Today's News Headline

Today's Story

"Developer Sues Activitsts for Fighting 42-Story Condo Next to Stranahan House" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 15, 2007)


Bloggers React

"Lawsuit Slappy" (The Daily Pulp)
"Developer Vs. Conservation Activists" (Stuck on the Palmetto)
"Slapp Happy? Related Group v. Stranahan House" (Randazza's Academic [In]Sanity)

Relevant Links

Stranahan House
Icon Las Olas
Book Review: The Stranahans of Fort Lauderdale: A Pioneer Family of New River

How Doth the Little Crocodile

"American Voices" on The Onion today is "Florida Crocs Make Nuclear Comeback." (The Onion is a satirical parody of American news publications -- you can read more about it in general, and about its American Voices feature in particular in Wikipedia's The Onion entry.)

Satire and parody require some basis in reality. So. There really are crocodiles at FPL's Turkey Point nuclear power plant south of Miami. Since it began operation in 1972, the plant's cooling water canals have proven to be good homes for American crocodiles.

In March 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission reclassified the American crocodile as a threatened rather than endangered species, at least it the crocodile's South Florida range. (You can read the official final rule here).

Crocodile fact sheet (pdf) from FPL-Turkey Point Plant.

April 21, 2007, story on NPR's All Things Considered -- "American Crocodiles Make a Comeback"

(and Thanks to Lewis Carroll.)

Conceptual Kiley Gardens

Next Sunday, May 20, The Urban Charrette is sponsoring Conceptual Kiley Garden. They have invited students, artists, and organizations to create artistic, freestanding trees to display where the trees used to be in this downtown Tampa landscape. Later, the trees will be auctioned, with the money going to the Friends of Kiley Gardens, a non-profit organization working to restore the park.

Multimodal Transportation and Touring Historic Florida

From time to time on this blog, I have discussed heritage tourism and scenic byways, and the topic of one-tank trips has even come up. But with so much public attention turning to gas prices, climate change, and mass transit, I wondered if too much emphasis is being placed on automotive travel. My first step towards an answer is a quick survey of existing modes of transportation available for exploration of this state.

In the category of engine-powered transportation, I found driving tours, boat tours, trolley tours, bus tours, amphibious duck boat tours, seaplane, and even conch train tours.

In the category of self-propelled transporation, I found walking tours, canoe trails, hiking trails, and bike tours.

In the category of animal-propelled transporation, I found horse trails. Ostrich and alligator-drawn carriages seem to have fallen out of favor.

Florida's economy relies heavily on tourism, but Florida is also a large and growing state with complex transportation needs. The two issues intersect -- how will tourists get to Florida, and how will they move around once they are here? If it is also a goal to promote heritage tourism, how should tourists best travel to historic and cultural sites?

(Oddly, looking at this list, I see that although I have traveled Florida by car, foot, boat, canoe, bicycle, and horseback, I have never personally been on any of the tours or trails I linked to. My subconscious mind must be muttering about vacations again.)

Circa 1901-1905 photograph of Governor W. S. Jennings by the St. Augustine city gates in an alligator cart, courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Photographic Collection.

D(isney)-Day

On November 15, 1965, Walt Disney, Roy Disney, and Governor Haydon Burns shared the stage at a press conference in Orlando, announcing Disney's plan to build a new theme park in Orlando. Until shortly before this announcement, Disney's real estate agents had worked secretly for 18 months to buy land before word got out and prices rose accordingly. Learning from prior experience in California, Disney wanted enough land for the park to be completely self-contained, and to have a sizeable buffer from the outside world.

In 1996, as part of the ceremonies for Walt Disney World's 25th anniversary, Disney held a reunion of sorts marking the occassion of that press conference, which took at the Cherry Plaza Hotel in Orlando, overlooking Lake Eola. The Cherry Plaza is now the Post Parkside apartments. Its restaurant has changed hands several times over the years, and may or may not reopen as Stottler's.

Sunday Visit to Animal Kingdom

Sunday I spent the day at Animal Kingdom -- the newest of the Walt Disney World parks, built in the 1990s. Disney is a major econmoic and cultural force in Florida.

The pictures are a little dark --wouldn't you know I'd pick the one day in the middle of a drought that it actually poured down rain? The bottom photo has a "hidden mickey."

Some books about Disney (not tour guides!):

Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando, by Richard Foglesong

Building the Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture, by Beth Dunlop

Team Rodent, by Carl Hiaasen


Some Disney Blogs:

The Disney Blog

Disney History

Passport to Dreams Old and New

Florida Historic Buildings in the News

"Local classics fell, but condos fail to rise" (Palm Beach Post, 5/5/07)

"Razing of Sheraton Bal harbour rescheduled for fall" (Miami Today, week of 5/3/07)

"Hialeah track could reopen for racing, slots" (Miami Today, week of 5/3/07)

"Expect some changes at Marek's" (Marco Island Sun Times, 5/3/07)

"Kitschy, maybe, but sights say home" (Spring Hill, St. Petersburg Times, 5/3/07)

"Marking their place in history" (Eglin Air Force Base, Emeraldcoast.com, 5/4/07)

"Couple restore historic home" (Titusville, Florida Today, 5/5/07)

My Google Map of Hillsborough River Bridges

Here is my first attempt at using Google's My Maps. I've marked each bridge over the Hillsborough River, with a little information about most of them. I intend to add more information and images as I figure out how, but for now, I'd like to know what you think and what you would like to see added.

Bridges of the Hillsborough River

Florida Coloring Books

Lots of organizations and government agencies put together children's coloring books as part of public education and outreach programs. Many of these are available online as free downloadable and printable .pdf files. Just in time for summer vacation and family trips!

The Florida Scrub Coloring Book
(Archbold Biological Station)

Florida's Animated Alphabet
(Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision)

Florida Wildflowers and Florida Insects
(Florida Department of Agriculture)

Trees
(Florida Forestry Association)

Indian River Lagoon Coloring Book
(South Florida Water Management District and St. Johns River Water Management District)

Manatee Coloring Book and Marine Alphabet Coloring Book
(Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)

The St. Johns River Coloring Book
(St. Johns River Water Management District)

Take a Trip to Clean Air
(Florida Solar Energy Center)

Clean Water Cadets
(City of Hollywood Public Utilities)

Color Me Tampa
(City of Tampa Art Programs)

Manatees: A Coloring and Activity Book
(Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council)

The Estuary Neighborhood
(Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program)

Frogs!

"Time's fun when you're having flies." -- Kermit the Frog

In a state closely associated with with reptiles, the amphibians are sometimes overlooked. However, organizations such as the Southwest Florida Amphibian Monitoring Network and the Hillsborough River Watershed Alliance's Frog Listening Network are keeping their eyes - and definitely their ears - open. It's important work, since amphibians can be indicators of the health or decline of our environment.

But for those of you who aren't the type to be convinced by gentle green throat-clearings, there is the movie Frogs!, starring 1970s vintage Sam Elliot, Ray Milland, and Joan Van Ark. Filmed in part at Eden Gardens State Park and Panama City Beach, Frogs! shows what happens when you spray too many chemicals on the hoppy creatures. That's right, nature gets even. The film's poster is a bullfrog with a severed hand in its mouth.

Perhaps those amphibians are just upset because they just read Ralph Stoutamire's 1952 publication, Bullfrog Farming and Frogging in Florida. Florida's frog industry was but a tadpole, but Stoutamire gave advice on the design and management of commercial frog farms. The best chapter is the "Statement of F. B. Cramer, Sr., President of the Southern Industries, Inc., Frog Farm Located Just North of Tampa, Florida." Page 35 shows Mr. Cramer himself, a respectible looking man wearing a tie, with his spectacles tucked into his shirt pocket as he holds a large spotted dangly-legged frog. To feed his frogs, he relies heavily on fiddler crabs found on bay beaches (Page 37 shows his special crab-catching apparatus). He sells the legs and arms to canners, and tans frog skins to be made into leather "ladies shoes, belts, purses, key rings, the covering of artificial bait for fishing and other novelties." The photos are great -- to illustrate how big the frogs are, a lovely lipsticked young lady holds two enormous amphibians by the feet. On the next page, four grim frog hunters pose with headlamps and gigs. Evidently Wauchula was the centrepointe for catching wild frogs, with 29,000 pounds shipped out in just 5 months of 1941. Stoutamire: "As a wild bullfrog seldom weighs more than 2 pounds, even the pessimistic must admit that is a lot of frogs."

Stoutamire's pièce de résistance is 16 pages of "Famous Ways to Serve Giant Frogs." Yes, 16 pages of 1950s frog recipes such as "Giant Frog Sandwich Spread," "Jellied Great Bullfrog Creamed Salad," and "Giant Bullfrog Fondue." I kid you not.