Daily Loaf

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND, UCAN, Amendment 4 activist
Views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of the organizations to which I belong

Hillsborough Commissioner Mark Sharpe, the county’s leading proponent of the pending 2010 rail referendum, has written an opinion piece in the Tampa Tribune that really needs a response from those of us that still have serious concerns about the transportation package that’s being offered.

Let’s look at the case he tries to make (quotes from his opinion piece are below, followed by my responses) and see if it begins to answer the tough questions that many of us have.

“One erroneous e-mail suggested the cost is over $400 per family. The actual estimate is $140 – or $85 per person, which is dwarfed by the costs of rising fuel prices”

Working families would certainly pay more than the county’s estimate of $140 per year. Do the math, it’s simple. Using a low estimate of a family earning $50K, if they took home $40K and half was spent on taxable items, it would amount to $200. What he forgets to tell you is that you will start paying the rail tax right away, but will not see rail for many, many years. How long will you wait? Will you still be alive when that first train rolls down the track?

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Photo left: Citizen opposition / Photo right: Rainmen Horner & Marchetti

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor, R-LAND, UCAN & Amendment 4 activist
Views expressed are my own & might not be shared by the organizations of which I am a member

A rezoning request from a developer in Valrico that is moving quickly through the process begs the question above. If you want to understand why Hillsborough currently suffers from a plethora of overdevelopment with no supporting infrastructure, take a look at this local case to see what happens when a developer wants to build something the community is dead set against. It sheds light on how a local community struggles to achieve self determination in a system that, more often than not, overrides what the citizens want for what a developer needs.

On Monday November 16, 2009 a request for a change in zoning was officially presented to Steve Luce, Hillsborough County’s Zoning Hearing Master.

The parcel is 19.2 acres and until recently was a working citrus grove. The owner is Dr. Gregory Henderson, an internist that specializes in eye surgery, as well as, land development, land speculation, and helicopter pads. It’s currently zoned as 1 acre residential but, as we all know, there’s a lot more profit in building higher density and/or mixed-use commercial, so Dr. Henderson has decided that this strictly residential section of Valrico needs a strip mall. In anticipation of problems with community acceptance, he hires two land development experts to pull off the “sting” (please put on some Scott Joplin piano music while you read the next part of this story). They are skid-greasers Vin Marchetti and Mike Horner. Vin and Mike are the crème de la crème for approval of horrible projects, each in their own right, but team the two together and they are invincible. Marchetti is well connected with some members of the county commission and they bend over backwards to give him every accommodation, so the owner of this property joins a long list of developers that want to improve their odds of passage by bringing in these heavy hitters. Read the rest of this entry »

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor
Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners:
It appears likely that you are going to ask us to approve a 1% sales tax increase in November of 2010 to fund a long range multi-modal transportation package which is highlighting the introduction of light rail to the Tampa Bay region.

At Wednesday’s Regular BOCC meeting it was revealed that, although the referendum’s top billing will be “light rail”, only 37% of the proposed tax will end up going toward an inter-city light rail system. The balance will go toward other forms of transportation, as well as road improvements that are long overdue.

The big question is this – are you going to give voters all of the hard facts surrounding this proposed referendum? And will you incorporate this into your referendum campaign? I know that it will be tempting to take the soundbite approach without providing detail because, as you know, the devil is in the details. Considering that a good portion of this tax would be used to fix infrastructure problems that were created by approving sprawl, how do we know that you’ve learned your lesson? Or that you won’t come back to us 10 years from now and say we need an additional 1% on top of the first 1% because we couldn’t help ourselves from approving more sprawl without getting the money for the infrastructure?

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By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist
The views expressed are my own, and not necessarily those of the organizations that I belong to

You may have read the report in Saturday’s Tampa Tribune about the Ethics Commission moving forward with a full investigation of County Administrator Pat Bean and County Attorney Renee Lee. As the one who filed these complaints, I can provide more details as to how it originally became a news story and why it’s so hard to go after officials that might be ethically challenged.

My complaint charges Bean and Lee with using the power of their positions in Hillsborough County government to corruptly gain a benefit for themselves that was inconsistent with the proper performance of their respective duties. In effect, they circumvented the approval process to give themselves a salary increase in 2007. They violated what the statute calls a misuse of public trust. But saying that a complaint has been filed is meaningless until the Ethics Commission determines that it is “legally sufficient” to proceed forward. Once legal sufficiency is satisfied and the commission feels that there is enough evidence to indicate a possible violation of statute, it then proceeds to a full investigation. And once it gets that far, it must go through the entire vetting process, including a probable cause hearing. So even though the Bean/Lee case has been in the news in the last couple weeks, the fact that the Ethics Commission has now agreed to investigate it is an important new milestone in this saga.

Ever wonder why you don’t often hear of ethics investigations? You’d think there would be a whole slew of them, considering how many state, county and local government workers and elected officials we have in Florida, right? The reason you don’t see the volume that you’d expect is that the complaint process is complicated and lengthy, as well as, very tricky for the filer. Many people give up on the process when they find out how tough it is to actually get a case investigated. In addition, the cases are confidential and the press is not given access to any information until the whole process has been completed. Typically, if a citizen tells the press that they filed ethics charges against an official, the press will not report it because they have no way of corroborating the facts.

The Bean and Lee cases, however, got into the news even before it was known whether or not the Ethics Commission would investigate the alleged charges.

Here’s what happened. Mike Deeson, the 10 Connects reporter, somehow obtained a copy of my complaint against Lee. With that in hand, 10 Connects TV decided to report on it. Deeson had called me to tell me it was going to be on the 6 o’clock news. I was dumbfounded as to how he could have gotten his hands on my complaint. The Ethics Commission keeps the matter confidential but does send copies to the defendants, which in this case would have gone to the County Center. My guess is that he must have a “mole” in the County Attorney’s office…a county employee that hates the County Attorney enough to leak the evidence and get the story out there. I tried to tell Deeson that it was too early to do a report on it because there was no way of telling if the case would go anywhere. He acknowledged that it might be premature to report on it but the decision had already been made, and it was going to appear on the evening news.

According to Deeson, Lee was absolutely livid when she discovered that someone, possibly a person that reported to her, secretly provided him with a copy of the complaint. As soon as Lee got the call from Deeson on October 9th, telling her the story was going to be on 10 Connects TV news and that the document was going to be posted on their website, she sent a terse, accusatory email (below) to the county commission staff. Basically the note warned everyone that whoever leaked the story to Deeson was going to be caught and punished. I think it’s safe to say that the mole who leaked this story should not expect to receive any (secret award) raise money at the end of the year.
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By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist
The circus continues as Hillsborough County muddles through the process of settling with the victim in the Kevin White Sex Trial. Hillsborough’s Board of County Commissioners held what could be truly called a sideshow on Sept 8, 2009. It even included a Barking Dog Act, as well as an approach from Rose Ferlita that sounded a little like Johnnie Cochran. (If he won’t communicate, then we will l-i-t-i-g-a-t-e!!!)

Some of these commissioners may think they’re tough, but Ferlita shows them all how it is done, and she does it with poise and conviction. She is a fearless champion for the citizen, it is that simple…more on that later.

In the deceptively wimpy style to which we’ve all become accustomed, the commissioners sandwiched the White Sex Trial follow-up within a land use meeting. When they do it that way, they don’t have to list it on any agenda and average citizens aren’t going to catch it unless they’re a fan of watching land use cases. In addition, when an issue is buried within a different meeting the commissioners don’t have to offer citizens the opportunity to comment. They’re pretty adept at keeping things that are supposed to be in the sunshine at least partially in the shade.

County Attorney Renee Lee presented options to the commission with their respective costs: Read the rest of this entry »

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

NIMBY Slayer Patrick Slevin rode into Tampa Sept. 3 looking for action, but there was no shootout to be had. He gave an instructional presentation to developers on how to deal with pesky NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) that get in the way of development projects. The presentation was sponsored by the Urban Land Institute and held at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It was titled,

“America Loves Progress…But Americans Hate Change”
A Conversation on Civic Engagement, Hometown Democracy and NIMBYism

Slevin markets himself as a modern-day Paladin (from the old TV series western). His approach is aggressive — the only good NIMBY is a paved-over NIMBY. Read the rest of this entry »

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

The Board of County Commissioners spent 1 ½ hours of their regular meeting yesterday deciding what the next steps will be in settling the Kevin White Sex Trial Case. So far they’ve passed two motions: 1) to spend an additional $10K to have attorney Claire Saady file Post Trial Motions which would try to remove the county’s liability, as well as allow an appeal in the future, and 2) to begin negotiations with Alyssa Ogden’s attorney on the settlement amount.

A key issue was not decided, however. Who is going to pay the settlement, Hillsborough County, or Kevin White, or both? Read the rest of this entry »

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

Friday, the jury came back with its verdict in the Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White sex trial at 5:10 p.m.

Jurors determined that 1) Commissioner Kevin White did sexually harass Alyssa Ogden during her employment with Hillsborough County and 2) that the sexual harassment played a part in her firing.

The awarded damages as follows:
Medical expenses incurred: $15,000
Mental Anguish: $60,000

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By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

The fourth day of the sexual harassment civil trial of Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White had all of the elements of a good Perry Mason episode: legal maneuvering, drama, suspense, a no-nonsense judge and surprise testimony.

Here are Thursday’s highlights:
• White’s moral character gets reamed over previous admission of eight campaign violations.
• A surprise witness threatens White’s defense.
• A central witness told White he’s going to kick his ass when he learned of the allegations.
• Expert witness for defense says he hopes he can earn $10K for his testimony.
• Both White’s aide and his chauffeur try to remain loyal to their boss.

The details after the jump:

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