes and request a family member to participate in all future presentations.
Agenda Backup:
“Prior to meeting each commissioner [...]

If you are going to any Buccaneers games at Raymond James Stadium this year, you may want to chill on the getting obnoxious part.
Wanting to make the football game experience more family-friendly, the NFL announced tougher rules on your actions in the stands back in August. It includes bans on:

Behavior that is unruly, disruptive, [...]

You will remember the quadriplegic dumped from his wheelchair.

According to an independent panel, it was  an “anomaly” — a shocking moment uncharacteristic of the overall detention system.

American Civil Liberties Union of Florida board member Lorie Fridell was on the panel:

“We are well-known for calling it like we see it, and we are well-known for looking [...]

On the afternoon of Aug. 18, Pinellas officials ordered mandatory evacuation of the county’s most flood-prone areas for 6am the next day.  Tropical Storm Fay was heading our way.

Over at the TradeWinds Island Resorts in St. Pete Beach, visitors checked out and took off.  They say they missed out on over $150,000 in canceled rooms [...]

After his daughter was diagnosed with leukemia, Fox 13 reporter Charley Belcher said he wanted to raise money and awareness about the cancer.  He now has the opportunity with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night.  Here’s a note we received from Charley:

As many of you know, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is [...]

According to the print edition of this week’s Creative Loafing, they received over 3,000 ballots for the 2008 Best of the Bay readers’ poll.
We are proud to announce that Sticks of Fire has been named a finalist for Best Local Blog, along with two other great blogs, Seminole Heights and Creative Loafing.
We also want to [...]

When I was in high school, my friends and I walked about a mile from my home to the bus stop.  That was from 1982 to ‘85.  It was dark, and seemed like a long walk to us, but three to five of us walked together, and got used to it.  At the end of [...]

Tommy at Sticks of Fire is looking for suggestions on how to increase voter turnout, especially elections that don’t involve presidential candidates and don’t take place in November. Here are the suggestions I offered.
1. Voting registration drives in the political off-season. During the heat of a political season, wary citizens are afraid of being bamboozled [...]

Giblets takes a look at the “Jesus-fearing moose-hunting hockey-mom mother of five” that has won the whole world’s heart.
“So maybe Sarah Palin doesn’t have all that much “experience.” Maybe she doesn’t pay much attention to your fancy-pants “foreign policy” or “domestic policy” or “policy.” Maybe she’s “crazy” and “corrupt” and was picked by a [...]

We recently mentioned the low voter turnout for the primaries in Pinellas and Hillsborough, and suggested that you just don’t care about picking a leader.  But was that a fair statement?
Creative Loafing’s Wayne Garcia weighed in on the sorry turnout for voting in the primaries, calling it “crappy.”  He says the “circumstances” include (my highlights):
few [...]

Mariella lays out the case against Brian Blair here.
And, the Ybor City Stogie has been collecting info about Blair for some time at The Blair Watch Project

Re/Creating Tampa supports transparency in government and candidates who shun lobbyist lucre. Blair’s alliance with developers casts a pall over every decision he makes as commissioner. Hillsborough County will [...]

Green design is great, but when I think about recreating Tampa I’m really thinking more along these lines -
Grow Your Own House.
Here’s an example of a living treehouse.
This chair, grown by John Krubsack, (photo taken in 1919) is an early example of functional arborsculpture.