Why the big deal about getting more international flights?
The airport for me is a metaphor for where this community and region have been and are going. Tampa International proves that we can accomplish greatness as a citizenry when we work together. Way before Walt Disney went into Orlando and bought up all that land, our airport was the leader. [Today, however,] the average person here has to pay $100 and $500 more just to leave the country. There is an obstacle between us and the world that should not exist and need not exist but for good pitching and good marketing. We only have five international flights; we had 10 [flights] 10 years ago. So we approached the airport. They were insistent: We were wrong. There was no problem. We had our facts wrong. How does that relate to the larger issue of progressive change here? The mindsets are stale and calcified. We are a region, and we are an economic unit as a region. This city is developing a critical mass. We can take that force into doing what I presented to you, which is building a city we ca
