Clearwater Marina continues to be an eyesore

We begin with an item from the June 14, 2014 Rants and Raves – “The folks who run the Island Way Grill, Rhumba and other Pinellas restaurants say their new Mexican-themed restaurant atop the Clearwater Marina will be open in September which prompted more than one wag to ask “of what year?” Well, it turns out it wasn’t last September, nor will it be this September. The latest projection is Christmas. Again, many ask “of what year”? A private party can take all the time they want to build a restaurant but when it keeps a public facility like the Clearwater Marina in disarray for over two years, city officials who are allowing this to happen need to answer some hard questions.

Around the bay:

1. In a related note to our lead item – the awful look of our city marina aside, all most folks want for the time being is the return of the Marina Diner, a fixture since the fifties, where you could get a reasonably priced breakfast or a burger before a day out on the Gulf. It should have never been closed until the out of control project upstairs was finished.

2. Further to the marina issues, in an amazing display of chutzpah, the city is picking this time to raise boat slip rentals by five per cent for what currently is the shabbiest marina in the state of Florida.

3. The fashionable Clearwater neighborhood of Harbor Oaks wants to return to brick streets and avenues in conjunction with upcoming utilities work. A majority of their residents are willing to be assessed for the additional cost. Like the undergrounding of utilities on Sand Key several years back, this seems to be a no-brainer.

4. Item: The state of Florida has dropped its plans to centralize driver’s license renewals. We’re probably missing something, but we’d rather do something by mail or on line rather than sit in the tax collector’s office waiting for our number to be called.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember “The Weather Chick” on WLCY Radio.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Just a guess, but we suspect the Tennessee Titans are happy with who they ended up with in the first round of the NFL draft.

7. Of the many things we dislike about today’s newspapers (every page being an editorial page; sloppy editing that would make C.C.J. Spink turn over in his grave and too many “jumps” from Page 1 to inside) nothing irritates us more than those stupid “half pages” that make it all but impossible to properly fold your paper. Either add more editorial copy or cut some but get rid of those fractional pages!

8. Factoid: May 11, 1977 - in his memorable (and only) game as manager of the Atlanta Braves, owner Ted Turner’s opposing manager was a man who would become his employee just a few years later – then Pirate manager Chuck Tanner. Turner’s Braves lost the game 2-1 and for the Pirates – it was their 11^th straight victory.

9. Speaking of the Braves – in case you missed it, one of baseball’s all-time good guys, Tim Hudson, who split his career just about evenly between the San Francisco Bay area and Atlanta announced his retirement at season’s end. Hudson retires with just over 220 wins.

10. Riding the top of the record charts 50 years ago this week was the Beatles’ Help! Five years before that, in 1960, The Twist by Chubby Checker was at #1 – one of only two songs that went to the top of the charts in separate years – it was #1 again during the twist craze of 1962.

Major league managers about to say goodbye

Next week, the end of baseball’s regular season, marks the time when major league managers pay the price for their underperforming teams. It’s been predicted that as many as ten skippers could walk the plank. In the for sure category: the National’s Matt Williams, the Red’s Bryan Price, Miami’s Dan Jennings (who will return to the front office), the Phil’s Pete Mackanin (although they won’t find anyone better) and Seattle’s Lloyd McClendon. In the maybe category you have Atlanta’s Fredi Gonzalez (but trending towards “for sure”), San Diego’s Pat Murphy, the Tiger’s Brad Ausmus (who would be on the unemployment line for as long as it takes another team’s GM to look up his number) and the Rockies’ Walt Weiss. A long shot to get a pink slip is the Bosox John Farrell. This last category originally included the A’s Bob Melvin but he was extended on September 9 – the A’s rightfully recognizing that talent (or lack of) was the reason for the A’s dismal season.