hjack

"People is what drives resturants, entertainment venues and everything else. So, it's not assbackwards to build condos first downtown." There is more than enough people a stone's throw away from downtown in South Tampa (ie. Harbour Island, Davis Island, Hyde Park, Univ of Tampa) to start creating venues now. The motivation to move to an area is for what is IN that area. You don't move to a dead downtown area in hopes that someday, it might be happening. To do that is called AN INVESTMENT... hjack

"And remember when the rich people of Seddon Cove paid $425,000 for their nice condos back in the 80's on Harbor Island, the first real luxury ones that were built? I do. For well over a decade they were at a loss. Values plumeted and stayed that way for a long time." These same condos are now selling for over $700,000. I actually live on Harbour Island, and getting there off the Interstate is as easy as pie (only one turn when coming off the downtown W exit). And EVERY big northeastern urban downtown has "bums". Even in Toronto, where I'm from. I lived in Philadelphia for 13 years (well 86 to 90 were in the suburbs), and watched it change from an evening ghost town/dump/homeless haven in the 80's and early 90's, to a hip, alive, night time urban center. By the late 90's people were travelling from the suburbs, to hang out downtown at night. The change came by bringing the nightlife to the downtown area first, not by introducing a bunch of overpriced condos... that came last (after I left). Tampa's doing it back asswards. hjack