Florida Hotel

Tampa Hotels

The 1927 Florida Hotel building may soon get a rennovation as developer Antonios Markopoulus seeks to turn the rotting building into a 300+ room luxury hotel. However, there are 6 other hotels planned for downtown Tampa, which will add 1200 rooms to the 2200 rooms already available (Tampa Tribue 4/29/05). I am all for salvaging a little bit of down town during this latest attempt to force life into the area, but who is going to stay in these hotels and what are they going to do while they are there? The convention center and marriot land national conferences, but are not booked as often as they should be; people don't exactly thing of downtown tampa as a great place for tourists, and the area isn't exactly beachfront, while it is waterfront. I wonder what the occupancy rate is right now for the 2200 rooms that already exist downtown? For some reason, I doubt its close to capacity and I am also skeptical that the recent develompent and planned changes are going to start pulling in downtown overnighters by the thousands (or by 1200 in this case).

Legislation

You may remember Amendments 7 and 8 from the November Florida Ballot. Amendment 7 was titled "the patient's right to know about adverse medical incidents" and Amendment 8 (a bit more contentious) is known as the "Public Protection from Repeated Medical Malpractice".

Both of these amendments were introduced by the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and opposed by the Florida Medical Association. Furthermore, both amendments could strongly influence the health profession in Florida.

Amendment 8 includes a 3-strikes your out law for physicians who commit acts of malpractice. While the amendment was passed during the election, the ramifications and implications of its passage were not thuroughly considered until after the fact. Luckily this amendment was written so that it had to be passed by a House resolution. Furthermore, "strikes" were not clearly defined, nor was the time scale for these strikes (i.e is this retroactive?). Soon after the amdendment passed, the judicial branch recognized its far reaching impacts and put a moratorium on its hearing in the house until language could be better worked out. Basically, if the bill was retroactive, the state would stand to lose numerous physicians and if it wasn't retroactive the state would plan to land future physicians by the bus load - literally; a survey done of all medical students at USF, FSU, UF, and UM found that before Amendment 8, 85% of students would consider practicing in Florida, but if Amendment 8 were to pass the percentage drops significantly, to under 20%

Lobying efforts by the FMA and a strong show of support from physicians in Florida led to a focused effort by the Florida house to come up with a fair version of this law.
In April, SB940 was passed by the Florida house with support from the Florida Medical Association. The final product of Amendment 8 that will become law is NOT retroactive and establishes a Board of Medicine made up of physicians and other members who are qualified to review the actions of their peers. For an act of malpractice to be considered a 'strike' it will first be considered by the Board.

In other legislative news, the house struck down a resolution that would have allowed Naturopaths (new age freaks) to prescribe meds and perform procedures (how about some snake oil with those hot stones?) and refused to hear a bill that would have allowing Nurse Practicioners to have prescription authority.

Legislation

You may remember Amendments 7 and 8 from the November Florida Ballot. Amendment 7 was titled "the patient's right to know about adverse medical incidents" and Amendment 8 (a bit more contentious) is known as the "Public Protection from Repeated Medical Malpractice".

Both of these amendments were introduced by the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and opposed by the Florida Medical Association. Furthermore, both amendments could strongly influence the health profession in Florida.

Amendment 8 includes a 3-strikes your out law for physicians who commit acts of malpractice. While the amendment was passed during the election, the ramifications and implications of its passage were not thuroughly considered until after the fact. Luckily this amendment was written so that it had to be passed by a House resolution. Furthermore, "strikes" were not clearly defined, nor was the time scale for these strikes (i.e is this retroactive?). Soon after the amdendment passed, the judicial branch recognized its far reaching impacts and put a moratorium on its hearing in the house until language could be better worked out. Basically, if the bill was retroactive, the state would stand to lose numerous physicians and if it wasn't retroactive the state would plan to land future physicians by the bus load - literally; a survey done of all medical students at USF, FSU, UF, and UM found that before Amendment 8, 85% of students would consider practicing in Florida, but if Amendment 8 were to pass the percentage drops significantly, to under 20%

Lobying efforts by the FMA and a strong show of support from physicians in Florida led to a focused effort by the Florida house to come up with a fair version of this law.
In April, SB940 was passed by the Florida house with support from the Florida Medical Association. The final product of Amendment 8 that will become law is NOT retroactive and establishes a Board of Medicine made up of physicians and other members who are qualified to review the actions of their peers. For an act of malpractice to be considered a 'strike' it will first be considered by the Board.

In other legislative news, the house struck down a resolution that would have allowed Naturopaths (new age freaks) to prescribe meds and perform procedures (how about some snake oil with those hot stones?) and refused to hear a bill that would have allowing Nurse Practicioners to have prescription authority.

shooting efficiency

Last night, the PISTONS again dominated the SIXERS, however, there is one potentially troubling stat that should be rectified before the second round - points per shot per player. Now, granted, once a team gets a 20+ point lead, jacking up shots isn't that big of a deal and it doesn't really matter if a player becomes unconservative in shot selection. Still, RICHARD HAMILTON was the only PISTONS starter last night with a points per shot > 1

Player Name Number of Shots (all) Number of Points Points Per Shot
HAMILTON 18 23 1.28
BILLUPS 23 20 0.87
PRINCE 19 15 0.79
R.WALLACE 23 15 0.65
B.WALLACE 7 5 0.71

game 2

dalembert has another 4 goal tends in this game and we're only in the 3rd quarter

what's the record for number of goaltending calls against one player in a single series?

phil jackson

phil jackson is being courted by los angeles, new york and cleveland.
from a professional/job-only standpoint, cleveland seems to make the most sense
lebron is what kobe wanted to be and represents a younger, coachable phenom without all the baggage. if dan gilbert is willing to open up his wallet to jackson and keep the wallet open for phil to spend and make decisions about players/staff, etc, i just wouldn't see how he could pass that up.
now, in reality, the job is only one aspect and living in cleveland, thousands of miles from your girlfriend in LA, is probably NOT the ideal situation...too bad because it might have worked really well.
new york makes NO sense due to the heavy constraints brought on by the collection of large contracts by isiah thomas and his predecessors - maybe a couple of years down the line, or maybe flip saunders.
what a sloppy breakup makeup relationship kobe and phil have and how much more of a soap opera could you ask for if he does return to the lakers

more about nba playoffs

the boston/indiana game last night had a bit more oomph to it than Game 1 this past saturday....
paul pierce had a chance to take the game to overtime but poor shot selection and a shabby night shooting from beyond the arc (2-7) kept that from happening...good, i would love to see a reggie miller run (right to detroit for defeat) and an early exit for the celts - the least intriguing team in the eastern conference playoff race

yao was a high scoring robot last night, but he still comes across as just that - a robot. although last night, i did hear him do an interview in english for the first time which was kinda cool - his translator (who is an interesting character himself) was nearby but uneeded.

NBA Playoffs

No big suprises from the weekend playoff games - The DETROIT PISTONS dominated Philadelphia in Game 1. While the sixers opened up a 15 point lead in the first quarter, things settled down and the Pistons offense got going behind a more focused defense. It was clear that Jim O'Neil realized his sixers were undermanned downlow and had employed a more fluffy strategy of telling DALEMBERT to play big - the sixers came out with a ton of energy and a lot of intensity and DALEMBERT controlled the boards and blocked numerous shots, even earning 3 goal tends during the first half (!). However, the intensity could only go so far against a DETROIT team with loads more talent and a strong inside game (Chris Weber, what?).
My MVP of that series so far is clearly RASHEED WALLACE and I don't think the series will go more than 5 games - really should be a sweep, but AI is bound to go off for 45 points in one game at the Comcast center, earning the sixers a mercy win.
In the other Eastern Conference series, things also went pretty much as expected.
New Jersey had some nice looks in the first quarter and did a decent job finding good shots - later in the game Vince may be took too many 3s but the bottom line is that they were an eigth seed that played against a much more powerful 1-seed and it showed. (barely an eigth seed at that....if it wasn't for the gift of cleveland caveliers ownership).
The Pacers/Celtics Game 1 might have been the worst game I've seen in awhile - BORING, unless your a celtics fan. I would love to see Indiana go on a little run and match up against Detroit in the next round, but its not likely to happen given the offensive firepower on Boston (payton, pierce, walker, davis).
Watching the Bulls get by Washington was nice - I hated to see Eddie Curry leave the lineup (irregular heart beat) and such an innopportune time. With a healthy eddie curry in the lineup these young bulls may have gotten out of the first round. Taking game 1 ensures that they still have a chance to do so, but I think its unlikely (besides, they will just get crushed in round 2 either way - but still nice experience for those guys who are bound to be back next year).

More on the west later on.

florida hotel

The craze for new condos and highrises in downtown Tampa has destined some historical landmarks for doom (the maas brothers building for example) - however, this sperlunking goldrush may have salvaged the 1920s Florida Hotel on, suprise, Florida Avenue in downtown.
This is great, because even after the real estate boom blows up, we will still have a revitalized class piece of architecture sitting downtown.

more about the d-rays

Ian Beckles and the 620 folks, as well as the oustnamoli site have been discussing the idea of a direct action show of disapproval for Vince Namoli. Unfortunately, I don't think they're proposed plan is all that strong. As it stands now, organizers are calling for fans to wear white t-shirts to the May 26 DRays v. Mariners game at the Trop. During the 7th inning, after doing the stretch, fans would simply leave their seats and skip the home-half of that inning....the greate WHITE OUT.
As Jim Rome said today (what a dick that guy is, but that's a whole other post), skipping a half inning and wearing a white T-shirt isn't exactly all that strong of a stance.
I propose something a bit more drastic. First of all, the shirt, or maybe signs, should have a unified message....vince, who did we sign with our luxury tax? in a more witty kinda way...something to that effect. Second, why in the hell would WE, the fans, leave the game...oh no..i want NAMOLI to Leave the Trop....the idea should be to make vince so uncomfortable that he heads for the exits - not for a half inning but for a while...i think a chant and some signs would help this cause....but this needs to be an all out assualt...visual, auditory, and action (moving, standing, something).

tonight Kazmir is facing the Red Sox and as of the bottom of the 4th, he's pitching a pretty decent game.

hello crazyhead

direct action against namoli

Tampa Bay Devil Rays Payroll = $37,275,00
New York Yankees Payroll = $205, 939,000
Combined Salary of Derek Jeter + Mike Mussina = $38,000,000
Luxury Tax Redistribution Share Received by Devil Rays = 10% (about $20,000,000)

http://rays.tbo.com/rays/MGBHGP1DS7E.html

1. NBA and NFL both have salary caps, the most parity, and a very rapid turnaround ability from year to year (partially due to the lottery system in the NBA). The Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2006 for the NFL may be the end of the Salary Cap, however, minimal salaries and the draft system will help ensure that parity continues.
2. In the age of free-agency, team rebuilding and growth projects must take place fairly rapidly. However, unfortunately, it has been demonstrated that profitibality does not necessarily rely on winning percentage. This is the root of the problem in Tampa.
3. Recently, an analysis in FORBES demonstrated that the DEVIL RAYS were one of the more profitable teams in MLB. As a matter of fact, there profit was about the same amount as their share of the luxury tax!
4. A business owner who does not have an idealistic love of baseball but invests heavilty in a baseball team must be motivated by profit. But since profit does not necessitate a winning record, a baseball owner also risks commiting a vague form of fraud to his customers.
5. Local baseball fans expect a competitive team that plays at the level of their organization.
6. Currently, an owner faces a conflict between fan obligation and profit. Therefore, baseball must do something to resolve this conflict
7. There are a number of possible solutions to the disparity in MLB including a salary cap, a minimum salary, or a requirement stipulating that all luxury tax dollars redistributed to a given team should go into direct team costs (e.g. player salary)
8. A salary cap is not likely to move past the player's union
9. The easiest solution and most legally feasible is for baseball to REQUIRE that the luxury tax redistribution be spent on direct operating costs and that a MINIMUM salary (based on the current average salary) be phased into MLB

BASIC POINT: REQUIREMENT THAT LUXURY TAX REDISTRIBUTION BE SPENT DIRECTLY ON OPERATING COSTS AND A MINIMUM SALARY!

pope

i don't feel that i can officialy enter blog land unless i have a post about the pope...i know i'm a little late on all this pope hype, but it just seems like a prereq at this point.
I have 3 points about the popela (see, like hoopla, but popela)
1. I'm not sure why the Pope deserves so much of out attention or the attention of the media. The pope really has very little influence on policy in the United States, or anywhere else for that matter. The Pope asked the US not to go to war with Iraq, the pope asked the US not to let Terry Schiavo die, the Pope asked the US to ban abortions, the Pope asked the US not to retalliate against 9/11 with violence, the pope has asked the US to end the death penalty...etc etc etc....The response of US policy makers has been overwhelmingly supportive of the Pope's position - oh, pontiff, thanks for your guidance, we will end this unjust war immediately!...um, no that's not right....as a matter of fact, the general response is "you have a very nice hat and a neat little car old man, now drive on down to south america so we can feel better about ourselves up here...besides i have a meeting with BONO!"
2. The new pope is 78 years old....the funny part about this is that the morning anchor woman on CNN was talking with a Catholic School administrative official somewhere in New Jersey...the administrator said "we think its great our students are witnessing this - its a once in a lifetime opportunity for them!"..
well, if that's the case then these present-day highschoolers have some very short life-expectancies...sucks to die in your mid-20s, maybe 30 at best.
nope, i think those kids will see at least 1, if not 2 or 3 more POPATHONS (again, its like marathon, but its popathon...um, yeah)
3. there is one theory that the catholic church elected a notorious conservative pope who was closer to death than terry shiavo in hospice was simply to allow a TRANSITION period as the church moves from old-skool to new and begins to appease the demands of centerist americans....women clergy, some allowances for abortion, gays, etc...
um, i don't buy this --> the US makes up only 6% of the catholic market...granted, they have a disproportional amount of buying power and influence....and while the catholic church is obviously business savvy%

why?

Major Topics In HBW:
1. Tampa History
2. Tampa Politics and Tampa Life
3. Pistons, NBA, Devil Rays, Tampa Sports
4. Early to Mid 90s Florida and California Punk Rock
5. Odd Medical School Experiences
6. Misc Diatribes