The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) articles from March 1997

The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) archives from March 1997

Soured deals, bad blood and videotape. (Digital Majik Post Productions Inc.)
March 21, 1997... Editor earns clients' praise, others' wrath A convicted bank swindler who says he moved to Tampa to start a new life in the video post-production industry has left a trail of Unpaid bills, angry-suppliers and disillusioned business...

Inventor returns to square one. (Joe Thomas)
March 21, 1997... Bridge patent deals span years of frustration It's a dream shared by a lot of people: see a need, come up with an invention, patent it and make a fortune. For a while, Joe Thomas lived the dream. The former aviation electrician spent eight...

Europa Cruises dissidents stage mutiny. (Europa Cruises Corp.; stockholders)
March 21, 1997... A dissident shareholders group is waging a proxy fight in hopes of seizing control of Europa Cruises Corp., a Madeira Beach company whose stock plummeted several years ago and has shown little sign of recovery. The chairman of Europa called...

Bond deal prevents sale of Aquarium. (Florida Aquarium)
March 21, 1997... The city of Tampa has deep-sixed the notion of selling the Florida Aquarium, after concluding that a sale could jeopardize the status of tax-free bonds used to buy the facility. Only several weeks ago, Mayor Dick Greco said that he had been...

Environmental self-audit bill resurfaces. (Florida)
March 21, 1997... TALLAHASSEE - Proponents call it the "find it, fix it" legislation, compared to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy the state has now. Opponents call it the "Corporate Dirty Secrets Act." After two, years of wrangling, both sides of the...

Mutiny looks to score with new ad campaign. (Tampa Bay Mutiny)
March 21, 1997... The Tampa Bay Mutiny has developed a new media campaign that is aimed at attracting new fans - and especially young people - to its soccer games at Houlihan's Stadium. The new campaign, put together by Ron Schon of Schon Advertising and by...

Audit: amusement park inspections fall short. (Florida)
March 21, 1997... Two years after a state audit pointed out problems in the way the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services inspects amusement rides, the state efforts to address the problem lack manpower, money and may not even be addressing the...

New long-term care hospital opens in St. Pete.
March 21, 1997... Vencor Hospital-St. Petersburg, a new long-term care hospital that replaced a bankrupt facility that cost several previous owners millions of dollars, has finally opened its doors after a series of delays. Officials project the facility will...

Still lawyering after all these years. (Edward Cutler)
March 21, 1997... Edward Cutler has bucked convention again and again in his many decades at the Bar Lots of attorneys work hard, dress well and enjoy a drink after work. But few, like Edward I. Cutler, are 83 years old. There's been no gentle drift into...

Molding profits out of plastic.
March 21, 1997... Clearwater molding, testing company claims 18-20% annual growth Demetre Loulourgas was a 12-year-old, living in Athens, attending school at night seven days a week when he first started working in the tooling industry. Forty-five years...

Florida's intangibles tax: worthy or repeal.
March 21, 1997... Florida is one of the few states that taxes intangible property, which is defined as "property which is not in itself intrinsically valuable, but which derives its chief value from that which it represents." Most property subject to...

Small banks lead in small biz lending. (Tampa Bay Area)
March 7, 1997... When it comes to government-guaranteed small-business loans, the Bay Area's small banks do big business while its big banks mostly do little. That doesn't mean that larger banks aren't interested in small-business lending, but it does...

Columbia launches new doc network. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
March 7, 1997... After a year of corporate-level planning, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. has launched a statewide physician management division based in Tampa. The unit, Columbia Physician Services, hopes to add thousands of new doctors to Columbia's network...

Wanted: $30 million in incentives. (Enterprise Florida)
March 7, 1997... Enterprise Florida, keen on attracting a silicon wafer plant to Florida, has developed a sweeping economic development blueprint that calls for state grants and other corporate incentives of $30 million or more annually. The incentives,...

Carrabba's: still looking for that sizzle. (Carrabba's Italian Grill)
March 7, 1997... Carrabba's Italian Grill, a concept which Outback Steakhouse had expected to develop into its second growth vehicle, has so far failed to take off, leading some analysts to speculate that Outback may be approaching a moment of truth regarding...

Women-owned businesses getting smaller piece of pie. (government contracts)
March 7, 1997... Federal procurement trends point down [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] WASHINGTON - Changes in federal procurement policies are having a dampening effect on women-owned businesses. An analysis by the Business Journal of the distribution of...

Bay Area VC investment set new record in '96. (venture capital)
March 7, 1997... In the Bay Area, as in the nation as a whole, 1996 was a banner year for venture capital deals. What's more, industry insiders say the elements remain in place for more of the same in 1997. Five Tampa Bay companies raised $81.8 million in...

New wetland rules: a damper on development? (Tampa Bay Area)
March 7, 1997... Growth proponents predict the changes will create serious delays in Bay Area office projects The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is adopting new wetland permit rules for construction sites of under 10 acres just as Bay Area developers are...

Federal contractors get bigger at small business's expense.
March 7, 1997... WASHINGTON - The nation's largest government contractors continue to chip away market share from their smaller counterparts despite talk about leveling the playing field in federal procurement policy. While the total government contracting...

New Swiftmud director hopes to end water wars. (Southwest Florida Water Management District Dir. E.D. Vergara)
March 7, 1997... Sonny Vergara is expected to bring his ability to get people talking to find a resolution The state agency that oversees the Bay Area's water supply has appointed a new director, just at a time when the area's competing water interests are...

Pushing for tortillas in every pantry. (La Bonita-Ole Foods)
March 7, 1997... Private issue provides latest funds source for La Bonita-Ole Foods Like any good CEO, Tammy Young of La Bonita-Ole Foods has a vision: The day when every kid at the playground has a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a tortilla. Marketing...

RailFest 97: A glimpse into cheap, effective transportation. (Tampa Bay Area)
March 7, 1997... This month, the Tampa Bay community has a unique opportunity to really think about its transportation future. New rail technology currently used only in Germany and Denmark has arrived here for a series of short train rides and stationary...