Daily Loaf

Graphic credit: George Niemann

I attended what I hope was the last meeting of the Cone Ranch Advisory Panel (not so affectionately known as C.R.A.P. by some activists) Monday morning. Recall the panel was set up by our County Commission ( BOCC ) at the request of Chairman Ken Hagan to recommend how best to preserve Cone Ranch and save it from development ( by entertaining the notion of  letting brokers sell it to private investors so they could subdivide it and develop it into six smaller parcels) uh-huh. In case you are just tuning in, Cone Ranch was already owned by the public (under the water utility) and it is already listed on our Comprehensive Plan as PRESERVATION (details, details). Those pitching the idea to Hagan and the rest of the BOCC were big time Republican donors (uh-huh).

After five meetings of the panel, the citizens and even some of the panelists were calling bullshit on this idea. The brokers (FCEG) abrubtly exited stage right citing what appears to be a water grab by Commissioner Jim Norman but let’s save that potential scandal for another day. Read the rest of this entry »

I hate to derail this vision of a choo choo in Hillsborough before the tracks are even subsidized but somebody besides the anti-rail crowd has to ask the tough questions. The MSM sure don’t seem to be asking many.

Peeling another layer off this proposed tax to help developers pay for roads pay for rail is disturbing. Recall my earlier concerns that this 1% sales tax (which is a 14% increase)  for “rail” was going in part to fund road widening projects that were already supposed to be paid for by developers. Our county government do something that sneaky, something that dirty, something that underhanded? We are in Hillsborough.

That gravy train list of “non-transit” projects to be funded by the proposed tax not only included one very controversial and not yet approved project, it also contained six roads already on the books to be widened by developers for their DRI approvals. DRI stands for development of regional impact or in simpler terms a big ass subdivision. Here is the stinky part: all six of them are from the same developer, Newland Communities. Of the six road projects, two are associated with Lake Hutto, two with Southbend and two with Waterset and all of these are from Newland! In case that doesn’t smell bad enough for you, one of the members of the Transportation Task Force (TTF) [ the group that came up with the non-rail gravy train list of recommendations for the referendum] is none other than Scott Jones, Vice President of Operations-you can see this one coming can’t you……..of Newland Communities! Yes, as a matter of fact, County Center always has that fishy smell.

Terry Flott, Chair of U-CAN, brought up this little detail (about the six DRIs) during public comment at the last BOCC meeting and when the board had the discussion on the referendum for more developer welfare oops I mean “rail”, Commissioner Kevin Beckner asked staff member Lucia Garsys about it. She tried, quite unconvincingly I might add, to assure Beckner that developers would still have to pay their share. It just begs the question though: if developers are still to be held to their agreements then why put these projects on a list you are asking taxpayers to fund via a NEW TAX in the first place? And when pressed about the DRIs she relayed this to Beckner on the record: (my thoughts are in red)

>>LUCIA GARSYS: THE DEVELOPER PROJECTS WITHOUT THE –
GETTING TOO FAR IN THE WEEDS, DEVELOPER PROJECTS OFTENTIMES
PROVIDE MORE CAPACITY THAN THAT PROJECT CONSUMES, SO THE
BALANCE OF THAT IS PROVIDED IN IMPACT FEE CREDITS. (They get impact fee credits? If they “oftentimes provide more capacity” than needed then why are we billions behind in roads? Looks to me like just another form of developer welfare via the back door!)

Recall the current meager impact fees developers do pay puts taxpayers in the hole over $11,000 with every new rooftop that the Gang of Four approves. Yes, I told you it always smells that bad when you start sniffing around Hillsborough County government.

Also raising an eyebrow was the issue that Commissioner Higginbotham brought up about transparency during the rail discussion. The St. Petersburg Times mentions those shadows with this article. Higginbotham’s exchange during that meeting with County attorney Renee Lee (who CL contributor George Niemann has filed an ethic complaint against) is below:

AGAIN, IF WE’RE GOING TO DO THIS, WE NEED TO BE OPEN, WE
NEED TO BE TRANSPARENT, AND UNLESS THE COUNSELOR HAS
CHANGED HER MIND SINCE YESTERDAY MORNING, THE RESOLUTION OF
INTENT PROVIDES THAT CLOAK OF SECRECY AND DOES NOT ALLOW
THE PUBLIC TO SEE WHO WILL SUPPORT FINANCIALLY THIS EFFORT.
>>RENEE LEE: COMMISSIONER, THE RESOLUTION OF INTENT
EXPRESSES TO THE PUBLIC THAT IT’S THE INTENTION OF THE
BOARD TO PUT THE REFERENDUM ON THE BALLOT IN 2010.
>>AL HIGGINBOTHAM: RIGHT.
BUT MY QUESTION ASKED YESTERDAY, YES OR NO.
>>RENEE LEE: IT DOES NOT BECOME AN ISSUE UNDER THE
ELECTION LAW UNTIL THE BOARD PASSES THAT FORMAL LANGUAGE.
>>AL HIGGINBOTHAM: RIGHT.
>>RENEE LEE: SO THAT THERE ARE — THERE ARE ORGANIZATIONS
OR PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO MIGHT WANT TO SUPPORT THIS WHO HAVE
NO REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AT THIS TIME. (like who I wonder……maybe people or companies that stand to make a lot of money in county contracts if this is approved? And why not just word the motion differently to eliminate this? I don’t often get a chance to say this but it looks like Higginbotham was right on the money!)

A Daily Loaf reader brought to my attention that PB and HDR could be some of the silent backers of this proposal (Hat tip to David Boyett of Lithia for all the research he provided for this post) and also mentioned that HDR is responsible for doing a recent study with HART. Hmmmm, combine that with the fact that according to this article Mayor Iorio feels it is time for HART to take the lead on this plus the suggestion in that same article that says that HART will run the mass transit network and things start to take shape. According to this article PB Americas (who also seem to be know as Parsons Brinckerhoff) is also already involved in a study with HART on rail that looks like it is costing at least 2 million! Uh-huh, just wait and we will take a look at both HDR and PB and it isn’t pretty. 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?

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo credit: Anderson Mancini @Flickr.com

I have to give Commissioner Mark Sharpe credit for promoting alternative transportation options.  On its face, rail sounds like a good idea, but take a closer look at how our county currently operates and how we got here in the first place and that rail vision starts to blur.

Hillsborough County Commissioners put the county in the hole over $11,000 with every new rooftop they approve because they don’t charge adequate impact fees to developers. These figures came out in this 2007 report from the Planning Commission. As a result we are billions behind for things like roads.

What to do? They know! Ask us to tax ourselves to help pay for roads via a 1% sales tax for “rail” (of which only 37% really goes to rail). As my recent post pointed out, we wouldn’t be in this mess had this and past boards made growth pay for itself instead of shifting the burden to taxpayers to subsidize their developer welfare. Now they want even more of a bailout.

On the heels of their rail discussion Wednesday, commissioners had the chance to discuss the audit on impact fees (which are charged to developers to pay for transportation, parks, schools and fire). The audit was performed by the County Clerk’s office and presented to commissioners during their afternoon meeting. Some of the audit’s findings include:

Observation 1: The BOCC has not been assured that the impact fees were spent as directed by ordinance 96-29.

Observation 2: The current impact fee assessment for transportation, right of way, parks, and fire networks may not be covering a reasonable percentage of the cost of growth within the County.

But wait, there’s more:

Finding 1: The costs to administer the program are not fully funded by the impact fees.

Finding 3: Impact fees were incorrectly calculated and assessed.

Finding 4: Revenue from receipt of permitting fees could be lost or misappropriated.

To summarize, not only do they not charge enough to cover growth (or even the impact fee program itself), some of the money could be lost or misappropriated! If you attended or watched the meeting you wouldn’t know this because they didn’t even discuss it. Read the rest of this entry »

You probably already know that growth does not pay for itself and taxpayers are left holding the bill for things like roads, fire safety and parks despite what politicians would like you to believe. Impact fees should be funding these things, yet they don’t even come close. In fact, according to a recent audit done by the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office, they don’t even fund the program it takes to monitor them!

An audit to be presented to the Hillsborough County Commission on Wednesday had some disturbing findings including: (my thoughts are in red)

Observation 1: The BOCC has not been assured that the impact fees were spent as directed by ordinance 96-29. (WTF?)

Observation 2: The current impact fee assessment for transportation, right of way, parks, and fire networks may not be covering a reasonable percentage of the cost of growth within the County. (Ya think?)

Observation 3: The County’s Real Estate Dept does not charge a fee for their land appraisals. (Yet county staff suggests we should get an appraisal on Cone Ranch costing a fortune!)

Photo credit: .res @Flickr.com

Read the rest of this entry »

Commissioner Kevin Beckner has written a letter that was published in this morning’s St. Petersburg Times regarding the Kevin White sexual harassment lawsuit.

Beckner takes exception to a Times editorial written last week:

This editorial incorrectly implies that I, as well as some of my colleagues, believe that Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White should not be held financially responsible for the costs to the taxpayer for his indiscretions. If you watch the Oct. 7 County Commission meeting or review the transcripts, it is very clear that my colleagues and I are in unanimous agreement that Commissioner White should be held accountable for his actions and participate in reimbursing the taxpayers for related costs.

You may recall last week that Commissioner Rose Ferlita’s motion to have the county sue White died when the board deadlocked at three votes apiece.

Beckner followed with a substitute motion to table further discussions until the county learns how much (if any) of the debts owed could be covered by their liability insurance program.  (His motion also failed when it tied at 3 votes apiece as well.)

The county was told last week that it has another eight months to decide on whether or not they do want to sue Commissioner White.

As he said last week during the board’s meeting on the topic, Beckner writes that: Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Blair is one of this year's nominees for Worst Local Politician.

You can only find out by reading Best of the Bay when it’s published Sept. 16 — or by attending tonight’s Best of the Bay Awards Party, aka The Loafies.

It’s a tough category to predict because, well, there were so many deserving candidates. Readers named a whole slew of ‘em. Among those nominated: “All Democrats,” “Any Republican,” “anyone against gay pride,” “anyone in the County Commission’s office,” “anyone who has focused on regulating strip clubs as their career,” “crazy WANDA,” “the Florida legislature,” and (this may be the most cynical response of all), “The Honest One.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND; activist
I was surprised to read Thursday that the meeting of County Commissioners regarding who will foot the bill for what could be nearly $500,000 of your tax dollars (for the financial mess in the wake of Commissioner White’s sex trial) would be behind closed doors. What? This board do something without the public involved? The initial assault on the wetlands comes to mind.

I really didn’t think that a meeting with more than one elected official from the same governing body was allowed to occur without public access according to the Sunshine Law, so I asked County Attorney Renee Lee. She quickly informed me that there is a provision  F.S. 286.011(8) that “allows the attorney to meet in private with the board to discuss pending litigation.” She went on to state that these meetings are often called shade or closed meetings or an executive session. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND; activist

Photo credits: MariellaSmith at Flickr.com

With scandals galore in Hillsborough County, I am a little late on updating you on the most recent Cone Ranch meetings. Recall the Cone Ranch deal was our County Commission bending over backwards at a questionable proposal to buy the publicly owned land by private investors. The idea was pitched to County Commissioners by their Chairman, Commissioner Ken Half-truth Hagan, R -Ridiculous, in order to “preserve” Cone Ranch. The brokers pushing the deal are big time Republican donors. Uh-huh.

After many months and several meetings I think they have finally established that a) The land is publicly owned, and b) It is already preserved, and c)  It wasn’t even for sale! I wonder how much that cost you in staff time from county employees? Here is a quick recap of what you missed at the August 14th meeting; I will cover the August 24th meeting in another post. Read the rest of this entry »

Since my last post on Commissioner Kevin “Pimp Daddy” White (where I thought it might be cheaper for taxpayers just to have paid for a hooker for the poor guy), I decided to do some research on what hookers in Tampa really cost. I thought they might get as much as attorneys (who charged the County $250 an hour to defend them in the case against White so far costing taxpayers $170,000). According to this article, I was wrong. These two prostitutes in the article offered services to officers for $150 and $100. So, lets go with the higher number for arguments sake.

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

Read the rest of this entry »

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:

Read the rest of this entry »

I was very sad to read that Bob Hunter, the executive director for the Planning Commission, is retiring. In the short time that I have been paying attention, I have seen him stay strong in the face of constant verbal attacks and abuse ( usually from Commissioner Jim Norman), and I have seen back-door attempts to cripple his agency through state legislation (that failed).

Before I knew the difference between the county’s pavement-happy Planning and Growth Management Department and The Planning Commission, I attacked him myself via an e-mail when the Bypass mysteriously appeared in a Comp Plan amendment. Through it all he has always remained calm, professional, and the absolute epitome of a true gentleman.

It is Mr. Hunter who is responsible for our sensible Comprehensive Plan that is supposed to be the county’s bible for growth. If not for this plan there would be no urban service line that separates urban from rural areas. I know some of you are asking why do we have such sprawl and poor development patterns then? That is because Mr. Hunter and his agency do not have the final word on these decisions; that is left up to our elected Board of County Commissioners (BOCC). If we have a bad board that is controlled by developers then they often vote to violate our Comprehensive Plan. I have watched it happen many times over the past year. If we have a better board (or even a scared board) then I think this will improve. For now, starting Jan 1st, the county’s NIMBYs, activists, and concerned citizens have one more thing to worry about. Who will replace him? The recent movement of special interest groups disguised as planners, such as TBARTA and One Bay, are jockeying for the inside pole position in this horse race of development. The Planning Commission is this county’s last best hope for smart growth. I doubt anyone can fill Mr. Hunter’s shoes as it’s leader but I hope he can recommend someone!

Mr. Hunter is a giant in the planning world; he has guts, heart and does it all with a quiet calm, professional air about him that commands respect. Even when the dirtiest of shots are taken at him (because the developer driven commissioners hate it when the Comp Plan says no to sprawl) he always remains calm and responds objectively. He does stand up for the Comp Plan and has not tolerated the bullying by certain members of the BOCC. I applaud him for this and thank him for his service to our community. He will be missed. Thank You Mr. Hunter!

I couldn’t believe reading about the stunt Blair pulled Thursday afternoon as he held a press conference to attack Kevin Beckner accusing him of campaign violations and threatening legal actions. Honestly, I would have been disappointed if he started showing any dignity or grace now but this was a new low, even for Blair. His words were absolutely despicable regarding his opponent Beckner. Also disturbing is that standing behind him during this meltdown was Hillsborough County Fire Chief Bill Nesmith and from the Sheriff’s office Col. Greg Brown. Ummm, aren’t these county employees? So what are they doing standing next to a political buffoon in uniform on the taxpayer’s time and the taxpayer’s dime? Didn’t look like the Fire Chief did a thing to put out the flames Blair was going down in.

I was almost sad that I missed the spectacle, but not to worry because Blair wasn’t done. I did attend the County Commission public hearing later that night on some of the proposed land development codes and spoke out in favor of better protection for residents regarding borrow pits. The good people of Balm showed up in force pleading for the County Commission to approve an amendment that offered them little (but still better than the current protection).

Among those people was Virginia Rutledge, 96, who’s charm and character I cannot accurately describe. She was speaking in support of the amendment that will not help her but will help the future neighbors of borrow pits. You know, I just couldn’t resist giving a little reminder to the board of the recent consequences of ignoring citizens in favor of special interests as I encouraged them to Step Awaaaay from the dark side. George Neimann of U-CAN was not as kind as he instructed the viewing audience to watch the board closely and take names. He then showed them the universal sign for We Are Watching You pointing two fingers towards his eyes and then back at the board as he sported a badge saying Gang of Five Four under it asking Who wants to be next?

This must have sent Blair into a tailspin because shortly thereafter Blair went on record berating citizens, calling them extremists and chanting his usual mantra of “if you live in a house, thank a developer.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair held a press conference today at noon to discuss his four years in office that turned into an attack on the newly elected commissioner Kevin Beckner. Reporters guessing that Blair would put his foot in his mouth at his first (last?) press conference after losing his seat to Beckner were not disappointed.

After thanking his family and staff, Blair took questions from various media outlets. He blamed his election loss on about everyone — from Kevin Beckner’s “slanderous and libelous” campaign ads to Blair’s own campaign manager — but himself. But the real jaw-dropper came while Blair was describing the “blantant lies” hurled by Beckner during the campaign:

“There’s a lot of good people that don’t run for office because they know that once they’re in that glass jar, that bubble, they’re going to be attacked. But certainly you have to know the rules. There’s gotta be rules in everything. I mean, how far can you go? Could I say that his boyfriend gave him AIDS or something like that? [Blair starts to stammer] I certainly know that’s not true, and I would never say that. I ran a clean campaign, above-board; I never got into some of the stuff I certainly could have.”  [emphasis added]

Blair, a Republican, said he may pursue legal action against Beckner over some of the comments the Democrat allegedly made while campaigning. He’s also considering filing a complaint with the Florida Elections Commission.

Residents have not seen the last of Blair. He hinted that he may run for Jim Norman’s commission seat in 2010, or the Florida House seat currently held by Rep. Kevin Ambler. For some residents in attendance, including members of the United Citizens Action Network who constantly clashed with Blair over the last few years, any time will be too soon to see the Killer B in office again.

Second best quote from Blair: “You gotta go get my action figures. They’re out now!”

Video after the jump.

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In this week’s Urban Explorer, I profiled local crabber Gus Muench and his proposal to turn Cockroach Bay into a sanctuary.

This isn’t the first time Muench has worked with county leaders to protect Cockroach Bay. In 1986, the editorial boards of both daily papers wrote about the local crabber and his mission to preserve Cockroach Bay. It caught the attention of several county leaders, including then-Hillsborough County Commissioner Jan Platt, who was working on a program that would pool a small fraction of county property taxes into a fund allowing the county to buy undeveloped land to preserve. It was called the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Preservation Program (ELAPP).

Read the rest of this entry »