Tag Archives: Justine Griffin

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Tampa Bay Times: Inventors try pitch their way onto HSN in entrepreneur contest

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times.

hsn

Don Kobasky slouched in a chair in front of a training room inside an HSN studio in St. Petersburg. He was the only one of more than a dozen who did not seem nervous to be there.

He stood out in his neon yellow T-shirt and wore sunglasses on his head. The other contestants wore high heels and sharp dresses or suits. Kobasky had dried paint flecks under his fingernails. Unlike more than 70 other contestants who flew or drove from all over the country to get to HSN’s headquarters last week, Kobasky lives right down the street.

In the training room, the contestants listened to advice on pitching their products from HSN employees, including Bill Green, who has worked on-air at the company for more than 20 years. Green told contestants to sell their story. He told them to show off their personality. He warned them not to say things like “ladies” and “girls” on-air, which can alienate some viewers.

“What about sugar mama?” Kobasky asked.

Read more in the Tampa Bay Times here.

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Tampa Bay Times: See what it’s like to operate one of the 300-foot tall cranes at Port Tampa Bay (w/video)

TAMPA — If you can play a video game, you can operate one of the two $24 million cranes at Port Tampa Bay.

At least that’s what Deitmar Reuten says, the engineering department manager for Ports America, the company that operates the two new cranes recently purchased and assembled at Port Tampa Bay.

The 300-foot tall Post-Panamax gantry cranes allow Port Tampa Bay to unload larger cargo containers from ships. Port officials hope they ultimately help attract bigger ships to Tampa.

Read more in the Tampa Bay Times here.

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Tampa Bay Times: Not every beach community in Pinellas County wants to be like Clearwater Beach

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times. Aug. 5, 2016.

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Longtime residents of Madeira Beach remember when they affectionately referred to their sleepy gulfside community as a “fishing town with a drinking problem.”

But then came the condominium towers. And now some say two proposed projects valued at a combined $200 million threaten to change the landscape of Madeira’s quaint, beachy atmosphere.

“That old quaintness has somewhat gone away already and probably will never come back” said Joe Jorgensen, who has lived on Madeira Beach since 1984. He and other residents started a petition to fight against the development, which generated more than 1,000 signatures in two weeks. “I’m not against all development. I just want to see something that is conducive to our lifestyle. We don’t want to turn into Clearwater Beach.”

Tourism has boomed in Pinellas County since 2011, shattering records set before the recession and driving up hotel room rates from St. Pete Beach to Clearwater Beach. Mom and pop motels that have operated along Pinellas County’s “middle beaches” in Treasure Island and Madeira Beach since the 1950s could face new competition as local municipalities tweak ordinances to attract new development.

Read more in the Tampa Bay Times here.

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Tampa Bay Times: What’s next for Tampa International Airport and CEO Joe Lopano?

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times.

lopano

Joe Lopano has checked off nearly every item on his to-do list.

Since taking over as chief executive of the Tampa International Airport in 2011, he and his team have landed more than a dozen new flights, including a handful of high-profile international routes to Frankfurt, Panama City and most recently to Havana, Cuba. Lopano has also spearheaded the single largest renovation — a $1 billion overhaul — at the airport since the terminal was built in 1971.

The question now is what’s next, for the Tampa airport and for Lopano?

Read more in the Tampa Bay Times here.