Daily Loaf

Years in the making (and weeks and days in the hyping) the new Tampa Museum of Art opened its doors on Saturday morning, after a half hour of speeches by luminaries who had been instrumental in helping to create the $34 million waterfront structure, near where its previous incarnation was based.

However, there is much more than just a new museum for city dwellers now.  There is the revamped Curtis Hixon Park, which was filled with parents and their young children playing,  as well as joggers, and just curious citizens checking out what Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio hopes will become a destination point for residents and visitors alike for decades to come. Read the rest of this entry »

For the third Tampa City Council meeting in the young year, members of the public who oppose beginning Council meetings with an invocation again spoke out against the practice today, but for the first time a member of the Council publicly reacted to their concerns.

Two weeks ago, the group Atheists of Florida came to the council chambers to denounce the practice which kicks off each council meeting , a practice that sporadically has been a source of controversy over the years.  But nobody from the council responded.

Six people who oppose starting government meetings with invocations pleaded with City Council members Thursday to end the practice. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning in Tampa, Mayor Pam Iorio, Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Tampa Housing Authority chairman Jerome Ryans were among the officials who spoke in near ecstatic terms today, a day after learning that the Obama administration had awarded $38 million to Hillsborough County — with $28 million going directly into funding the long-delayed plan to redevelop the former Central Park housing complex into a mixed-use affordable housing project.

The funds come by way of the controversial $787 billion stimulus plan passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last winter, and will be used to build a village of apartments, offices and stores. Bank of America is the private entity involved in the  public/private project.

Central Park Village was razed in 2007.  There were approximately 1,300 residents who lived in around 380 apartments, all of whom were relocated to other public housing facilities.   In a message to those former residents, THA director Ryans said, “If you want to come back, you can come back.” Read the rest of this entry »

Florida Family Association Executive Director David Caton

Yesterday’s 5-1 vote by the Tampa City Council to add transgender people to its human rights ordinance included plenty of drama – mostly in the form of the public comments made by those in support and against the resolution.

But that was nothing compared to what was going on behind closed doors, apparently.

David Caton, executive director of the Florida Family Association, writes on his web site that he met during the meeting with Commission Chairman Thomas Scott and the City Attorney (Chip Fletcher?) to know “what wording changes needed to be made to correct the situation.”

Caton writes that the wording by definition included transvestites and said they’d be permitted to use women’s restrooms.

He then writes:

Pastor Scott told me that he could not support language that protected transvestites.  He thought it protected only those seeking sex change operations even though he had already heard two transvestites testify that morning that most transgenders do not have the money to have an operation therefore they are transvestites.

I informed him that transvestites make up the largest percentage of the transgender movement which is a major part of the homosexual agenda.

He said he could not support that.

I left the side room believing that Pastor and Council Chair Tom Scott would vote against the ordinance.

Tom Scott followed me out the door of the side room where he caught the eyes of Joseph Caetano.  Joseph Caetano says Tom Scott’s smile and short words lead him to believe that somehow I agree to a change in wording of the ordinance.

If you were at the meeting or watching from home, you may have noticed that City Attorney Fletcher came before the Council before their final vote to discuss how the resolution was focusing on gender identity.  He cited a phrase that the city of Gainsville had included in their legislation that he called helpful.  That being “the inner sense of being a specific gender.”

Caton writes incredulously:

What could Pastor and Council Chair Tom Scott believe that adding the words “the inner sense of being a specific gender” to the existing definition would eliminate transvestites from the ordinance?  Adding this language actually increased the protection for transvestites because it made it ever clearer that a “physical” sex change was unnecessary to prove the ordinance applied to transvestites.

In Scott’s closing remarks, which drew praise from various media organizations (including this one) he did say “this ordinance does not address transvestites. “

I bring this up because Caton obviously felt otherwise, and is aggrieved that what he thought was agreed upon behind closed doors was not what actually happened.

Caton also describes his conversation before the meeting with Councilman Joseph Caetano, who has been known to frequently vote in accordance with what Charlie Miranda does.

With Councilman Miranda making it clear that he was going to vote against the ordinance, Caton says he sidled up to Caetano before the vote and informed him of that.  He also writes this :

Councilmember Joseph Caetano, the only Republican on the Tampa City Council, voted for it.  Caetano blamed it on believing that Tom Scott cut a deal with me.  By the way I do NOT cut political deals on moral issues.  Additionally, Caetano told me that he did not want to be the only no vote so he voted yes.

According to Caton, Caetano didn’t know that Miranda would be voting no, thus would not be the lone no vote.  But he’s also saying that because Scott and Caton had come out of the room seeming to agree, it was okay for him to vote FOR the measure.

Either way, the New Tampa representative doesn’t come out of Caton’s account looking too good. Of course, this is just David Caton’s take.   CL has attempted to speak with Caetano, Caton, and City Attorney Chip Fletcher for comment.  If and when we hear from them, we will certainly update this post.

On Thursday the Tampa City Council voted to expand anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals.  The 5-1 vote came after two hours and more than 60 speakers spoke expressed their thoughts and feelings on the issue in what at times seemed to be a festival of hate and ignorance.

Before the meeting, the only drama in the room was who if any Council members would reverse their vote from two weeks prior, when they had voted unanimously to include gender identity and expression in the city’s human rights law, which would effectively prohibit workplace discrimination against people who change genders.

Councilman Charlie Miranda was the lone member who switched his vote and voted no.  (Councilmember Linda Saul-Sena was absent).   He seemed unsatisfied by the answers given by City Attorney Chip Fletcher about how the new law could avoid potential disruptions in the workplace before casting his dissenting vote.

But in perhaps his finest hour on the Council, Chairman Thomas Scott delivered a stirring speech before announcing that he would vote in support of the ordinance.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stacy Frank, an attorney and small business owner who has been involved in a public controversy this year over her company’s involvement in developing cell towers in some Hillsborough County public schools, today announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for District 57 in the Florida House of Representatives.  The seat is open due to the exile of Fay Culp, who is term-limited from office.

In a press release issued this afternoon, Frank,who is the daughter of  Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank said:

“I am running for the Florida Legislature because Tallahassee needs leadership that will make better choices.  Florida is at a crossroads – unemployment is at 11% and our state’s population is declining. Our legislature needs to act responsibly, with an emphasis on lightening the taxpayer’s burden while preserving essential services. We can make fiscally responsible decisions that do not mortgage Florida’s future while preserving what we love about our state.”

Included in her press release is a veritable who’s who of Tampa Democrats endorsing Frank, including Congresswoman Kathy Castor and four members of the Tampa City Council (Linda Saul-Sena, Charlie Miranda, Thomas Scott and Gwen Miller).

The District encompasses Westchase, Town N Country, and South Tampa.  GOP candidates who have already declared their candidacy for the seat include A.J. Matthews, Todd Marks, Dan Molloy and Dana Young.

The only other declared Democrat in the race is Clifford Somers.

It’s been awhile since a Hillsborough County Democrat took a seat that has been in Republican hands in the legislature, but Frank is well known and could be a contender.  Two years ago, Fay Culp beat first time Democratic challenge Yolie Capin.

But Frank could face organized opposition from some South Tampa parents who targeted her personally when her company, Collier Enterprises II, worked on getting cell phone towers erected on the campuses of some Hillsborough County schools.