Candidate Bob Buckhorn's promises to improve parks and public spaces had a laser-like focus to their specificity.

He vowed to:

• Create a Parks Advisory Board.

• Identify corridors for a greenway/trail from MacDill Air Force Base to New Tampa.

• Seek to transform undeveloped lots into playgrounds, pocket parks and community gardens.

• Cultivate partnerships with private and community support groups.

As mayor, Buckhorn's parks and public space initiatives have been among the boldest of his administration. But he hasn't always done exactly what he said he was going to do.

Instead, Buckhorn's parks initiatives have been bigger and more ambitious in scope than what he promised as a candidate.

"I took a different path," Buckhorn said in an interview on Nov. 19, 2014. "I think those (separate elements of his campaign promise) would have been baby steps by comparison to what we actually accomplished. When I got here I figured out that the system needed improvement to a much greater degree than I thought."

The list of parks and public space initiatives that Buckhorn didn't promise yet has delivered includes free public WiFi along the Riverwalk and in downtown parks, an easy-access bike rental program with bikes stationed at urban parks and recreational areas, and — in the works — a program allowing people to have alcohol on the Riverwalk.

Nor did Buckhorn promise what has turned out to be a signature strategy he's pursued both inside and outside city parks — his knack for taking pieces of land that were lying unused, sometimes costing the city significant amounts of money to maintain, and finding private sector partners to invest in them and give them new life, often in dramatic ways.

Notably, that's what he did at Water Works Park, where the city spent $7.4 million to create a new active waterfront park, while restaurateur Richard Gonzmart spent another $6 million creating Ulele Native-Inspired Food & Spirits in the old city pumphouse next door.

City-owned property that was costing money, "we got rid of," he said. "Those that were underperforming we tried to increase performance." And dead spaces like the old water works park, which was fenced off, and the long-vacant city pumphouse "we tried to upgrade and create destinations."

Meanwhile, Buckhorn's record on the things he actually promised is uneven, though in several cases consistent with the larger aim of the promise.

Parks advisory board

Buckhorn did not create a parks advisory board made up of residents and businesses from around city parks.

That said, he has involved residents and other stakeholders in the planning for one of his biggest and most ambitious projects: the proposed $20 million redevelopment of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park.

Over the spring and summer, a city consultant did about 40 interviews with individuals or small groups about the park, then held four public meetings at Blake High School to solicit ideas, get residents to rate various proposals, refine and focus the plan and take opinions in person and in writing. More than 350 people participated.

That kind of public involvement was in keeping with the spirit of his original promise, Buckhorn said.

"What I figured out was that if you created a parks advisory board for every one of the parks in our system, you would create a lot of committees that would have nothing to do, and you would be wasting people's time," he said.

Identify greenway and trail corridors

Unveiled in late 2012, Buckhorn's InVision Tampa plan calls for the creation of the "green spine," an east-west multipurpose trail that links neighborhoods on the east and west sides of the city to the Riverwalk as well as to each other.

As proposed, the trail would run along Cass Street from near N Howard Avenue in West Tampa, north on the Nick Nuccio Parkway into Ybor City and eventually north to Cuscaden Park.

And while the green spine is not proposed to extend south to MacDill Air Force Base or north to New Tampa, city officials say they are adding bike lanes where and when they can. In the past three years, the city has put in more than 22 miles of new bike lanes, twice what previously existed. Plans call for another 35 miles.

In coming months, Tampa officials plan to add on-street parking and a bike lane to Platt Street from S Armenia Avenue to Bayshore Boulevard. Platt's new bike lane will be paired with another planned bike lane along Cleveland Street's westbound traffic.

Also, by next spring, the Selmon Greenway trail under the Lee Roy Selmon expressway is scheduled to open. The same federal transportation grant that's helping to pay for the Riverwalk is covering most of the cost of the 1.7-mile trail under the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.

Create partnerships with private and community groups

Teaming up with Gonzmart on the Water Works Park/Ulele redevelopment might be the city's highest profile public-private parks partnership, but it's not the only one.

On Aug. 11, 2012, the city partnered with Humana health care, the KaBOOM! nonprofit organization, the V.M. Ybor Neighborhood Association and more than 200 volunteers to design and build a $100,000 playground at Ragan Park..

On Oct. 23, 2014, Buckhorn announced a $1 million partnership with the nonprofit Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to create a synthetic-turf youth baseball field in Sulphur Springs. The city will pay $500,000 toward the new field at Spring­hill Park Community Center, with the other half coming from the foundation, which builds youth development parks in poor neighborhoods nationwide.

Turn vacant lots into little parks

This is an area where Buckhorn's promise did not turn into new pocket parks, playgrounds or community gardens.

But that doesn't mean he never thinks small. On July 17, 2014, the City Council approved a request from Buckhorn's staff to spend $38,515 to refurbish the Yaacov Agam sculpture Visual Welcome — for years all but hidden next to the ramp into an underground parking garage near Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park — so it can be moved to a more visible spot on Bayshore Boulevard.

While running for mayor, Bob Buckhorn promised a series of initiatives aimed at improving city parks and public spaces. What he delivered hasn't always exactly matched what he promised on the stump. Rather, it's often been more ambitious or consequential. And his accomplishments generally have been consistent with the overall goals and spirit of his promise. In the bigger picture, the differences are minor. We rate this Promise Kept.

Bob Buckhorn promised voters a series of initiatives to improve Tampa's parks system, and as mayor, this is an area where he's been active.

The thing is, what Buckhorn promised has not made it onto his parks and rec to-do list.

Recall: during the campaign Buckhorn promised to:

• Create a Parks Advisory Board.

• Identify corridors for a greenway/trail from MacDill Air Force Base to New Tampa.

• Seek to transform undeveloped lots into playgrounds, pocket parks and community gardens.

• Develop partnerships with private and community groups to bring about parks improvements.

In his first year, Buckhorn sought to bring a restaurant to Water Works Park, which the city is redeveloping, created the St. Patrick's Day Mayor's River O'Green Fest at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and welcomed food trucks to Lykes Gaslight Square Park. When it came to enhancing open spaces more generally, he persuaded Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas to provide more than $300,000 to light up four Tampa bridges at night and launched an "Opportunity Corridors” initiative to improve landscaping and decorative lighting along major roads into downtown.

In his second year, Buckhorn's administration:

• Reduced recreation fees for non-city residents, park shelter rentals, gym rentals and charges to hold tournaments and events at city facilities. The idea was to encourage more participation in parks and rec programs and, through the added numbers, generate more revenue.

• Teamed up with Humana health care, the KaBOOM! nonprofit organization, the V.M. Ybor Neighborhood Association and more than 200 volunteers to design and build a $100,000 playground at Ragan Park.

• Had serious discussions with the Jewish Community Center about putting a 10,000-square-foot city art studio and visual arts center inside the renovated Fort Homer Hesterly Armory, which is expected to become the Jewish Community Center South. If Tampa officials secure the space, it could become home to programs now located at the city's Hyde Park Art Studio, half of which is condemned and boarded-up.

• Issued an invitation to architectural or engineering firms to help the city create a master plan for what is expected to be a three-year, $10.5 million redevelopment of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. The firm that the city selects is expected to make sure that the public is involved in the planning process.

Buckhorn also tried to work with a nonprofit foundation to bring a privately financed $31 million museum with a collection from the arts and crafts movement to a spot next to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, but the foundation's leader broke off negotiations after finding the city's contract terms unacceptable.

The KaBOOM! playground project was consistent with Buckhorn's campaign promise to develop partnerships with private groups to improve parks, but that's the only spot where Buckhorn's parks initiatives overlap with his campaign promises.

In a Feb. 26, 2013, interview with PolitiFact Florida, Buckhorn said the idea of creating a parks advisory board is "one of those that, in hindsight, I'm not sure makes sense.”

"Our folks are well-grounded in the communities that their parks are located in,” he said. "We get plenty of input from our customers. I'm not sure that having an additional advisory board does anything other than muddy the waters.”

Buckhorn did repeat his commitment to making sure that people who live near and use Riverfront Park would have a say in the discussion about its redevelopment. In 2012, Buckhorn's musings about maybe bringing a waterfront restaurant to the park —  an idea he has since abandoned —  alarmed some residents of West Riverfront.

"Before we do anything at Riverfront or any of the other parks, we're going to have an ongoing dialogue with the people who are affected by it,” Buckhorn said, adding that includes West Riverfront's neighborhood association as well as the University of Tampa and the Tampa Preparatory School.

Buckhorn's list of parks initiatives is impressive and growing. But because a part of his campaign promise on parks was focused on citizen participation, and because redevelopment plans for Riverfront Park already have stirred up a few of its neighbors, we believe Buckhorn has work remaining here. This promise remains In the Works.

During his campaign for mayor, Bob Buckhorn made an overarching promise -- to create a series of initiatives to improve parks -- and filled in the details with proposals to create a Parks Advisory Board, a greenway or trail from MacDill Air Force Base to New Tampa, and playgrounds, pocket parks and community gardens on vacant lots.

Since becoming mayor, Buckhorn has taken significant steps to improve Tampa's parks and public spaces, but his boldest ideas have not been the ones he outlined during the campaign.

Instead, so far Buckhorn has made with biggest splash with initiatives to:

• Request private-sector proposals to redevelop the city's historic Water Works Building as a part of an ongoing project to restore the city's 5-acre Water Works Park, which is a few blocks north of the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. He chose Columbia Restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart and Bill Rain of Metro Bay Real Estate, who proposed a seafood restaurant, chophouse and oyster bar with an outdoor cafe overlooking the Hillsborough River. The city and the developer are currently negotiating a development agreement for the project.

• Persuade Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas to provide more than $300,000 to light up four Tampa bridges -- the Platt Street bridge, Brorein Street bridge, Kennedy Boulevard bridge and either the CSX railroad bridge or the Cass Street bridge -- at night starting this summer. The city is hiring artist Tracey Dear, who illuminated the bridges in Chicago, as well as the Wrigley Building there, to do the project, called Agua Luces, or Spanish for "water lights.” Dear was selected through a juried process for the original Lights on Tampa program in 2006, but his idea did not come to fruition then. Buckhorn revived it after taking office and approached Tampa Electric for help.

• Launch an "Opportunity Corridors” initiative to improve landscaping and decorative lighting along major routes into and out of downtown.The city is starting with a beautification this summer of Ashley Drive from the bottom of the Interstate 275 exit ramp to Tyler Street. The project will bring new accent lighting, plus colorful ground plants and flowering trees to the road. Buckhorn said the city will make a "four-year commitment" to bring similar improvements to Channelside Drive, Nebraska Avenue and other streets. Buckhorn says the goal is to make the streets more inviting, both to pedestrians and prospective businesses.

Along with these high-profile projects, Buckhorn's administration has carried forward with a variety of smaller parks and greenway projects, some already in the works before he became mayor, that are consistent with the nuts-and-bolts details of this promise. And his administration has working relationships with parks advocacy groups. But there is no action so far on the Parks Advisory Board he promised.

Buckhorn has delivered on the headline of his promise to launch a series of parks and public space initiatives. These are significant, ambitious projects. Still, his follow-through does not touch on everything he discussed in the fine print of his original campaign promise. If he finishes the list, we will revisit the rating. For now, it is In the Works.