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Bob Buckhorn and Tampa council say county vote on Confederate statue doesn't speak for them

 
The Hillsborough County Commission voted 4-3 this week to leave in place a Confederate monument outside the old County Courthouse. It was dedicated in 1911 with a speech calling African-Americans “ignorant and inferior’’ and saying a president who would appoint a black resident to a job in the South “engenders sectional bitterness, encourages lynchings, injures the Negro,” and is “a traitor to the Anglo-Saxon race.” [CHRIS URSO   |   Times]
The Hillsborough County Commission voted 4-3 this week to leave in place a Confederate monument outside the old County Courthouse. It was dedicated in 1911 with a speech calling African-Americans “ignorant and inferior’’ and saying a president who would appoint a black resident to a job in the South “engenders sectional bitterness, encourages lynchings, injures the Negro,” and is “a traitor to the Anglo-Saxon race.” [CHRIS URSO | Times]
Published June 23, 2017

TAMPA — It was the Hillsborough County Commission that voted not to remove a statue honoring the Confederacy, but Tampa officials are worried that the city, not the county, will pay the price.

"One of the things that is disturbing is that the national media is reporting that it is Tampa that did not remove the monument," City Council member Harry Cohen said.

"These decisions can have all sorts of unintended consequences," he said. "Businesses can decline to come here. People can decline to visit here. Conventions can decline to bring their business here because they see the community as acting in a nonwelcoming way. It's bad enough that we have a Confederate flag flying above I-75. This adds insult to injury."

On Wednesday, the County Commission voted 4-3 to leave in place a Confederate monument outside the old County Courthouse. It was dedicated in 1911 with a speech calling African-Americans "ignorant and inferior'' and saying a president who would appoint a black resident to a job in the South "engenders sectional bitterness, encourages lynchings, injures the Negro" and is "a traitor to the Anglo-Saxon race."

Rather than move the statue, as proposed by Commissioner Les Miller, the commission decided to paint a 10-foot mural behind it honoring the county's diversity and maybe to launch an antiracism education program.

Thursday morning, Mayor Bob Buckhorn's office issued a statement noting that news stories about the commission's vote were datelined "Tampa" but adding that City Hall condemns the commission's decision.

"There is no honor in treason, and there is no valor in enslaving people because of their race," Buckhorn said. "That statue represents the worst of humanity, not the Tampa that we aspire to be. This decision doesn't speak for our city and the people that I represent."

Hours later, council Chairwoman Yvonne Yolie Capin brought up Buckhorn's statement at the council's weekly meeting.

"I cannot reiterate enough: This was a war that was fought in order to enslave people and the right to enslave people, and that we cannot honor, nor should we honor," she said. "It's shameful that it is part of our history, but it is. We have to recognize that it is part of our history, but we don't have to put up monuments to it."

Council member Mike Suarez said the county's decision not to recognize what was said at the monument's dedication is "ridiculous," fails to look fully at history and caters to one part of the community while ignoring the contributions of others.

"I always view our city as welcoming and inclusive," council member Guido Maniscalco said, but the way the County Commission's decision is being reported "makes us look like we're the opposite of that."

City, Straz Center work on parking fixes

City officials also outlined Thursday a series of planned and possible steps to address traffic and parking problems around the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts.

City staffers and the Straz already have improved communication, deployed personnel and provided more information about parking at the city's Royal Regional Lot via the Parkmobile app.

The app also is expected to help the city presell spaces in the nearby William F. Poe garage and to provide patrons with bar codes to help speed their entry.

City officials have talked with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit about extending the hours of the free In-Towner trolley bus to carry Straz patrons to and from garages that are a little farther away. And the city is looking at more technology, signs and traffic signals to unsnarl traffic.

Straz representatives welcomed the steps and said they will work with the city, but said development pressure and a changing landscape on the northern end of downtown are creating a long-term need for a bigger solution.

"We believe a garage is needed," Straz trustee Douglas J. Dieck told the council.