Creative Loafing Tampa — October 24, 2024 by Chava Communications

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Gimme shelter

Photos by Dave Decker

Last Wednesday, outside the Cinnamon Cove Apartments, residents and activists gathered to demand that tenants get free housing arrangements while post-Milton repairs are underway at the complex just north of Tampa’s University Square Neighborhood. A press release from the local chapter of Party for Socialism and Liberation says entire families are sleeping on the streets and in grass. “ Families are left with nothing—no beds, no blankets, or mattresses. Mold is starting to set in after days of flooding,” the release added. Like many parts of Hillsborough County, Cinnamon Cove is not in a high-risk flood zone. Still, WTSP says heavy rains associated with Hurricane Milton led to waist-deep flooding. Reps for the apartment complex did not respond to the TV station. This is a developing story. See more photos via cltampa.com/slideshows.—Ray Roa

do this

Tampa Bay's best things to do from October 24 - 30

Head ‘west

Who doesn’t need a beer right about now? As Tampa Bay continues to pick itself up after backto-back hurricanes, one beer festival in St. Petersburg wants to make it a little easier to catch a buzz without the use of a chainsaw. A press release says that in response to Hurricane’s Milton and Helene, a portion of proceeds from next weekend’s OctoberWest craft beer festival will beneﬁt the local chapter of Mutual Aid Disaster Relief (MADR). The organization mobilized after Helene and is currently running a free market in Tampa where community members can get clothes and supplies at no charge. What’s more is that admission to the event at St. Petersburg’s James Museum of Wildlife and Western Art are now buy-one-get-one-free when ticket buyers use the code BOGO at checkout. Among the nearly two dozen beers available for sampling are another collaborative brew between JDubs, Channelside Brewing and CL. The “OctoberWest” marzen is a German amber lager traditionally served during Oktoberfest, and the can was designed by CL designer Joe Frontel, according to the release.

OctoberWest: Saturday, Oct. 26. 6 p.m.-10 p.m. $30 & up. The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art. 150 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. octoberwest.com—Ray Roa

Crash into me

There are just a few things you need to know about the 12-day, Hillsborough County Fair to see what its priorities are: The kickoff date (Halloween), its last two big events (demolition derby, M-word wrestling) and that any yearling heifers due to calve within 30 days of arrival/exhibition at the fair must have a negative HPAI/ H5N1 test no more than seven days prior to arrival on fairgrounds. South county’s greatest tradition also includes three days of rodeo in the grandstand, parades, circus acts, tractor pulls and more. A $2 day kicks off the remarkably affordable event. Hillsborough County Fair: Oct. 13-Nov. 11. $3-$9 admission; armbands start at $25; grandstand entertainment $30-$40. Hillsborough County Fairgrounds, 215 Sydney Washer Rd., Dover. hillsboroughcountyfair.com—Ray Roa

Caught in the Webb’s

There’s nothing scarier than losing your identity, and while St. Petersburg is a city experiencing rapid, sometimes polarizing growth, it’s hard to argue that there aren't some long gone buildings that haunt local preservationists. Two smart guys—Rui Farias and Manny Leto, Executive Directors at St. Petersburg Museum of History and Preserve The ‘Burg, respectively—will “share spooky tales of buildings that have vanished from the St. Pete landscape” at this lecture. Webb’s City (“The World’s Most Unusual Drugstore” if you believe the hype) will surely be on the docket, but so might many of the Sunshine City’s old hotels (Floronton, Pheil), banks (American Bank and Trust), and theaters (La Plaza). And if you’re looking for a Tampa-centric haunted history activity, check out Friday’s “Legends and Landmarks: A Haunted History Hunt” organized by the Tampa Downtown Partnership; the organization’s inaugural interactive scavenger hunt kicks off at downtown’s Hillsborough Lodge, and more information is available via tampadowntownpartnership.com.

PlaceMattersSP—Ghost Buildings, Places That Haunt St. Pete’s Past: Thursday, Oct. 24. 6 p.m.-7 p.m. Free with RSVP ($10 donation optional). Nelson Poynter Memorial Library at University of South Florida, 140 7th Ave. S, St. Petersburg. ptb.wildapricot.com—Ray Roa

DUNN,

My boos

Local kids have spent the last month navigating back-to-back hurricanes, being out of school, and seeing their parents stressed-the-fuck-out. The least we could do is take them out for some free candy. Both sides of the Bay get an early jump on family-friendly Halloween activities this weekend starting in Tampa where the party starts Saturday on the Riverwalk’s one-mile stretch of fun that’ll include 50 treat stations in between Water Works and MacDill parks (4 p.m.- 7 p.m.). On Sunday across the bridge, Grand Central District’s 22-block celebration is complete with costumes, treats, entertainment, and more. From drag, to dog races, markets, and sidewalk chalk, St. Petersburg’s Halloween on Central (noon-5 p.m., pictured) even includes indoor activities at the Imagine Museum. Saturday-Sunday: Oct. 26-27, No cover. More information at thetampariverwalk.com and grandcentraldistrict.org.—Ray Roa

Over at hill

Across the state, so many of our natural refuges are still picking up after hurricanes Milton and Helene. The Florida State Parks system lists two dozen closures including seven in the Bay area. Municipal green spaces are hurting, too, but there’s a chance to roll up your sleeves, put on some closed toe shoes and help one. Tampa Bay Estuary and Friends of Boyd Hill have teamed up for a cleanup where volunteers will rake and remove debris from the trails around the 245-acre preserve’s Pioneer Settlement living museum. Bring work gloves (and a rake if you have them). Lunch is on organizers.

Boyd Hill Community Cleanup: Saturday, Oct. 26. 9 a.m.-noon. No cover. Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. 1101 Country Club Wy S, St. Petersburg. @friendsofboydhill on Instagram—Ray Roa

Banana boy

In a phone call, Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay and America’s Roastmaster skipped talking more shit about Tom Brady. Instead, Ross admitted to being a bit nervous to hop back into this show after a few months off. But in reality, the 59-year-old has been building towards “Take A Banana For The Road” since the ‘90s when he wasn’t quite emotionally tough enough to pull the set, which includes live music and candid talk about the people in his personal life, off. “It’s a human experience that plays out on stage,” he told CL, adding that he was inspired to make it real after the deaths of Norm MacDonald, Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried. There will be roasting of volunteers at the end, and it’s not politically correct, but more than anything “Banana” is a story about resilience that even Ross’ biggest fans may not have seen coming. Read more of our chat via cltampa.com/arts.

Jeff Ross—Take A Banana For The Road: Saturday, Oct. 26. 7:30 p.m. $45 & up. Ferguson Hall at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N Macinnes Pl., Tampa strazcenter.org Ray Roa

La la land

It’s time to vote, Tampa Bay—here’s a cheat sheet.

By Ray Roa

The 2024 General Election wraps up in less than two weeks, and anyone registered and seeking to vote must do so by Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 4). It would be really cool if you got it done early either by returning a mail ballot or via a visit to any early voting site, including 26 in Hillsborough (open daily until Monday, Nov. 3), 13 in Pasco (open until Sunday, Nov. 2).

BALLOT GUIDE

Pinellas has seven early voting locations, and three of them will extend early voting until Election Day while the rest will be open until Monday, Nov. 3.

vote in person instead. They do not have to bring their mail ballot with them to vote in person. The poll worker will cancel the mail ballot electronically when they check-in to vote in person.

We hope this guide helps. See more on issues in Dunedin, Largo, Seminole and the greater Bay area—then download a more handheld version of these recommendations—via cltampa. com/news.

Folks reading this in print who still have a mail ballot, will have to return it to a mail ballot drop box or vote in person (see below). Pinellas has two dozen of them, and mail ballots in Hillsborough and Pasco county can be returned to any Supervisor of Elections ofﬁce or early voting location.

Anyone who still has their mail ballot on Election Day has two choices for voting: they can mark their mail ballot and drop it off in a secure ballot intake station at any of the elections ofﬁces in their county (no later than 7 p.m.) or they can go to their Election Day precinct and

If you’re a voter who was displaced or can’t get mail at your address due to the recent hurricanes, all you have to do is call your local Supervisor Of Elections, provide information, and make a mail-ballot request. The deadline is Oct. 24—and any mail ballot requested within 10 days of Election Day will require a special emergency afﬁdavit.

No matter where you live, the general election ballot is a beast, from the simple choice at the top of the ticket, to relatively easy ones about state amendments and local tax referendums, and the more complicated decisions about municipal races, charter changes, and judges.

Creative Loaﬁ ng Tampa Bay readers know the publication believes in free, reliable news about where we live and hopes to contribute to a full picture of life in Tampa Bay. We strive to produce work that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities. Housing, transportation, systems of justice, public safety, health and wellbeing, and the environment are our primary concerns, and our readers are not spectators in the process. We also write about food, music, and art.

What follows is how we’re voting, laid out in the simplest way possible, with short explanations of the more complicated choices.

Reporting from former CL contributor, and current Orlando Weekly staffer, McKenna Schueler, appears in the supreme court retention section of this guide.

President and Vice President: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

You’re holding your nose at the top of the ticket, but in 2024, the “both parties are bad” and “lesser of two evils” stance is less groundbreaking than ever. While there’s no downplaying the despair of looking at yet another subpar Democratic ticket that will continue to send bombs around the world and in many instances kowtow to powerful donors, the third parties— as vital as they are—offer not much more than spoiler vibes this cycle.

Some people won’t vote even in this race on principle, but we believe that does a disservice to marginalized communities who’ll be heavily continued on page 15

KAM’ ON : You better call your Mamala.

GAGE SKIDMORE

Taste the Sunshine:

from page 13

impacted by a GOP seemingly hell-bent on making life harder for those in the LGBTQ+, POC, disabled, and migrant communities. That’s not even mentioning any human with reproductive abilities, anyone getting Medicare and Medicaid, or the folks who can ﬁnally go to the doctor thanks to the Affordable Care Act (thanks, Obama). The Trump years were a circus, and his brand of politics threatens not just decency, but the environment, and (yes, we know you’re sick of hearing it but it’s true) democracy itself. With razor-thin margins in Congress, where the Republicans rule, and Senate where Democrats barely have a functional majority, every race really matters when it comes to the policies of the next four years.

U.S. Senate: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

Mucarsel-Powell could not even earn the endorsement from Florida AFL-CIO in her Democratic primary race against Stanley Campbell—and in response told Bay area community radio station WMNF-Tampa 88.5-FM that the union would simply fall in line in the general. That may be true, but she is running against Medicare fraudster and Trump asskisser Rick Scott. Her hilarious recent attack ad portrays Scott as a snake, and it’s sadly true—the choice is clear here for U.S. Senate.

U.S. House of Representatives

There’s much intrigue in the Bay area’s congressional races. Democrat Whitney Fox emerged from a strong primary ﬁeld to face incumbent Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican who’s been dodging how she’ll vote on Florida’s abortion amendment. And former Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp says she’s polling competitively against Laurel Lee.

But these hurricanes should spell the end for Republican representatives who last month argued with Democrats over a government funding bill that included billions in additional disaster-relief funding. The Dems gave in, and the house passed a stripped back bill that extended FEMA’s funding through 2024— but did not infuse the agency with more money.

Local electeds in these races—including Gus Bilirakis, Laurel Lee, and Anna Paulina Luna—still voted against that watered down legislation, then started acting like they gave a shit when Helene and Milton ruined our neighborhoods. They should be ashamed at the least, and combined with their spineless allegiance to Trump, don’t deserve another term.

District 12

Gus Bilirakis (REP)

Rock Aboujaoude Jr. (DEM)

District 13

Anna Paulina Luna (REP)

Whitney Fox (DEM)

Tony D’Arrigo (WRI)

District 14

Robert “Rocky” Rochford (REP)

Kathy Castor (DEM)

Nathaniel T. Snyder (LPF)

Christopher Bradley (NPA)

District 15

Laurel Lee (REP)

Patricia ‘Pat’ Kemp (DEM)

District 16

Vern Buchanan (REP)

Jan Schneider (DEM)

District 17

Greg Steube (REP)

Manny Lopez (DEM)

Florida Legislature

It’s no secret that Republicans hold a supermajority in Tallahassee (84-36 in the House; 28-12 in the Senate). That imbalance makes it hard to stop horrendous policies (read: insurance) and the smoldering culture wars, but there is hope for some kind of headway against a reckless and often feckless GOP. Yes, the gulf between parties means the ability to reach across the aisle is important—just look at the don’t-call-themreparations-bill Sen. Darryl Rouson was able to get for the victims at the Dozier School. But

it’s imperative to celebrate and re-elect smart and effective incumbents (Reps. Lindsay Cross, Michelle Rayner, Dianne Hart, Fentrice Driskell), and uplift challengers (Ashley Brundage, Nathan Bruemmer) whose aspirations are only eclipsed by their promise to bring more sensible, human policymaking than what’s being offered by incumbents who seek to demonize our neighbors instead of bringing them together.

State Senate

District 21

Ed Hooper (REP)

Doris H. Carroll (DEM)

District 23

Danny Burgess (REP)

Ben Braver (DEM)

John Houman (IND)

State Representative

District 57

Adam C. Anderson (REP)

Kelly Johnson (DEM)

Robert “Bob” Arthur Larrivee (NPA)

District 58

Kimberly “Kim” Berﬁeld (REP)

Bryan Beckman (DEM)

District 59

Berny Jacques (REP)

Dawn Douglas (DEM)

District 60

Ed Montanari (REP)

Lindsay Cross (DEM)

District 61

Linda Chaney (REP)

Nathan Bruemmer (DEM)

District 62

Nelson Amador (REP)

Michele K. Rayner (DEM)

District 63

Dianne Hart (DEM)

Tim Driver (REP)

District 64

Susan L. Valdes (DEM)

Maura Cruz Lanz (REP)

District 65

Karen Gonzalez-Pittman (REP)

Ashley Brundage (DEM)

continued on page 17

BALLOT GUIDE

District 66

Traci Koster (REP)

Nick Clemente (DEM)

District 67

Fentrice Driskell (DEM)

Ronrico ‘Rico’ Smith (REP)

District 68

Lawrence McClure (REP)

Lisa Carpus (DEM)

Tyrell Hicks (NPA)

District 69

Daniel ‘Danny’ Alvarez (REP)

Bobby Kachelries (DEM)

District 70

Michael Owen (REP)

Luther Keith Wilkins (DEM)

District 71

Will Robinson (REP)

Adriaan J. DeVilliers (DEM)

State Attorney (Hillsborough): Andrew Warren

In 2021, the office of now-suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren cited new evidence when it dropped charges against Tampa Black Lives Matter protester Jamie Bullock; that same office also filed a failed “Motion in Limine” attempting to remove any talk of the constitutional

right to free speech, the right to assemble and police behavior during the protest from the trial (among other things). It even sought to restrict CL photojournalists who were there that day from participating in the trial as witnesses—all after the office asked a CL photographer to sign an affidavit regarding a photo they took, and CL posted, documenting Tampa Bay’s first weekend of George Floyd protests (via a lawyer, we declined). But he always engaged us even in disagreement, and more importantly, served voters who sent him to office twice. That changed in 2022 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Warren in a showboating presser over his pledge not to prosecute abortion-related crimes after Roe v. Wade was overturned. A judge ultimately ruled that the governor violated the Florida Constitution and Warren’s First Amendment rights—but he still doesn’t have his job back.

The guv’s chosen replacement for Warren, Judge Suzy Lopez, has raised more than $1 million mostly from GOP funders and even took contributions form her own staff (Warren has more than $600,000 and has a policy of not taking money from staffers, according to the Tampa Bay Times). Lopez also had to back off charges on activists who were protesting the Ron DeSantisbacked “Stop Woke Act.” She has to win the ofﬁce this time, and the ofﬁce will always play the role of cop, but Warren deserves another shot.

More importantly, Florida’s wanna-beauthoritarian governor needs to be kept in check and at least be forced into subverting the will of voters yet again.

Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections: Craig Latimer

Latimer is a former cop and straight up nerd for elections—and he’s run 40 of them during his time as the SOE. His ofﬁce even got the Governor’s Sterling Award in 2015 for excellence in management of our sacred process. He is so nonpartisan that I often forget he’s a registered Democrat, and his opponent this year is a Republican who’s done a poor job of backing up his alleged concerns about election security. Billy Christensen is a newcomer to politics and apparently a relative newcomer to voting, compared to Latimer, who recently roasted his opponent over his voting record.

“My opponent has had the opportunity to vote 18 times, and he’s voted eight times, and now all of a sudden he wants to be the supervisor of elections,” Latimer said at a Tampa Tiger Bay Forum last month. Come on, dude.

Clerk Of Court (Hillsborough)

Cindy Stuart (DEM)

Victor Crist (REP)

Property Appraiser (Hillsborough)

Bob Henriquez (DEM)

John Ballance (REP)

Board Of County Commissioners (Hillsborough)

Hillsborough County’s Board of County Commissioners has been a depressing body as of late. Last month, just like it did last year, the body voted 4-3 to slash $8 million of an

affordable housing fund and use it for reduced property taxes, sidewalk repairs, and other investments. Now, affordable housing efforts will get only $2 million of the county funds. That vote happened along party lines, with Republican Ken Hagan being the swing vote. While Hagan gets props for standing up for the arts, and for joining Democrats in signing a Tampa Pride proclamation that didn’t ofﬁcially make it to the chamber, we’re torn on whether or not he should be replaced by Democratic Party volunteer worker Patricia Alonzo.

Instead, we hope that Democratic challenger Nicole Payne can help balance the increasingly red commission with wins over a DeSantis appointee (Christine Miller, District 4) while seasoned local politico Sean Shaw can keep the District 6 seat Pat Kemp is vacating blue.

District 2

Ken Hagan (REP)

Patricia Altagracia Alonzo (DEM)

District 4

Christine Miller (REP)

Nicole Payne (DEM)

District 6

Sean Shaw (DEM)

Chris Boles (REP)

continued from page 15

CALL CRAIG: Craig Lattimer deserves to run another 40 elections for Hillsborough County.

RAY ROA

Board Of County Commissioners (Pinellas)

We love cookies, and like Largo High alum and former Indian Rocks Beach Mayor Joanne “Cookie” Kennedy for the District 1 seat. Her service on Pinellas tourism councils and land use bodies, plus experience as a small business owner and commitment to ﬁguring out how to protect the barrier islands from hurricanes, makes her an easy pick over Chris Scherer who started his own development group and was appointed to the Pinellas Early Learning Coalition by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

District 3 incumbent Charlie Justice is also an easy choice due to his more-or-less nonpartisan vibe in a race against an opponent who, according to the Tampa Bay Times, was forced to settle a complaint over unlicensed contracting work. And anyone who backed Tampa’s horrendous #BockTheBlub street mural should not be making decisions for constituents.

District 1

Chris Scherer (REP)

Joanne ‘Cookie’ Kennedy (DEM)

District 3

Vince Nowicki (REP)

Charlie Justice (DEM)

School Board (Hillsborough and Pinellas)

These races are runoffs from the summer primary, and the choices could not be more clear on both sides of the Bay.

Former public and private school teacher

Lynn Gray, incumbent in District 7 for Hillsborough County (the country’s seventh largest school district) has served the board for nearly a decade. She placed ﬁrst in her crowded primary and now faces Karen Bendorf, a middle school teacher who opposes the tax that would raise teacher pay. Bendorf, a pastor’s wife, told the Tampa Bay Times she was inspired to run “after being asked to address a child by a pronoun she found uncomfortable.” Yikes.

While the races are nonpartisan, Republican Katie Blaxberg, running to serve District 5 in the country’s ninth largest school district, has drawn a bipartisan and wide-ranging coalition of support, which should come as no surprise. Despite being a ﬁrst-time candidate, she was an aide to former House Rep. Chris Latvala, and is even-keeled and wholly devoted to parents, but not in the Moms For Liberty kind of way. M4L, however, is an inspiration for Blaxberg’s opponent Stacy Geier. Double yikes.

Hillsborough School Board District 7

Lynn Gray

Karen Bendorf

Pinellas School Board District 5

Katie Blaxberg

Stacy Geier

Judge (Pinellas):

In Pinellas’ sixth circuit, Jenn Dubbeled, who has 17 years in the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender’s Ofﬁce, would do just ﬁne, but Nick Fiorentino—an attorney for local and state police unions—has racked up a wide body of support. It could go either way for us.

Not so much in Pinellas’ District Court of Appeal where a member of the controversial Federalist Society (Susan H. Rothstein-Youakim) is on the ballot. Best to go with incumbent Edward C. LaRose there.

6th Circuit, Group 14 (Pinellas)

Jenn Dubbeld

Nick Fiorentino

District Court of Appeal (Pinellas)

Anthony K. Black

Edward C. LaRose

Susan H. Rothstein-Youakim

Florida Supreme Court judicial retention

There are seven justices who make up the Florida Supreme Court and two of them—both DeSantis appointees—are up for a retention vote

other upheld the 15-week abortion ban and thus allowed Florida’s current six-week ban to go into effect one month later. Francis wrote the dissent on the ruling that allowed Amendment 4 to go into effect: “One must recognize the unborn’s competing right to life, and the state’s moral duty to protect that life.” Francis is also a member of the Federalist Society, a legal group dedicated to helping conservatives (like those that overturned Roe v. Wade) climb the judicial ranks and secure appointments to inﬂuential courts.

Justice Meredith Sasso— wife of Valencia College board of trustees member and Public Employees Relations Commissioner Michael Sasso—was appointed to the state’s highest court by DeSantis in 2023. She had previously been appointed by DeSantis to serve on the 6th District Court of Appeals and, before that, worked in the Ofﬁce of General Counsel to Gov. Rick Scott. Sasso, like Francis, dissented on the ruling that allowed Amendment 4 to make it onto the ballot. Meaning, she was in favor of blocking its placement on the ballot. Like Francis, Sasso is also a member of

taxpayer money and city land to the Rays for a new stadium. Recent storms have also led to questions about the city’s stormwater infrastructure and resiliency plans. Nick Carey would’ve been the best choice in District 3, where voters must now choose between two local business owners: Pete Boland (The Galley, The Ship’s Hold and Mary Margaret’s Olde Irish Tavern) and Mike Harting (3 Daughters Brewing).

BALLOT GUIDE

this year. Both have a record indicating they are anti-choice when it comes to abortion access.

Justice Renatha Francis was appointed by DeSantis to her position on the state’s highest court in 2022. He previously tried to appoint her in 2020, but she wasn’t yet qualiﬁed for the role. Prior to her current position, she worked as counsel at a law ﬁrm, working on class action and mass litigation and spent six years clerking for the 1st District Court of Appeals.

Where does she land on the issue of abortion?

On April 1, the Florida Supreme Court issued two rulings: one allowed Florida’s pro-abortion Amendment 4 to go on the ballot this year. The

the Federalist Society and concurred with the majority on the ruling that Florida’s 15-week ban should be upheld, thus allowing the sixweek ban to later go into effect.

If these judges are removed, DeSantis does get to pick their replacements.

Retention of Florida Supreme Court Justices

Renatha Francis NO

Meredith Sasso NO

St. Petersburg City Council

St. Petersburg is at a crossroads, with a contentious debate over whether to hand over

The District 5 race is intriguing in that it pits the generally liberal incumbent, and Rays deal supporter, Deborah Figgs-Sanders against Rick Baker-backed newcomer Torrie Jasuwan who told the Tampa Bay Times she would’ve voted “no” on the deal and held out for better terms. This race, too, is a toss up for us. Brother John Muhammad is done and won’t run for ofﬁce in District 7, which is a shame as his viewpoints brought a worker’s voice to the city council chambers. Vying to replace him are lifelong St. Pete residents, Cory Givens Jr., and Wengay “Newt” Newton who hopes to come back to council after serving two terms between 2008-2016. We’re all about new faces, but Newton’s experience (he went to state house representing south St. Pete) makes him the best choice for the seat.

District 3

Pete Boland

Mike Harting

District 5

Deborah Figgs-Sanders Torrie Jasuwan

District 7

Corey Givens Jr.

Wengay ‘Newt’ Newton

Florida Constitutional Amendments

The TLDR on state amendments is “Yes” on 3 and 4, and “No” on everything else. All amendments need a 60% threshold to pass. See the full ballot language of these amendments by visiting the online version of this guide, and a bit more explanation below.

No. 1: Partisan Election of Members of District School Boards: NO Our politics are polarized enough. Hell, there are even stark divisions between factions in the Democratic and Republican parties. Voters who care about school boards are smart enough to research when a candidate is an LGBTQ+-bashing, bookbanning, Moms 4 Liberty blowhard. Florida is also already a closed primary state and the auspice of keeping more people out of the voting process is cringe. Most importantly, these races are about students, not the hat on your head.

No. 2: Right to Fish and Hunt: NO This amendment asks voters, in part, “to preserve

continued on page 21

COME ON, MEN: Government should not make reproductive health decisions.

and Reduce Pain?

Reasons We Lack Flexibility

• Inactivity reduces flexibility.

• Repetitive muscle overuse in sports like tennis, golf, and running also decreases flexibility.

• Accidents, injuries, or surgery can lead to loss of mobility.

Why Stretching?

• Stretching helps to enhance mobility and range of motion, speed up recovery, and improve posture and circulation.

• Top athletes regularly incorporate stretching into their lives.

• Stretching improves your general wellbeing.

forever ﬁshing and hunting, including by the use of traditional methods, as a public right and preferred means of responsibly managing and controlling ﬁsh and wildlife.” The thing is—that right already exists. Wildlife advocates say this amendment could put local wildlife, residents and communities in danger while also impacting conservation efforts. Cocaine bears aren’t a real problem, and nature needs more protections, not less.

No. 3 Adult Personal Use of Marijuana: YES This is the recreational weed amendment, but don’t be fooled by the “big weed” ads circulating online and on TV. Even home growers and shops who would be excluded from selling marijuana recreationally—including Tampa legend Joe Redner—support this bill saying we need to open the door. While the potential tax windfall remains to be seen, more important is that way too many people have unnecessarily ended up in jail over pot. This bill allows for the possession of up to 3-oz. of ﬂower and up to 5-grams of cannabis concentrate. Light it up.

No. 4 Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion: YES Trump’s argument is that he helped the Supreme Court of the United States let states decide on abortion access. The fact of the matter is that women, and anyone with reproductive capabilities, shouldn’t have to travel to get health care. If passed, Amendment 4 would nullify Florida’s six-week abortion ban. Supporters of the amendment point out that many people don’t even know they’re pregnant at six weeks. Florida’s ban also makes no exceptions for rape, incest or human trafﬁcking after the 15th week of pregnancy. Doctors should not be afraid of becoming felons if they provide potentially life-saving healthcare to people. The GOP likes to say it is against government interference. Well, this is a way to get their hands on women.

Charter amendments (Pinellas)

There are seven charter amendments up for consideration in Pinellas County, ranging from term limits for county commissioners, hiring and ﬁring of county attorneys, and the amendment process itself.

No. 1: Providing for County Commissioner Term Limits: YES Electeds like to say that elections are like term limits, but this allows for new candidates and ideas to wedge their way into the policy-making process.

If passed, the measure prohibits County Commissioners who have held the ofﬁce for the preceding 12 years from appearing on a ballot for reelection and requiring a minimum of four years off the commission before serving again.

No. 2: Revising County Initiative Petition Requirements and Process: YES

No. 3: Lowering Signature Percentage for Petition Drives to Propose County Charter Amendments: YES Pinellas Amendments 2 and 3 modify how citizens can directly propose charter amendments. Amendment 2 would change the timeframe for groups to gather signatures, but its companion, Amendment 3, lowers the requirement for the number of signed petitions from 8% to 5% of all registered voters in the county. We’re a little torn on Amendment 2 since we’d like every opportunity for normal people to have a say in their government, but fully behind Amendment 3.

No. 4: Charter Amendment Revising Thresholds for Appointment and Removal of County Attorney: YES

BALLOT GUIDE

Pinellas’ County Attorney serves the supervisor of elections, tax collector, clerk of court, sheriff and property appraiser—plus the seven-member commission. Should this amendment pass, ﬁring the attorney would fall on the shoulders of a 12-member oversight committee. It’s a good idea.

(grammar snobs let us know all the time). This amendment simply allows for a cleanup of outdated language.

School board referendum (Pinellas)

No. 5: Annual Adjustments to the Value of Certain Homestead Exemptions: NO Talk about confusing ballot language. Florida homeowners already enjoy a homestead property exemption at a ﬁxed amount that does not account for inﬂation. But opponents of Amendment 5 point out that passage could result in decreased property tax revenue that could affect government services. Folks love to complain about taxes and then wonder why they’re not getting adequate services from their municipalities.

No. 6: Repeal of Public Campaign Financing Requirement: NO Money can be hard to come by in elections, and this decadesold policy provides funds for eligible candidates who must meet fundraising thresholds and agree to spending limits. Public ﬁnancing helps level a playing ﬁeld in a world where monied donors increasingly hold purse strings and call the shots.

No. 5: Referenda on County Charter Amendments to be Held at General Elections Only: YES Democracy works best when more people vote. This amendment would move votes on change to the Pinellas charter to the general election cycle—and not on municipal and primary elections.

No. 6: Conforming Publication Requirements for County Charter Amendment Referenda to the Florida Election Code: NO Democracy also works best when people have a chance to read about what the fuck they’re voting on. Current rules call for proposed amendments to be published in a newspaper for four weeks in a row, at least 45 days before the election. If Amendment 6 passes, that requirement would drop to just once in the ﬁfth week before the election date and once in the third week. CL doesn’t even make much money from these kinds of notices, but more transparency is better.

No. 7: Pinellas Charter Cleanup Amendment: YES Everyone needs an editor

Approval of One Mill Ad Valorem Tax for School District Operating Expenses with Independent Oversight: YES This referendum would increase the property tax to $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value (currently it’s just 50-cents per $1,000). This money goes towards teacher pay, and brings a teachers starting annual salary to just under $60,000. Support employees (ie: bus drivers) would get an increase of just over $2,910. What’s more is that arts, music, reading, ﬁeld trips and music would get 15% of the funds raised. Voters have taxed themselves in similar ways for two years, and this is good for public education. We bet Hillsborough County wished its constituents cared this much.

School board referendum (Hillsborough)

The School Board of Hillsborough County Millage Election for Public School Students: YES Hillsborough’s school tax (Referendum No. 2) proposes a property tax increase that would cost $1 for every $1,000 of assessed value. The tax would start July 1 and go for four years before renewal. That makes for an estimated $177 a year, to be split between public schools (85%) and charter schools (15%). Hillsborough public schools says it would use 90% of its cut to boost teacher pay. Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee used funds raised via their millages to pay starting teachers as much as $57,000 a year. Hillsborough is lagging behind with starting salaries at $47,501. Bus drivers and cafeteria workers would also get a boost. Everyone believes kids deserve better, this will go a long way in backing up that belief.

Hillsborough County Referendum No. 1

Renewal of Community Investment HalfCent Sales Tax Through December 31, 2041: YES Hillsborough’s Community Investment Tax (CIT) provides for first responders, parks, liberties, roads and utilities. Adopted nearly 30 years ago, the CIT is not perfect (it partially financed Raymond James Stadium), it has raised nearly $3 billion for the public. But it’s set to expire in 2026, so this referendum would extend the tax through 2041. This is a quality of life measure that gives our roads, parks and pipes a fighting chance. And voters worried about voting yes on this and the school tax should know that Referendum No. 1 also reduces Hillsborough schools’ collections of the CIT from 25% to 5%, robbery in our eyes. A yes vote is essential.

City of Tampa Referendum

Amendment to Tampa Charter Section 6.01 Regarding Residency Requirements for City Officers: NO Folks who run a city should live in it, not commute to work. We’re not saying that elected officers, top administrators and members of certain boards can’t be a good public servants if they do have to travel—and it’s certainly expensive to live in Tampa proper these days—but too often there’ve been squabbles over the addresses of police chiefs, communications directors. If passed, this amendment would effectively eliminate the residency requirement for all but elected officials (council members and the mayor would still have to live within city limits). Decision makers should be getting the same bills, services and experiences as the people they serve. If you don’t care enough to make an effort to live in the city, then why should you get the privilege of working for it?

See more ballot selections via cltampa.com/ news. Feedback can be emailed to rroa@cltampa. com.

KIDS IN THE HALL: If you want to serve the city, then live in it.

Almost there

The governor accommodates for elections, dismisses climate change concerns as virtue signaling.

By Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last Thursday that he has signed an executive order allowing supervisors of elections to make “modest but reasonable accommodations” to ensure voting access following Hurricane Milton.

The executive order adds Milton-affected counties on top of Helene-affected counties with some overlap. The executive order addresses Collier, Glades, Highlands, Indian River, Manatee, Orange, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and St. Lucie counties.

The order enables “supervisors of elections to make reasonable—modest but reasonable—accommodations if they have had damage to any of their voting sites because of the storm and to be able to ensure that folks have an ability and a place to be able cast their ballot,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Sarasota.

A similar executive order following Hurricane Helene included Charlotte, Dixie, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Taylor counties.

widespread damage to much of the Florida peninsula last week, DeSantis has been deﬂecting questions from the press about whether climate change is at work.

A reporter asked again last Thursday: “When will we hear the words climate change from you?”

DeSantis dismissed people worried about climate change as following a “religion.”

“The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero, so do not count on that,” he said. “I don’t subscribe to your religion, and it’s just a tired refrain and song and dance. I get you have an agenda. I understand that.”

ELECTIONS

Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a bill erasing references to “climate change” from state law. He added last Thursday that he believes that governing in a climate-conscious way would cause the country to collapse.

Early voting in Hillsborough and Pinellas: Oct. 21-Nov. 3. Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 4

“I think that there’s obviously going to be a need in some of those counties,” DeSantis said. “You know, some of the others may be in good shape, depending on how they fared for the storm.”

In Pinellas and Taylor counties, early voting will end on the day of the election instead of the third day before the election.

The executive order allows suspension of facility eligibility restrictions and ﬂexibility for ballot intake stations, or drop boxes. Mail-in ballots may be sent to an address other than the voter’s home address to accommodate those who have been forced to relocate. The governor’s order permits consolidation or relocation of precincts to contiguous precincts.

“I think you should be more honest about what that would mean for people, taxing them to smithereens, stopping oil and gas, making people pay dramatically more for energy. We would collapse as a country,” DeSantis said.

“So, this whole idea of climate ideology driving policy—it just factually can’t work. And so, in Florida, our energy is going to be affordable and reliable. That’s what you’re going to do. That’s the only way you can adequately respond to things like we just saw with the storms, to get people hooked back up.”

“The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero, so do not count on that.”

Earlier this week, supervisors of elections called for the accommodations.

“A signiﬁcant number of residents have been displaced from their homes, staying in temporary shelters or with relatives in other areas,” the supervisors wrote to DeSantis. “These voters may lack access to traditional voting methods or information about alternative options.”

DeSantis on climate change

Since the second major storm in two weeks brought high winds, ﬂooding, tornadoes, and

DeSantis was in Sarasota to give $100,000 from the Florida Disaster Fund to each of the direct school support organizations in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties to assist with recovery from the hurricane. Earlier Thursday, the governor announced a $1 million grant from the fund to nonproﬁts helping with hurricane recovery.

The state is operating points of distribution to hand out food, water, tarps, and other resources. A map of those sites can be found on the Division of Emergency Management website.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonproﬁt news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@ﬂoridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

Milk man

Trump dunked on by Bautista, Tampa construction worker.

By Colin Wolf

It’s no secret that Dave Bautista is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election. But in a recent segment on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the Tampa resident and “Dune” star did not hold any punches about how he feels towards Donald Trump.

In the clip, Kimmel points out that Harris is trailing Trump among “Alpha Males,” and decides to recruit Bautista for a brief video segment to show that the former president isn’t “strong enough to hold an umbrella.”

“Fellas, we gotta talk,” says Bautista while working out in a boxing gym. “A lot of men seem to think that Donald Trump is some kind of tough guy. He’s not. I mean, look at him, he wears more makeup than Dolly Parton. He whines like a baby. The guy is afraid of birds. Donald Trump had his daddy pay a doctor to say his little feet hurt so he could dodge the draft. Look at that gut. It’s like a garbage bag full of buttermilk.”

González, who said he wanted to give the MAGA leader a chance to “win back” his vote.

“I want to give you the opportunity to try and win back my vote,” said the 56-year-old construction worker to Trump, “your action and maybe inaction, during your presidency and maybe the last few years, sort of, was a little disturbing to me. What happened during January 6 and the fact that you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol? Coronavirus — I thought the public was misled during the coronavirus. And I feel many more lives could’ve been saved if we had been informed better.”

ELECTIONS

González, who was born in New Jersey and claims to be of Cuban descent, also noted that many people from Trump’s administration, including his own Vice President, no longer support him. “So why would I want to support you?” he asked.

HAPPY HOUR: WED/THU/FRI • 11AM-6PM FOOD & DRINK

“He’s barely strong enough to hold an umbrella,” continues Bautista. “He’s got jugs. Big ones. Like Dolly Parton. And you know that little dance he does? He looks like he’s jacking off a pair of giraffes.”

Bautista adds that “he’s moody. He pouts. He throws tantrums. He acts like a ﬁve year old behind the wheels of a truck. This November, let’s stop kidding ourselves.”

“The Guardians of The Galaxy” star and local tattoo shop owner has been a longtime critic of Trump, and once offered a $20,000 reward for ‘MAGATs’ who scraped “Trump” on a Florida manatee.

Last month, the former WWE wrestler told Instagram that he voted for Harris, and encouraged others to get out and vote on Nov. 5.

“Made my freedom heard,” wrote Bautista. “Voting early took me 20 mins—no excuses. Freedom isn’t something we just talk about; it’s something we act on. Do your part, get out there, and vote. Your voice matters, and this election’s too important to sit out.”

‘Your own vice president doesn’t support you’: Tampa man grills Trump at Univision town hall

In an attempt to win over Latino voters, former President Donald Trump held a town hall in Miami last week, only to get thoroughly cooked by a Tampa construction worker.

The event, which was aired on Spanish network Univision, had Trump ﬁelding questions from undecided Hispanic voters, like Tampa resident and undecided Republican Ramiro

Responding in a jumbled word salad, Trump argued that 97% of his former administration still support him, and stated that those who don’t, just want to “get a little publicity.” He then went on to say that thousands of people came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 because they thought it was a “rigged” election, and that “”Ashli Babbitt was killed, nobody was killed,” but overall it was a ‘”day of love.”

In a clip available at cltampa.com/news, it doesn’t appear that González, or others in the audience, were impressed by Trump’s answer.

HOLY COW: Bautista said Trump’s got jugs.

Early voting in Hillsborough and Pinellas: Oct. 21-Nov. 3. Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 4

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Tread not

Federal judge blocks DeSantis admin’s threats to broadcasters over Amendment 4 ads.

By Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix

Afederal judge temporarily barred the DeSantis administration from intimidating and coercing television stations that air ads in support of the proposed Amendment 4, which would bar government interference in abortion.

The ruling stops Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo as the head of the Florida Department of Health from acting against broadcasters the department has already threatened with criminal charges. The temporary restraining order remains in effect until Oct. 29.

“Whether it’s a woman’s right to choose, or the right to talk about it, Plaintiff’s position is the same—“don’t tread on me,” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote. “Under the facts of this case, the First Amendment prohibits the State of Florida from trampling on Plaintiff’s free speech.”

“To keep it simple for the state of Florida, it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” Walker wrote.

An initial win for the abortionrights backers

The ruling is a win for the sponsor of Amendment 4, Floridians Protecting Freedom. The organization argued that the health department’s cease-anddesist letters to television stations airing one of its ads amounted to coercion and viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.

Lauren Brenzel, campaign director for Yes on 4, celebrated the ruling, calling it a critical initial victory.

“The court has afﬁrmed what we’ve known all along: the government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban. It’s a deadly ban that puts women’s lives at risk,” Brenzel wrote in a press release. “This ruling is a powerful reminder that Floridians will not back down in the face of government intimidation.”

wrote James Williams, the department’s communications director, in an email to Florida Phoenix. “The media continues to ignore the truth that Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafﬁcking.”

Judge rebuked DeSantis admin’s attorney

Earlier, Walker ﬁred back during a hearing last Thursday morning at an attorney defending the DeSantis administration.

He asked Brian Barnes point-blank whether the ad at issue stated that Florida’s six-week

Amendment 4 would protect abortion access through viability, typically around 24 weeks, or to protect the life of the pregnant person. It needs at least 60% approval from voters to pass.

The group ﬁled the case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida last Wednesday following the health department’s Oct. 3 cease-and-desist letters to television stations running an ad from the Yes on 4 campaign.

State argues it’s a public safety matter

The DeSantis administration argues it didn’t violate First Amendment protections for political speech to threaten criminal pros -

He insisted the state would also have interest in stopping a theoretical commercial stating that the 911 emergency line is not working.

“How in the world would a political ad supporting a political amendment constitute commercial speech?” Walker responded to Barnes’ hypothetical scenario.

Barnes also argued that Floridians Protecting Freedom lacked standing to sue because it couldn’t prove injury, since it continued playing the ad elsewhere and hadn’t stopped its campaign in support of the amendment.

Hefty litigation budget

Shortly after sending the cease-and-desist letters, the health department contracted for $1.4 million with two law ﬁrms to pursue litigation against “false political advertisements.” The plaintiffs entered those contracts as evidence in the suit.

“Of course, the Surgeon General of Florida has the right to advocate for his own position on a ballot measure,” Walker wrote in the ruling. “But it would subvert the rule of law to permit the State to transform its own advocacy into the direct suppression of protected political speech.”

The health department sustains its argument that the ad posed a risk to other women.

“The fact is these ads are unequivocally false and detrimental to public health in Florida,”

ban lacks an exception to protect the life of the mother. Barnes, who represents Ladapo in the suit ﬁled by Floridians Protecting Freedom, responded that the ad implied a lack of exceptions.

“I don’t want to waste my time with non-answers to my questions,” Walker said during their exchange about the ad’s contents.

ecution of broadcasters playing the ad featuring a woman diagnosed with brain cancer. At least one station, WINK TV in Fort Myers, stopped airing the ad after receiving the letter, according to the complaint from Amendment 4’s organizer.

“ …it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom sought a temporary restraining order stopping the Florida Department of Health from coercing, threatening, or intimidating the organization or broadcasters for airing speech in favor of the amendment.

In the ad, a woman named Caroline says Florida’s abortion restrictions would have prevented her from getting an abortion had they been in place when she began chemotherapy.

Barnes argued the ad put other women at risk because Caroline’s statement might dissuade them from seeking medical attention for a pregnancy complication, Barnes said.

The organization entered as evidence two contracts showing the health department hired law ﬁrms to pursue litigation against the political advertisements. The department contracted the ﬁrms on Oct. 10 and agreed to pay a combined $1.4 million dollars, according to the documents.

Those contracts demonstrate that the state’s threats against broadcasters are not hollow, said Ben Stafford, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Stafford called the DeSantis administration’s tactic the “most egregious First Amendment violation” he could remember.

Meanwhile, Floridians Protecting Freedom faces a suit from anti-abortion advocates asking a state trial court to remove Amendment 4 from the ballot. The plaintiffs in that Orange County case are ﬁghting the legitimacy of the signatures collected to get the question in front of voters.

Their complaint cites an Oct. 11 preliminary report from the Florida Department of State accuses Floridians Protecting Freedom of “widespread election fraud.” The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration is also involved in the disputes between the governor and Floridians Protecting Freedom. In September, the agency published a webpage claiming Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety.”

The Florida Supreme Court and a state trial court in Tallahassee allowed the webpage to stay live.

PUBLIC CERVIX ANNOUNCEMENT: Last week’s ruling is an initial win for the abortion-rights backers.

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Paying bills

USF to compensate students forced to live in on-campus shelter.

By Riley Benson

After taking a week off to close for Hurricane Milton, the University of South Florida (USF) reopened all its campuses last Tuesday, with a mix of in-person and remote classes. But at the USF St. Pete campus only two of three residence halls reopened: Ibis and Osprey. Pelican Apartments (often referred to as “RHO”), are still closed—with residents being offered shelter in an on-campus ballroom.

Now university ofﬁcials say that RHO residents displaced for an extended period due to damage from Hurricane Milton will be given a housing credit to be used in a future semester.

“The amount of the credit will vary based on the room type and how long the room is unavailable due to the building damage,” a rep for USF told Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay.

Additional details on the credit—including credits for students who are graduating—are still in the works, a spokesperson added. The school told CL that all 352 RHO residents have been contacted.

Initially students were not allowed to return to their rooms and collect any personal items, with exception for class materials and medical supplies, such as insulin and prescription medication.

USF’s St. Petersburg Housing and Residential Education team clarified that none of the rooms flooded and that there was no damage to any student’s personal items with the exception of one area rug. An email to residents said that there was significant moisture found in the walls. USF’s spokesperson told CL it would take at least two weeks to make repairs from water intrusion and ensure a safe return for students.

The USF St. Petersburg housing team will provide students with air mattresses, but students will have to provide their own blankets, pillows and personal items. The students will not have their personal space or areas to store any items.

But many RHO students are upset and angry at the accommodations that USF has provided. One student in particular, Canela Vasquez, started a petition last Monday to urge USF to provide students with accommodations or compensation of equal value for their on-campus dorms, which costs, at least, $4,500 a semester.

“Students pay over $4,000 for an apartment, not an open ballroom with air mattresses. If the school can spend $2.1 million on football recruitment efforts, then they can give us our money back,” Vasquez said. “In the past, the University has booked hotels for students when housing issues arise, though students have routinely had to ﬁght for this.”

The online petition proliferated on student’s Instagrams, Facebook groups and on the ofﬁcial USF Reddit page. In less than 24 hours the petition received over 1,000 signatures.

LOCAL NEWS

“Hearing about the university’s shortcomings and knowing that there are limited options to place almost 300 students in an “on-campus” shelter, I had a sinking feeling they were going to use the USC ballroom,” Vasquez added. “This option seems to be the most convenient for the school and most inconvenient for students.”

evacuated,” he said. “I know it’s a difﬁcult situation, but the message last weekend was very much just ﬁgure it out individually.”

Despite the closure at RHO—located on the corner of 2nd St S and Dali Blvd.—there is a sense of normalcy on campus thanks to classes resuming, but dorm-less students have just two choices: Stay off campus, even if they’re too far to commute, and work with professors on academic accommodations—or they can stay at the on-campus “shelter.”

The on-campus shelter is a 7,490 square-foot ballroom located on the second ﬂoor of the St. Petersburg University Student Center (USC). This ballroom can be divided into three sections with air walls usually used for on and off-campus clients to hold events, like USF board meetings and high school proms.

Any student that is unable to ﬁnd a place to live off-campus while RHO is closed is going to have to live in the ballroom, and use the showers located in the university gym. Last Thursday afternoon, USF told CL that so far, 13 students have taken them up on the offer.

Vasquez began hearing the overwhelming complaints and concerns of her fellow students and decided to begin the ﬁght for any sort of compensation from the school. She mentions that while she’s only been living on campus for six months, she’s only lived at RHO since the beginning of this spring due to its “ apartmentstyle” living.

While Osprey Suites, another hall on campus, has a select inventory of single rooms, no other building on campus has RHO’s personal, full-sized, kitchens for students to use.

Michael Johnson, a parent of a student in RHO, told CL that his daughter speciﬁcally lives in the RHO building to accommodate her food allergies, which are difﬁcult to work around even at the dining hall. “Paying for housing that is not being provided and food that is not available is an extra burden,” he said.

Johnson said that he is further frustrated with the lack of planning on USF’s part and support for the students, staff and professors.

“A coastal school in a hurricane-prone area really should have a plan, as this is the third time in 13 months, roughly, that they have

Many parents and students share similar feelings to Johnson, like Rebekah Greer, a sophomore who’s lived in RHO for two years.

“I understand there’s not much you can do in this situation, but I’m disappointed. [USF] want campus to be fully operational October 21st, yet RHO residents have to struggle to manage even after that. And we have no idea if RHO will even be repaired in the two week time period they mentioned. For all we know, this may take much longer,” Greer told CL.

Despite the situation, Julia Mills Ryan remains positive about the situation for her and her USF student, who is currently staying at the on-campus shelter, along with 12 other students.

“Our impression of the university, before the storm, was that we were thrilled, not only with USF as an academic institution, but as a parent of a neurodiverse family,” said Ryan.

Ryan told CL that her son was part of the UMatter program, a program at USF dedicated to providing an accessible and inclusive university experience for young people with intellectual disabilities.

Her son is active on-campus, with various organizations and on-campus employment. She mentioned that he loves being part of the USF St. Petersburg campus and community.

Despite many other concerns of safety, Ryan said that the second she walked into the USC there was a security presence that she’d never seen there before, with police and police dogs. The entire second ﬂoor of the USC and the elevator to the second ﬂoor are reserved for RHO residents.

However, she does emphasize that there is no protocol in place for item security and there is no privacy. While it is sufﬁcient and more reminiscent of a “summer camp” experience, two weeks might be a lot for some.

It’s unknown if the closure of the residence hall will last longer than the estimated “minimum two weeks,” as many are concerned it could go past Halloween.

USF has yet to reply to the petition made by Vasquez, and the overwhelming amount of comments on the petition’s message board.

“We pay a lot of money to be here,” said Greer. “If these repairs take two weeks or more, we would’ve been off campus for an entire month, including evacuation time. We deserve better accommodations and compensation for this.”

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: More than 350 students call Pelican Apartments home.

RESTAURANTS RECIPES DINING GUIDES

Washed out

Hurricane closings, and more food news.

By Colin Wolf

After two back-to-back hurricanes, Westshore Marina District Italian restaurant Vela has had enough. The restaurant, which was from the people behind Cru Cellars, Bouzy and Small Giant, took to social media last weekend to announce the closure.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the closing of Vela. Unfortunately, the combination of recent hurricane damage and other challenges has made it impossible for us to continue serving you at Westshore Marina,” wrote Vela on Instagram.

from nearby Davis Islands, which was inundated by storm surge from Hurricane Helene.

Located at 1120 E Kennedy Blvd. No. 112, Cena (which is Italian for “dinner”) opened to warm reviews in 2013, and was praised by Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay food critic Jon Palmer Claridge, who called it “the best new restaurant in town.”

FOOD NEWS

Ofﬁcially opening in 2021 as a Cru Cellars outpost, Cru Hospitality Group rebranded the space into Vela in 2023, with a focus on classic Italian dishes like pizza and pasta, as well as Mediterranean staples such as kebabs, fresh salads and hummus.

Tampa Bay has witnessed a string of popular concepts close recently, and Vela is now the second Tampa restaurant in recent weeks to shutter following impacts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. See below.

Popular Tampa Italian restaurant Cena is now closed

After 13 years, celebrated upscale Italian restaurant Cena has served its last dish in Tampa’s Channel District. Cena partner Ken Stoltenberg conﬁrmed the recent closure to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, adding that nearby sister restaurant Bread and Butta Pizza Bar has also shuttered because they both share a kitchen.

“The past year has been a challenging environment,” said Stoltenberg to TBBJ. “This summer was the worst summer we’d ever had. It’s a combination of the general economy, Cena is a destination — and it’s a luxury.”

“Like its intimate sleek dining room, the menu is narrow, but boy, does it pack a punch,” wrote Claridge. “Chef Michael Buttacavoli delivers on Cena’s promise to be “modern, fresh, and simple.” Having recently dined at another noted Italian landmark, I am struck that Cena has much better food at nearly half the price.”

Buttacavoli was also a known ﬁxture around Tampa Bay, often competing in charity events like the Tampa Bay Food Fight and Epicurean’s Epic Chef Showdown. Buttacavoli even scored a win on the Food Network’s competition show “Beat Bobby Flay.”

Taco Bus is donating all proceeds from $10 gift cards to sta a ected by recent hurricanes

Hurricanes Milton and Helene have left a lot of Tampa Bay in shambles, and local food service workers are some of the most severely impacted. One local chain is giving customers a chance to give directly to its workers by selling gift cards, with proceeds going directly to staff affected by the storms.

“ …the combination of recent hurricane damage and other challenges has made it impossible for us to continue serving you…”

Taco Bus—which has 10 locations across the Bay area—is now selling $10 gift cards good for two tacos with a choice of protein, plus chips and salsa, and a medium fountain drink. Customers can choose to redeem the meal for themselves or donate it to a ﬁrst responder by putting a message in the “gift message” space of the order.

due to the storm, but the rest just missed a couple days of work and some none at all.

The gift cards are available via taco-ventures.square.site.—Ray Roa

Tampa is once again home to ‘Florida’s largest pumpkin’

868-pounds, says a spokesperson for Bearss Groves. Though it is humongous, this year’s plump-pump is actually the market’s smallest to date.

Stoltenberg also told the publication that the recent departure of Chef Michael Buttacavoli played a role in the decision, as did the fact that a large portion of the concept’s customers hailed

An owner of four of the Taco Bus franchises participating told Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay that they have about 30 employees across their stores. About half missed more than two days

It’s becoming an annual tradition for Bearss Groves to play host to the state’s largest gourd, and this fall the popular local farmers market is once again showcasing an absolute unit of a pumpkin.

This year’s pumpkin, which arrived last from Indiana, weighs in at an impressive

Last year, Bearss Groves hosted its largest pumpkin ever, weighing in at 1,500-pounds. In previous years, the pumpkins have weighed 969-pounds and 989-pounds.

Bearss Groves, located at 14316 Lake Magdalene Blvd., is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. The big ole pumpkin will be on display through Oct. 31, and is free for photo-ops or to just stare at and mutter “Oh gourd almighty.”

WHAT THE HELENE: Hurricane damage among reasons for Vela’s closure.

Our art will go on

The spirit of collaboration powers ‘Skyway 2024.’

By David Warner

Amid the devastation that followed in the wake of Helene and Milton, one bright spot was the sight of neighbors helping neighbors even when their own lives had been upended. The spirit of collaboration also powers “Skyway 2024.” Granted, the collective decisionmaking of ﬁve museums and seven curators to showcase the work of 63 local artists and art collectives is nowhere near as fraught as the life-altering process of hurricane recovery. Nonetheless, it’s a remarkable instance of cooperation in what can often be a competitive ﬁeld. And right now, a visit to any or all of these shows would offer a degree of much-needed refuge—and a reminder of the enduring power of art even in the most troubled of times.

As Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay explained in an introductory story, which included a review of the Sarasota Art Museum show, “Skyway 2024” is the third such multi-museum collaboration in the region since 2017. Curated by guest juror Evan Garza of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and curators from the ﬁve participating museums, it drew more than 300 applicants from Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties.

All of the museums have reopened following Milton or are scheduled to do so. Closing dates for their Skyway shows are as follows:

• Sarasota Art Museum: Sunday, Oct. 27

• Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg: Sunday, Nov. 3

• Contemporary Art Museum at University of South Florida: Saturday, Nov. 23

• Tampa Museum of Arts: Sunday, Jan. 5

• Ringling Museum of Art: Saturday, Jan. 25

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg: Treasure Hunt

Each curator made their own decision about how to group the works they chose. Katherine Pill, senior curator of contemporary art at the MFA, chose work that could be integrated interestingly within the museum’s permanent collection. You can pick up a map to ﬁnd where they’ve been installed, but where’s the fun in that? Treat your visit like a treasure hunt. “It’s more special when someone comes around a corner and sees something they weren’t expecting,” Pill told CL. (Anyway, there are plenty of hints in my picks below.)

Don’t miss

• Emily Martinez, “27 DIC. 1974 (Mother’s Embrace)”: One of MFA Skyway’s “wow”

moments, Martinez’s painting was inspired by the museum’s “The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine.” It shares the huge scale and elaborate framing characteristic of the Baroque, but the subject isn’t a virginal saint. It’s Martinez’s grandmother on her wedding day in the Dominican Republic, an image taken from a family photograph. Bold in color and patterning, the painting is both a celebration and a corrective, complete with angry cherubs.

• Kendra Frorup, “Dear Lexi, You Can Go This Far But You Can Go Even Further”: An exuberant portrait of Frorup’s daughter that responds to a work in the MFA’s 18th-century gallery, Elisabeth Vigée LeBrun’s portrait of her daughter. Each of the artists’ daughters is crowned with fruit and ﬂowers, but the crown on Frorup’s Lexi literally bursts out of the frame, and the fruits, referencing the artist’s Bahamian background, are sugar bananas and coconuts. Lexi is also holding on to a beaded leash that leads from the painting across the gallery ﬂoor to a ceramic rooster and the empty frame of an antique armchair. She’s holding onto the past, but she can easily “go even further.”

• Carola Miles, “UFO Alphabet”: A grid of drawings at the galleries’ entrance, these small, glowing, precisely delineated objects were inspired by Miles’s research into UFO sightings. You might see echoes of their rounded, knobbed shapes in Pollack’s “Garden.”

Also look for

• Just beyond the Pollacks (and the Greeks and the Romans), Cynthia Mason evokes a ruined civilization in her “Secret Garden,” an eerie mixed-media installation incorporating earthenware, plastic bags and walls of raw canvas stuffed with shredded documents.

LOCAL ARTS

Skyway: A Contemporary Collaboration Various venues. skywaytampabay.com

• Look up before you enter to see the photo-based banners of Will Douglas. Each depicts a sunset in Finland, reddened by the haze of the devastating 2023 Canadian wildﬁres.

• Visit the gift shop. You’ll not only ﬁnd books and jewelry for sale but an Emiliano Settecasi installation challenging the whole notion of art as commodity, the sardonic “Department of Contemporary Art, FL Is Selling Out!”

• Anat Pollack, “Hypnos’ Garden”: Pollack’s tiny bronze fertility ﬁgures mesh seamlessly with the museum’s ancient Greek and Roman collections.

Be sure to go on a day when the museum’s Cafe Clementine is open. The breakfast and lunch goodies and house made pastries are scrumptious. Open Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Skyway at the MFA closes on Sunday, Nov. 3. 255 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg, 727-8962667, mfastpete.org continued on page 42

YOU ARE NOT ALONE: A detail of Carola Miles ‘UFO Alphabet’ at MFA St. Pete.

JENNIFER RING

USF Contemporary Art Museum: Not Your Grandma’s Landscape

The most immersive of all the Skyway shows, partly because of its focus on a single theme, and partly because of the sounds reverberating through the gallery from Susanna Wallin’s video, “Lizzy” (more about that below). Subtitled “12 Ways of Looking at a Landscape,” after Wallace Stevens’s 1917 poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” the show offers myriad variations on what a landscape can be. The 12 artists’ “geographies,” says USF CAM curator-at-large Christian Viveros-Fauné, “are realistic, social, emotional, internal, political, mental, domestic, natural and much more.”

Don’t miss

• Susanna Wallin, “Will’s Hill” and “Lizzy.” Wallins’s videos mesmerized me when I saw them, and now, post-Helene and Milton, they continue to haunt me. “Will’s Hill” captures the ﬂow of the Hillsborough River, shot from above and projected onto a gallery ﬂoor. It offers the uncanny experience of walking on water. “Lizzy,” inspired by a neighbor of Wallin who lived on the river all of her life, contemplates the end of human life vs. the eternal rhythms of the river, the wind, even the gators (I counted 16). Take the time to watch the whole thing. (Those sounds I mentioned? The crash of beams collapsing as Lizzy’s home was demolished.)

Also look for

• Keith Crowley’s extraordinarily precise watercolors; Karen Tucker Kuykendall’s cartoon-bright florals (with surprises hidden therein); Caui Lofgren’s mordant appropriation of USDA posters; Erin Titus’s images of conspicuous consumption co-existing uncomfortably with spirituality; and Elisabeth Condon’s “floor pours” (one of which seems to flow between Wallin’s two video rooms) and the exhilarating splash of her acrylic wall painting “Burning Embers.”

When you emerge from the landscapes of USF CAM’s show, you may ﬁnd yourself reseeing the campus landscape—the trees (yes, USF has trees), the leaves, even the latticework above the museum entrance. Stroll past the shady greenery of the campus lawn behind the museum and stop for a sandwich in the Panera at the Marshall Student Center. You’ll feel like an undergrad again. “Skyway 24:12 Ways of Looking at a Landscape” closes Saturday, Nov. 23 at USF CAM, 3821 USF Holly Dr., Tampa. cam.usf.edu.

Tampa Museum Of Art: Creative zeitgeist

LOCAL ARTS

• Andrés Ramírez’s aerial photographs. The awesome scale and crystalline clarity of “Migrant Workers Picking Strawberries” and “Regatta at Clearwater Beach” will take your breath away.

• Bradford Robotham’s body landscapes. With their undulating blocks of Kelly green and blood orange, these might be misconstrued as paintings à la the abstracted landscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe. But they’re not. They’re photographs, colors created in-camera, and the images are the hills and valleys of Robotham’s own body, its pores and tiny hairs visible on closer inspection.

• The astonishing detail of Bruce Marsh’s two paintings from nature, “Beach Stones” and “Sea Grapes III,” opposite his large-format painting of two men in “Conversation,” with what appears to be a Japanese ﬁsh lantern hanging somewhat ominously above them.

• The collisions of constructed and natural geometries in John Gurbacs’s paintings. Warning: “Intersection” in particular may trigger ﬂashbacks of post-hurricane destruction.

• The ﬂattened perspective and everyday objects in Sebastian Ore Blas’s paintings draw the eye into subtly suggestive scenes of samesex domestic bliss.

• The subversion of happy-tourist tropes in Eric Ondina’s nightmarish renditions of theme parks and other amusements.

In her introductory essay for TMA’s Skyway exhibition, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Joanna Robotham says that the 18 artists selected for the show “range from MFA students and self-taught artists to creative makers with established careers.” Together, their “deeply personal and introspective” artworks “reveal a creative zeitgeist informed by our post-pandemic world.”

Don’t miss

• Cort Hartle, “You and me on a long walk.”

I saw this before Helene and Milton, but now it’s taken on new resonance. Small sand-colored ceramic houses, reminiscent in their plainness of Monopoly pieces, are arranged in a circle, each one inscribed in red text that speaks to the inexorability of time, tides, and “ground too soft to support its own weight.”

• Samo Davis, “I’m Alive.” A 12-foot mixedmedia creature with shaggy arms and spindly legs embedded in a mess of fanciful plastic detritus, including psychedelically colorful mushrooms and a bubble-coated pig. And don’t miss Davis’s much smaller sculpture, “Saru (Monkey).” He’s a delightful little gremlin.

• Latonya Hicks. Her richly colorful tondos (circular artworks) overﬂow with family memory: baby shoes, her father’s vintage clock, beads, yarns, velvets and details a viewer can get lost in.

• David Sibbitt’s deliciously spooky paintings of a couple blithely rowing into Apocalypse; a family watching a shark movie at a drive-in theater as tornadoes threaten and strange beings ﬂit about; and a gathering of famous artists in an airplane with Medusa as the ﬂight attendant.

• Joe Fig. Wonder at his miniature mixedmedia recreations of artists’ studios and his

small-scale paintings of museum and gallery visitors looking at art. The painstaking attention to detail in both paintings and miniatures is amazing, and pays much respect to the artists whose work he’s depicting. Most striking: the dollhouse-size re-creation of his own studio, complete with a miniature Fig at work (you can peep him through the doorway) and details as mundane as roof insulation rendered with impeccable craft.

• Marina Shaltout, “Ablutions & Afﬁrmations.” A corner niche complete with shower curtain, soap dishes, and smiley-faces, Shaltout’s installation centers on a video of a soapy woman’s hand attaching wet hair to bathroom tiles. Adjacent to the video is a cursive “Live Laugh Love” sign—also on tiles, also made from hair. It’s at once icky and awesome, a satirical consideration of the self-care movement and its pressures on women.

Also look for

• The powerful collage paintings of Dallas Jackson, drawing upon images from his family history.

• David Mack’s playful but penetrating ceramic vessels honoring African-American heroes.

• Yajaira Urzua-Reyes’s painting Mar de Cruces (Sea of Crosses), haunting in its simplicity and harrowing in its portrayal of migrant lives lost.

• David McCauley’s “Resurrection” installation, which reﬂects his joy in discovering tools that enabled him, as a quadriplegic, to play guitar again.

• Marc Brechwald’s drawings (a man drowning in the tentacles of an octopus, a man whose face is half-covered with bees, the graceful hands of ﬂamenco dancers), which look uncannily like photographs.

• Sculptor Candace Knapp’s sinuous ceramics.

• Plus works by Aesopbookofrot (Danielle Dragani), Adrian Gomez, Sami Harthoorn, Aimee Jones, and Corinne Zepeda.

Make sure to look for “Skyway Celebrates,” a tribute to two beloved local artists who left us

continued on page 45

RARE AERIAL: The awesome scale and crystalline clarity of Andrés Ramírez’s photographs will take your breath away.

Detail from a print depicting Carolina parakeets (Plate 26) from Birds of America, by John James Audubon © National Museums Scotland

too soon: the photographer Wendy Babcox and the mixed-media artist John Sims, who died in 2024 and 2022, respectively. Video interviews from their past participation in Skyway shows underline the value of this collaborative project to both the artists and the wider community. Skyway 24 closes Sunday, Jan. 5 at the Tampa Museum of Art, Cornelia Corbett Center, 120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, tampamuseum.org

The John And Mable Ringling Museum Of Art: Take the trip

The uber-friendly guards and guides at the Ringling will gladly lead you through the many galleries one must pass through in order to reach the Skyway exhibition. It’s a trip worth taking: a greatest-hits walk past Rubens tapestries, Renaissance masterworks and multiple Madonnas (a small part of the Ringling’s encyclopedic holdings), culminating in the eclectic, thought-provoking Skyway show: 14 artists selected by Ringling curators Christopher Jones and Ola Wlusek.

Don’t miss

legs and bums. There’s a VR component to this installation which I didn’t experience, but my reality was altered enough just by standing in the room.

• The acute environmental awareness of the Carol Mickett/Robert Stackhouse team reaches its apotheosis in their massive and beautiful “State of Water Triptych.” Their work shares a space with the somber musings of Mohsen Azar, whose art of removal draws attention to the impact of war and censorship on our landscapes and language. The enigmatic sculptures of Ecuadorian-American artist Libbi Ponce, seen throughout the show, are inspired by Andean ceramics. Here she anchors the room with her snake-in-the-fountain installation, “tercioparazo.”

LOCAL ARTS

• My favorite room in the show, a pow of color and high emotion, features work by Akiko Kotani, Michael Vasquez, and Elisabeth Condon (yep, she’s in two Skyway shows). I knew Kotani’s amazing “White Falls,” a waterfall of crocheted polyethylene, from seeing it in her exhibition at Creative Pinellas (the “Falls” are also part of this show, in another gallery). But I had not seen her knockout “Neon Forest,” three cascading “trees” in DayGlo colors of crocheted poly crepe-backed satin. (As always, the amount of labor involved in these monumental crochet projects is mind-boggling.) The vibrancy of Kotani’s work complements and is invigorated by Condon’s gorgeous ﬂoral-accented paintings and the in-your-face energy of Vasquez’s portraits of neighborhood life, which bring passion and compassion to the clichés of boyz in the hood.

• You’ll hear it before it lures you in: Ainaz Alipour’s “Slap-Eaters,” a video installation of roly poly bald creatures tumbling all over each other to a booming, vaguely martial soundtrack in a small room where the ﬂoor is partially covered with cuddly soft sculptures of torso-less

• What? Jewelry in a Skyway show? You mean the kind of thing proffered at weekend arts ‘n crafts markets? Nope, not this jewelry. Caitlin Albritton’s exquisitely contemplative pendants and bracelets, many of them showing tiny female ﬁgures in repose, employ materials which sound as romantic as the jewelry, including hyacinth jasper, spiny oyster shell, and Australian boulder opal.

• The intersection of selfhood, nature and sexuality, viewed via a mix of media (cyanotype and sateen, drawing and embroidery) in the works of Saumitra Chandratreya.

Also look for

• Works by Robyn “Avalon” Crosa, Rachel de Cuba, Jake Fernandez, and Joo Woo.

Make a day of it. Explore the rest of the Ringling, including the special exhibition “Enduring Light” featuring images of Black America and the Civil Rights movement by the acclaimed photographers Roy DeCarava and Danny Lyon. The 66-acre campus, once the domain of a circus magnate, emerged mostly unscathed from the hurricanes, but the Ringlings’ opulent winter home, the Ca’ d’Zan, and the Circus Museum, which suffered roof damage, are closed to the public for the time being. Finish up your visit with a delicious meal at The Ringling Grillroom (get a table by the window). Skyway at The Ringling closes Sunday, Jan. 25. 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota. ringling.org

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A JEWEL: Caitlin Albritton makes exquisitely contemplative pendants and bracelets.

INVENTORY REDUCTION SALE

PINTS OF SCIENCE

REVIEWS

PROFILES MUSIC WEEK

Full house

Davis Islands’ 'Friday Night Jazz' series celebrates its ﬁrst anniversary.

By Ray Roa

Davis Islands is one of many communities still reeling from the one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, but last Friday, a sense of normalcy returned to the back patio of DI CoffeeBar. And while the sound of the Dominic Walker’s Gibson L4-CES may have been familiar, it might have been hard for regulars to see exactly what was happening.

“Last night was fun because the lights didn’t come on in the back,” Walker, 33, told Creative Loaﬁng Tampa Bay. So the cafe’s staff improvised and put out hundreds of small, electronic candles. Behind him was bassist Mark Neuenschwander, who Walker earned a master’s in music under at the University of South Florida (USF). To the right of them, LaRue Nickelson, an instructor at USF considered by many to be Tampa Bay’s dean of jazz guitar. “With the mood of that. We kept it really light. We weren’t throwing a dance party, we were having a candlelit evening. Everybody adapted to that energy—and it was great.”

The back patio lights are back on at 214 E Davis Blvd., and just in time, too, since the weekly jazz marks its ﬁrst anniversary with a special two-day celebration.

Neuenschwander—considered one of the best bassists in Florida, with an encyclopedic knowledge of songs—returns, with saxophonist Jack Wilkins, the recently-retired Director of the Jazz Studies at USF, plus vocalist Bryan J Hughes and powerhouse drummer Paul Gavin. It’s a formidable lineup, and the quintet might not ﬁt in the space that normally holds a trio.

“If worse comes to worst, I’ll sit on a stool on the side of the stage,” Walker—a former host on WUSF’s unceremoniously-axed “All Night Jazz”— laughed. From there, he’ll have quite the view.

While DI CoffeeBar has plans to expand, the patio currently holds up to 75 people and ﬁlls up early. From the audience, the show feels like stumbling on a secret club where tables are dotted with wine bottles, and the crowd cares about what’s happening onstage.

For night one of the anniversary, Walker expects to pull a lot from Hughes’ songbook, but will also keep playing when the singer takes a break. Decidedly, it will not be a candlelit kind of set.

“We’re going for noise complaints,” Walker, who earned a bachelor’s at Utah State University,

said of the hot set. “And that’s how it goes, especially with Paul Gavin on the drums. It’s gonna get loud and we’re gonna be shaking butts.”

Night two will be an iteration of Walker’s monthly open jam. Jean Bolduc, who Walker has played alongside in a swing guitar band led by local jazz icon Nate Najar, will drum, with Jon Shea on bass. Saxophonist Douglas Butler—who ﬁrst met Walker when he showed up for a jam—is the featured artist.

Up next for Walker is the mastering of his solo debut, which he recorded alongside Gavin, and organist/neuroscientist John C. O’Leary III at Tampa’s famed Morrisound studios. The record will feature standards and some originals along with Walker’s famous takes on the Beatles, Zombies and Rolling Stones. Bringing new versions of popular tunes is something Walker likes to do.

“People today don’t know the song ‘If I Were A Bell,’” Walker said about Frank Loesser’s

composition from the ‘50s musical “Guys and Dolls.” But when Miles Davis played it with his Relaxin’ quintet in the late-’50s, people did. The cut still makes the set every now and then.

“People love recognizing tunes. It helps them to be a part of it, of what’s going on,” he added.

“And even when we play tunes people don’t know, it seems like they still love it.”

And what’s not to love? For Walker, Friday nights on the island are about the hang, and learning the songs in the moment. The practice, and the revelations to be found in nights like the one he leads, can be likened to taking in paintings, which are borne of primary colors.

“It’s like, ‘Holy crap, how did we make all these with just a few colors?’ It’s insane,” he said, pointing out how music works in a similar fashion, especially as the improvisational aspect of it all starts to unfold. “When you start seeing how the people use the elements to build and to play, it just becomes more magical.”

Walker credits a lot of the vibe to DI CoffeeBar owners Marilyn and Ramon Perez, who just celebrated 10-years open on the island. They’ve been committed to having music, and they’ve built a crowd that almost needs to come

together each week. After taking a week off post-hurricanes, being back on the patio felt like a reunion.

“It felt like we hadn’t seen each other in forever,” he said of the embrace. “A lot of times when you go play a regular gig you’re really background. And this is a really fun gig where you’re deﬁnitely not background—but people can still talk if they want to, or they come and they can listen.”

When the anniversary weekend wraps, Walker looks forward to seeing more Bay area musicians, especially the young jazz musicians who’re re-inventing the scene, ﬁnding their way to the cafe. All levels are welcome, too, from beginners who can ﬁnd refuge playing alongside vets, and absolute beasts who want to tear up some mushroom jazz.

“The people who play here can handle all of it, and we want to play with you,” he said. “This is where people meet—and it’s also just fun as hell.”

Editor’s note: We moved Music Week online to make room for our ballot guide. Find our live music picks for Oct. 25-31 via cltampa.com/ music.

“This is where people meet—and it’s also just fun as hell.”

MR. WALKER: Dominic Walker gets

Tampa Bay’s live music calendar is ﬁnally looking more like it did pre-hurricanes, and even the canceled shows are coming back, including one from Carin León who was supposed to play Tampa last weekend. Instead the 35-year-old, Selena-lovin’ Grupo Arranke alum, will play our neck of the woods next spring.

The “Boca Chueca” tour visits arenas across the U.S. and even includes two nights in Chicago and dates overseas. In case you’ve been sleeping under your red hat, the música Mexicana made by León and others like Peso Pluma and Christian Nodal has moved beyond its niche status to become a bonaﬁde global sensation that was the fastest growing genre on streaming in the ﬁrst half of this year.

León—whose band includes trumpets, tubas and guitars across the stage—makes music rooted in his North Mexico hometown of Hermosillo and delivers it in high-energy shows that hop between the staple sounds of rock, banda and tejano complete with covers of not just Selena, but also Chalino Sanchez, Bobby Pulido, Joan Sebastian and others.

Tickets to see Carin León play Amalie Arena in Tampa on Thursday, April 10 are still available and start at $45.75. All tickets will be honored at the new date, according to a press release from the venue.

Birth-Tay Par-Tay Thursday, Dec. 12. 9 p.m. $15.60 & up. Crowbar, Ybor City

Tampa Indie Night: Rohna w/Faze Wave/Quail Hollow/Post Sex High Friday, Dec. 13. 7 p.m. $15. Crowbar, Ybor City

Perpetual Groove Friday, Dec. 20. 8 p.m. $20. Music Hall at New World Brewery, Tampa

The Crystal Method w/Rabbit In The Moon Saturday, Dec. 21. 7 p.m. $25. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Little Stranger w/Andy Frasco and the U.N./Damn Skippy Friday, Dec. 27. 8 p.m. $30. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Little Stranger w/Shwayze/Jarv Saturday, Dec. 28. 8 p.m. $30. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Samantha Fish Tuesday, Dec. 31. 8 p.m. $56 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives Saturday, Jan. 18. 8 p.m. $36 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Hot Tuna Acoustic Wednesday, Jan. 22. 8 p.m. $44.50 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

See some of Josh Bradley’s roundup of new concerts coming to Tampa Bay below.—Ray Roa

Southern Culture on the Skids Saturday, Jan. 25. 8 p.m. $20. Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa

Jim Brickman Friday, Jan. 31. 7:30 p.m. $35 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder w/Suzy Bogguss Thursday, Feb. 6. 8 p.m. $55 & up. Bilheimer Capitol Theatre, Clearwater

Tim Heidecker Wednesday, Feb. 19. 8 p.m. $38 & up. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Mxmtoon Saturday, Feb. 22. 7 p.m. $27.50 & up. The Ritz, Ybor City

Paul Anka Tuesday, Feb. 25. 7 p.m. $59 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

Little Feat w/Jim Lauderdale Wednesday, Feb. 26. 8 p.m. $38.25 & up. Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater

Jordan Davis Saturday, March 22. 6:30 p.m. No cover with Valspar admission. Valspar at Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor

Big Head Todd & the Monsters Friday, March 28. 7 p.m. $34.50. Jannus Live, St. Petersburg

Quickies

By Dan Savage

Quick & dirty question for you about online dating: What’s the best next step after texting? Audio message? Phone call? Video date? Or a quick, in-person meet-up? I recommend a quick video call—a brief FaceTime chat—before that first brief, in-person meeting in a public place. If someone isn’t willing to jump on FaceTime to confirm their photos are current and they’re not a fake, a flake, or a chatbot, they don’t deserve the pleasure of your company.

Help! I keep falling in love! With every female friend I have! Maybe! You should stop! Using your dick! As a divining rod! To pick female friends!

We used to talk, my boyfriend and me. We used to share everything. Now I can barely get him to talk to me, to share things with me, to spend time with me. The more I ask him to spend time with me to talk and share, the more withdrawn he becomes. And forget about sex. How can I get our intimacy back? You can only ask—and you have asked repeatedly, and it sounds like the answer to all three asks (talk, share, fuck) is “no.” So, time to go.

Which is better: wrist cuffs or handcuffs? By “handcuffs,” you obviously mean steel law-enforcement-style restraints that snap around wrists, like some from Smith & Wesson. By wrist cuffs, I’m assuming you mean wide and ideally padded leather restraints that buckle around wrists, like som from Mr. S Leather. Handcuffs are effective, but they’re not comfortable or safe for play; if they twist, they can do nerve or bone damage; and while some kinksters ﬁnd the “law enforcement” vibes arousing, others are turned off by them. Leather wrist restraints, on the other hand, are far safer and far more comfortable for play and longer-term wear, and they give “depraved pervert” vibes, which many kinksters prefer.

There is this guy. Sometimes, it seems like he’s really into me; other times, he completely ignores me. Hot and cold. Push and pull. Clings then ghosts. What should I do? Someone else.

I feel creeped out when a man refers to me as his “lover.” It makes me feel like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: “I’ve been slimed!” Hearing that word applied to me makes me want to jump in the shower. But I don’t say anything because I know it’s supposed to be a compliment. What’s wrong with me? Nothing. Lots of people have aversions to certain words—words that trigger feelings of irrational disgust—and “lover” triggers you the way moist, loins, panties, phlegm, and sputum trigger others. Personally, I always hated the word “nipple” when applied to me, so I was delighted when gay men started using “tits” a decade or two ago. (They don’t give milk, but they’re still

tits—decommissioned tits, tits in drydock, but tits.) Some possible alternatives for “lover” that your lovers could use when referring to you (offered in ascending order of emotional importance): cumdump, fuckbuddy, friend-with-benefits, significant other, boyfriend/girlfriend/enbyfriend, fiancé/ fiancée/intended, husband/wife/spouse.

I am going to the Dominican Republic with my boyfriend for our anniversary. He is quite well endowed, and he wants to top me. How can I be a good bottom and anally douche in a country where the tap water is not drinkable? They sell bottled water in the Dominican Republic—I checked—and as anyone who has ever left their douche bulb at home and had to improvise on the road knows, a squeezable plastic water bottle doubles as a douche bulb in a pinch.

I want you to put me in touch with the man who wants a submissive boyfriend willing to make the ultimate sacriﬁce for him and have his genitals removed. I would do anything to have a boyfriend, even if it meant making that sacriﬁce. Please send him my email address. I am not allowed to put my readers in touch with each other—per my lawyer’s advice—but I can’t stop my readers from sliding into the comment thread for a particular column or podcast in the hopes of catching the attention of a particular letter writer or caller. But before you do anything rash: desperation is unattractive and I don’t think anything shouts “desperate” quite so loudly as, “I will cut off my cock and balls to land a boyfriend.” Boyfriends are great—I’m a big fan of mine—but unless becoming a nullo is something you’ve always wanted to do for you, it’s not something you should do for “love.”

but is making a good-faith effort to get themselves to a place where they can, you should stick around. So, my question for you is this: Is your boyfriend making an effort to get there?

Is it better to be very explicit/speciﬁc when it comes to planning an encounter that is going to be tricky to set up—advance planning, securing a hotel room, renting a car—or should you allow room for spontaneity? I have a feeling my possible partner will feel pressured if I start making these arrangements. But if we just play it by ear, it might not happen at all. Make those arrangements but say this (and mean it) to your possible partner: “I’m gonna get a hotel room and rent a car in case we need them—but no pressure. If you’re not feeling it when we get together, or if I’m not feeling it, nothing has to happen. I’m pretty sure I would love to spend the night with you, but a night alone in a hotel room watching movies and eating room service isn’t a bad consolation prize.”

about opening your relationship and you’re both in agreement—that doesn’t have to mean you’re both happy about it (some people open things up under duress), but you both have to be on board.

Bi guy in relationship needs dick. I’m in my 50s and want to explore. How do I get started? Take some accurate pics, download some Snifﬁes (or Grindr or Scruff or Feeld), get some dick.

SAVAGE LOVE

I have mixed feelings about a guy, and I don’t know how to resolve them. On the one hand, I feel like he could be the love of my life, the best sex I’ve ever had, etc. On the other, I want to push him away, pull away from him, distance myself from him, etc. I keep writing breakup letters that I never send. Why do I desire him so much that he consumes most of my thoughts, and yet also want him out of my life? How do I know what I really want? Could be a case of “right person, wrong time,” i.e., he’s someone you could see yourself committing to but you’re not ready to make a commitment, or your Spidey senses could be picking up on something you aren’t able to see and/or can’t quite articulate. This is a good time to call in your besties—supportive friends, not underminers—and ask them to be brutally honest with you about what they think of this guy as a person and you two as a couple.

In a situationship of sorts. It’s been over a year. I don’t know what kind of future we have, and he’s been unable or unwilling to have that sort of conversation. He will instead make comments about how he doesn’t want to overthink, over-scrutinize, do any emotional labor. How do I get clarity here? The problem here isn’t a lack of clarity on his part—he’s made himself clear—it’s wishful thinking on yours. He doesn’t want what you want, e.g., a deﬁned relationship, a commitment, the emotional and social obligations that come with a commitment. Right now, he’s getting what he wants, i.e., full use of your holes, because you’ve convinced yourself he’s being unclear when he’s not. DTMFA.

Can I think of myself as sex positive if I don’t want to have sex? In the general gay utopia (which seems very sex positive), where does someone like me ﬁt in? A bit of background information: I am a 32-year-old male. I was raised Catholic but no longer believe. I am currently in counseling. If someone with a hundred sex partners a year can think of themselves as asexual—and I recently met someone who does—I don’t see why someone who doesn’t want to have sex can’t think of themselves as sex positive. And, hey, being sex positive doesn’t mean having sex whether you wanna have it or not. It’s about seeing sex and sexual connection as a positive good (not just reproductive good) and giving yourself permission to make the right sexual choices for yourself—which can include the choice not to have sex—and letting other people make the choices that are right for them.

My boyfriend is depressed. Which normally, I can handle. I’m supportive as much as I can be. Except lately, now that I’m going through a rough time myself, I’m less able to be supportive. And I need him to step up and support me. He might not be capable of doing that, though. And the kind of support I need right now is that I need to feel wanted. I need to feel desired. So, if he’s having some low libido issues, what do I do? You need to ask yourself how much longer you’re willing to stay with someone who—for whatever reason—can’t meet your emotional or sexual needs. Extenuating circumstances should always be taken into consideration, of course, and someone who ends a committed relationship at the ﬁrst sign of trouble wasn’t serious about their commitment. But extenuating circumstances aren’t paralyzing circumstances, and a commitment isn’t a sexual and emotional suicide pact. If someone isn’t meeting your needs

Best place to meet ENM people in 2024? As much as people like to complain about dating and hookup apps, they’re still the best place to meet people with niche sexual interests and/or an interest in non-standard relationship models, e.g. open, poly, toly, monogamish, swinging, DADT, stag/ vixen, cuck/slut and all the other forms ethically non-monogamous relationships can take.

I last too long and want to be able to come easier. I don’t use a “death grip” during JO. Any advice? Fire on all cylinders: in addition to direct stimulation of your dick during penis-in-vagina/ penis-in-butt/penis-in-whatever, toss in some tit play (if your tits are wired), toss in a butt plug (if your ass is in play), toss in some dirty talk (if you enjoy it).

How do you know when it’s time to open a relationship? When you’ve talked with your partner

Is there a reason that only guys who are in relationships already are interested in me these days? When you were a younger gay man—you submitted your question via Instagram, I checked out your feed, you’re a gay man—most of your peers were single and available. Now that you’re a bit older, your peers are likelier to be partnered. But since open relationships are the norm among gay male couples, they’re still available. So, the pool of single-but-available men who are interested in you has shrunk while the pool of partneredbut-available gay men that are interested in you has grown.

Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@savage.love! Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan! Podcasts, columns and more at Savage.Love.

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Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www.storagetreasures.com. ending on Nov 8th 2024 at 11:00 am for units located at Compass Self Storage

1685 Hwy 17 N Eagle Lake Florida

33839 . Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at time of sale. All Goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase.

Compass Self Storage reserves the right to refuse any bid. Sale is subject to adjournment. The personal goods stored therein by the following may include, but are not limited to general household, furniture, boxes, clothes and appliances, unless otherwise noted. Unit E402 Kimberly MacDougal Unit 2025 Roseley Harris.

Notice of Public Sale Notice is hereby given that the undersigned will sell, to satisfy lien of the owner, at public sale by competitive bidding on www. storagetreasures.com ending on November 8th, 2024 at 11:00 am for units located at: Compass Self Storage 2291 S. Frontage Rd, Plant City, Florida 33563 . Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the time of sale. All goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase.

57 “Will you still ___ ...” (from “When I’m 64”) 58 A hot time, in Paris 59 Grande opening

Auction actions

Alfalfa’s girl 63 Slip preventer

Hypnosis pioneer

Dwindling Asian sea

67 Historic plan that was very costeffective? 71 Sinuous squeezers 72 ___ motel (trysting place) 73 Jump-starting org.

Dentist’s order 76 Hard to endure 78 Neighborhoods having great views of a city: abbr.

Engine part: abbr.

Historic shopping center that was the first to be called “a gold mine for investors”?

Münster mister

“Got it now?”

Historic sack left on a beach in Cuba?

Floorboard sound

Historic site with a sign that says, “The immigrants have left the building”? 52 Andrews Sisters hit, “Bei Mir Bist Du ___”

Sallie ___

Eclipse effect

___ out a win

With 111 Across, historic home remedies that started a movement?

Impress and then some

Avon had one

“How about if ___ you halfway?”

Robust quality

Cheyenne’s home

Tech stock choice

The quicker picker-upper

Elwood’s invisible pal

“Barefoot boy, with cheek ___!” (Whittier)

Sis-boom follower

Nugget holder

Karl

jocularly

Immigrant’s subj.

Hi-___ monitor

6, on an old phone

Bad beginning?

The Swing, e.g.

Blow up

Old N.Y.C. lines

___ straws

A telly may get

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on Saturday, October 26, 2024