Welcome to Thinking Out Loud, a blog that contains postings from The Tampa Tribune’s Editorial Board and from various Tribune Community Columnists. Unlike the unsigned editorials that represent the newspaper’s institutional voice, the blog postings offer personal perspectives on the issues, personalities and events of Tampa Bay.
We invite you to participate by posting your comments. We’ll do our best to respond.
Contributors:
Joe Guidry
Joe Guidry is the deputy editorial page editor of The Tampa Tribune. He is a Tampa native and a graduate of the University of South Florida. He is married and has an adult son.
Jeff Stidham
Jeff Stidham grew up and lives in Bartow. He has been with the Tribune for nearly 22 years, the last 10 on the editorial board.
William Yelverton
William Yelverton is a Tribune editorial writer who has worked for the paper nearly 22 years. He lives in the Dade City area.
Jim Beamguard
Jim Beamguard is a Tribune editorial writer. He is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of Davidson College. He and his family live in Brandon.
Jackie Papandrew:
Jackie Papandrew is a freelance writer and editor. Her syndicated humor column appears in publications in the United States, Canada and India. She lives in Largo with her husband and children. Visit her website at www.jackiepapandrew.com.
Camille Beredjick
Camille Beredjick is a senior at Chamberlain High School, an avid musician and a scribbler with a quirky sense of humor. In the fall, she will be attending Northwestern University to study journalism, political science and music, and she plans to pursue a career in journalism.
Jim Harnish
Jim Harnish is in his 17th year as Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. He and his wife, Marsha, have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and received the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Bethune-Cookman University. He is the author of six books and numerous articles and studies. He enjoys playing with his grandchildren and cheering for the Florida Gators.
Angela Hunt
Angela Hunt is a novelist living in Pinellas County with her husband and two 220-pound mastiffs.
Sheryl Young
Sheryl Young was a Tampa Tribune Community Columnist in 2005-2006. A freelance writer since 1997, including the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Tampa Style Magazines, St. Pete Times and nationally in Better Nutrition, Today’s Christian Woman and more. She’s received a First Place Amy Foundation national "Roaring Lambs" Writing Award, and has lived in Tampa Bay with her family for over 20 years.
Christie Gold
Christie Gold teaches English and journalism at Freedom High School in Tampa where she advises Revolution, the school newspaper. She has been both the Hillsborough County Teacher of the Year and Florida Journalism Teacher of the Year. She lives on a small farm in Wesley Chapel where she trains as a competitive equestrian.
Natalie D. Preston
Natalie D. Preston is a karaoke singing, only-child pouting, Seminole Tomahawk waving, newlywed bride blushing, 50-state traveling, girlie girl who loves to shop, read, run and jump up and down on her soapbox.
Fernando Figueroa
Fernando Figueroa is a researcher, educator and lives in Riverview.
Gary Beemer
Interests include humor, politics, economics, community and world affairs, finance, people, religion, music, sports, current events, the arts and education.
Nicole Yunger Halpern
Nicole Yunger Halpern is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, where she studies everything she can get her nerdy little hands on. Desired major: life. No, not necessarily biology. Life.
Kris DiGiovanni
Kris DiGiovanni is a Tribune Community Columnist, Huffington Post contributor, Daily Kos diarist, and teacher, who recently moved from NW Hillsborough to another planet - a small beach community in Pinellas County. She also blogs at www.sandscript.wordpress.com
H. David Braswell Jr.
H. David Braswell Jr. is an Information Systems Professional. He is a native New Yorker and a lifelong NY Giants fan. He attended college in California (Cal State Northridge) and moved to Tampa in 1998.
Sean Marcus
Sean Marcus teaches creative writing, journalism and reading at Chamberlain High School. He has one son and is
expecting a daughter in early March. He can be reached at wuizabug@gmail.com
Can a Legoland at Cypress Gardens boost Tampa’s economy?
Posted Feb 4, 2010 by Sheryl Young
Updated Feb 4, 2010 at 12:14 PM
On January 21, Governor Charlie Crist announced that a Legoland® Theme Park will be developed on the ailing Cypress Gardens property.
The Legoland will have a hands-on building theme geared to children’s activities with the famous Lego® brand building blocks, plus innovative rides and other entertainment. It is expected to bring about 1,000 jobs to Central Florida.
Merlin Entertainment Group, the British company that develops Legoland Theme Parks internationally, has purchased the property for a sum of about $22 million. Merlin only has one other Legoland in the United States, and it is in the San Diego area.
Governor Crist was present at Cypress Gardens for the announcement. He applauded the cooperation between various levels of government and the private sector; and the boost it will provide for Florida’s economy. See video from the event here at BayNews9.
Hopefully, with people who may be willing to drive more than an hour to work just to find work, it will provide some jobs for currently unemployed Tampa residents. The theme park is expected to open sometime in 2011.
Although my last visit was in the early 1990’s, I remember Cypress Gardens as a beautiful nature park in Winter Haven. It was there for over seventy years providing tourism revenue to the area. However, within the last ten years or so, it fell on hard times.
There were water ski shows, boat rides and tours of the colorful flower gardens and landscapes. But Cypress Gardens could no longer compete with livelier, ever-evolving amusement parks like Busch Gardens and the Disney World complex. Efforts to attract younger, more technology-minded crowds had disappointing results. Economy for nearby business owners suffered with less tourism.
When Cypress Gardens previously shopped for a buyer, Land South Adventures took over. The company put in a water park and other rides, retaining the Cypress Gardens name, but it still could not compete and went under inside of two years.
Now, Merlin has come to the rescue….or have they? I wonder what they’ll charge for admission. If theme parks would quit making their prices sky-high when they know people are struggling, they’d get more visitors.
