SKYWATCH Friday: Call out the Ghostbusters to save Tampa's Skyline

I took this photo from an unusual location in that it's not the most flattering angle for any building or structure in the picture. I was just off the Cass Street Bridge, facing east at Doyle Carlton Drive and the west side of the 932-space William F. Poe Garage. The tall building seen over the top level of the garage is the SkyPoint Condominiums. Just to the right, out of the shot, is the new Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children's Museum, both under construction. The condominiums are spectacular and feature 32 floors. Several hot new restaurants and bars have opened on the ground floor. For a very interesting ride, check out their WEBCAM at SkyPoint, for a fantastic aerial view of the building and its surroundings. It faces Curtis Hixon Park, the Hillsborough River and has a commanding 360-degree view of the city of Tampa. Their website describes the building as a "finger of glass and steel slicing into an azure sky." That's a perfect description for what you see jutting up into Tampa's sky and clouds. But, every time I stare up at the building, and this is no reflection on its design or even reality, I'm immediately transported back to the 1984 hit movie, Ghostbusters. Starring Danny Aykroyd, Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver, the movie scenes of the Sedgewich Hotel and Gozer's Temple always come to my mind. Look closely at the very top of SkyPoint and try to imagine a black, menacing sky, bolts of lightning, and huge gargoyles coming to life and dropping down onto the city streets below. I know, it's a stretch. Except I can't look up at the building without thinking Ghostbusters. Again, great design, architecture and engineering, but up there, at the very top, I just know Sigourney Weaver is bringing the wrath of demons and ghosts to life to threaten our dear metropolis. If I don't stay calm and keep a handle on reality, I'll start to see the movie's really scariest character, the Stay Puff Marshmallow-Man, leaping from building to building, squashing cars and pedestrians in his path. (I will not make any reference or jokes here about holding a marshmallow roast in the new park along side the river -I bet that would draw a good turnout and be a crowd-pleaser though.) Rest assured, the builders and developers of SkyPoint have taken every precaution to ward off ghosts and, if you study the WEBCAM closely, they opted to go without gargoyles. Now, that is a relief.

Be sure and visit all of the cities participating in SKYWATCH Friday. It's a great journey around the world's skies.