• Marci Richter

The reason was that the mayor, Police Chief Jane Castor, City Attorney Jim Shimberg, and other high-ranking members of the administration weren't present to discuss what to do with the surveillance cameras purchased with a federal grant for last month's Republican convention.

At the end of the lengthy discussion, Councilman Harry Cohen erupted in frustration, saying that even if members from the administration weren't available at 11 a.m., there was no good reason why they didn't show up by 1 p.m. (City Attorney Shimberg contacted Councilwoman Lisa Montelione to say he was in Clearwater on city business, not aware he was needed for the discussion.)

"Our input is not wanted, our input is not welcome," Cohen said.

Earlier, Councilman Mike Suarez called the lack of a top-ranking officials at the meeting, "unconscionable."

Perhaps their frustration was also due to the fact that they have limited say about what happens to the cameras. Buckhorn stated that he wants the cameras to remain, though he suggested he would be amenable to moving some of them to different parts of the city.

Less than 12 hours after the Republican National Convention ended at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, a bleary-eyed Mayor Bob Buckhorn hosted a news conference at City Hall where he praised the city police department, city staff, and volunteers for putting on what he called an "absolutely flawless" convention.

The fact that Chief Jane Castor's police department arrested only two people during the entire week was certainly something to celebrate.

But when 970 WFLA news radio reporter Sharon Parker asked Tampa Host Committee Chairman Ken Jones if he wanted to re-assess his frequently quoted statement that the convention was a "once in a lifetime event for Tampa," Jones refused to play along.

"I do think it's once in a lifetime," he replied, referring to the fact that it's been four decades since any political party has returned back to its host city for a second time. (Actually, he was slightly off as Democrats held their conventions in New York City in both 1976 and 1980.)

• Mary Mulhern

"We spent $25 million (on equipment) and made two arrests. I think that says it all," said Mary Mulhern on Wednesday afternoon.

Part of that low number was due to the de-escalation techniques employed by the TPD and the other law enforcement agencies under its control. But a bigger factor was the small number of activists who demonstrated. Though estimates of 15,000 protesters appeared inflated, nobody predicted that only 2,000 activists would attend.

Workers inside the Tampa Bay Times Forum are continuing the process this week of breaking down the infrastructure set-ups created for the Republican National Convention, with the hopes of having the arena restored to its usual condition by the end of this week.

But before the memories of the RNC2012 escape completely from memory, CL wants to bring back to you our experiences on the floor of the convention from last Thursday night just a short time before Clint Eastwood's bizarre appearance — and oh, yeah, MItt Romney's speech to the nation as well.

Thursday night was designed to show off the personal side of the former Massachusetts governor — which even some of his strongest supporters admit they know little about.

The Republicans are united in beating Barack Obama this fall, which is why Romney is now gaining grass-roots support.

But he was hardly the first choice for many delegates.

• Kansas delegate Vicky Sciolaro

So it's not surprising that the 12-minute endorsement/performance art piece by the legendary Clint Eastwood on the climactic night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa is dividing the public as well.

One Tampa Democrat who you can put down as not a fan of what Eastwood did at the RNC is a man who kept his partisan hat out of the ring all week long, Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

When asked by CL Friday morning what he thought of the surreal performance, which consisted of the iconic actor/director talking to a chair that was supposed to represent President Obama, the mayor gave a thumbs-down verdict.

"It was bizarre," he replied, a verdict shared by many who saw the act, even those who said they liked it.
"I didn’t find much humor. It was sad that presidential races are reduced to that kind of childish behavior, but it's politics. It’s theater. He’s an actor, so..."

Buckhorn also said during the press conference that though he will be attending the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week, he has no intention of speaking from the podium during the three-day event.

"I think Charlie Crist stole my spot," the mayor cracked, referring to the former Florida governor and former Republican who increasingly appears to be gearing up for a run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014.

• TPD Chief Jane Castor, Host Committee CEO Ken Jones, Mayor Bob Buckhorn & Chief of Staff Santiago Corrada

They crowed about the shocking statistic regarding the number of arrests — two.

"The key was the approach that the officers took in working with the demonstrators when possible to achieve whatever it was they were looking to accomplish," Castor told reporters at a packed press conference at City Hall. "The information that we had prior to the convention indicated that there were going to be very large numbers of demonstrators here, both in planned events and in unplanned and spontaneous events."

But the large numbers of protesters, for whatever reason, never showed up — certainly not to the extent that was mentioned in past news articles (last week CL questioned why everyone in the mainstream media was automatically citing the number of 15,000 protesters without attribution).