What exactly is Florida Hometown Democracy? Basically, it is telling our elected officials that they suck and we no longer give them the right do make growth decisions for us. Sounds like the American way on the surface: Citizens — fed up with politicians who are permanently bent over for big developers with no regard to the environment or our quality of life — start a grassroots petition drive to get an initiative on the ballot. Get enough signatures and, bingo, citizens get to decide if they want to continue to trust the politicians or if they would rather have vote directly on land-use decisions.

FHD gathered the required number of signatures (and then some) and turned them in. Not so fast, said the building lobby (and the politicians that they buy up easier than rural land). The excuses made by the state for not putting it on the ballot were pathetic and seemed downright dirty. FHD did not give up and is now in court to decide whether it will make the ballot.

Opponents of the initiative say it will stop growth … NOT TRUE.

Growth is dictated by local governments’ Comprehensive Plans and will continue as those allow. What Hometown Democracy does is gives the power to decide on whether that plan is AMENDED to citizens. For example, that Comp Plan hearing I attended last week where 6 of our 7 Hillsborough County Commissioners voted to increase densities in rural areas — against the Comp Plan and against the advice of the Planning Commission thus creating more sprawl — I would have had an actual vote on that and so would you!

Only Commissioner Rose Ferlita voted against violating our Comp Plan. Team Sprawl (Jim Norman, Brian Blair, Al Higginbotham, Kevin White,  Ken Hagan and — I am sad to report— Mark Sharpe) voted to violate it, making the perfect argument FOR Hometown Democracy. This isn’t about stopping growth; it is about stopping special interest, out-of-control growth. It is about telling our politicians that they clearly can’t be trusted so we will do it ourselves, thank you.

In my opinion, this is the best chance of saving what we have left of Florida for future generations to enjoy. I believe if the referendum is passed, our grandchildren will have Ms. Blackner, who started Hometown Democracy, to thank for saving Florida from certain demise (unless you live here for the concrete). She is a fearless competitor against a mountain of developers and their sea of politicians.

What can you do? Support Florida Hometown Democracy by signing the petition and spreading the word. Vote to approve it in November, providing the courts do the right thing and actually put it on the ballot.

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Download it here.

Preliminary thoughts, anyone?

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So, kudos to  Sharpe for taking a stand and not allowing Norman to bully the staff. Thanks to  Ferlita for making the motion in the first place, and Commissioner Norman……….you might want to try clicker training with Commissioner Blair……it seems to work for dog trainers. Blair was still speaking when Commissioner Al Higginbotham adjourned the meeting……..the camera was on just long enough to see everyone get up and leave while Blair still continued on.

What can you do? Stay informed and get out and vote.

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The first question: What actual authority this mayor is going to have?  This is an important question, because the specter of litigation regarding any created veto power has already been raised.

Second, how much is this new position going to cost? I imagine that no one looking at the office is going to do the job without all the trimmings, including, but not limited to, staff, office space and maybe even a few monthly television shows.  In the city of Tampa, the mayor’s office costs in excess of $1.5 million year.  How much is it going to cost the county, and what current services does everyone want to cut to fund this new position?

Third, will this simply add more politics to the county government?  It is one thing for staff to pay little attention when a single commissioner tries to influence a department.  However, you won’t be ignoring someone who does not need four other votes to fire.  While this may be appealing when you think your candidate is going to be elected, imagine what happens if your candidate loses.

Fourth, is a county mayor going to need his/her own legal representative?  The city of Tampa has shown us what happens when an administration and council don’t agree.  So that is another $150,000 a year, plus that attorney will need office space, secretary, etc.

Then there are the more philosophical aspects.  For example, I have watched as many current politicians have already started maneuvering themselves for a potential run for this position.  The question then becomes will this new county mayoral position cause a disconnect between local leaders who are suppose to be looking out for the city and their ambitions to run for the county, thus giving the county’s political views more influence in the city?

Whatever the answers to these questions, the one thing for certain is that information is scarce. Everyone is talking about the position as a magic potion, a panacea to the city and county woes, but if ultimately all we are doing is shuffling the deck of the same leaders is there any benefit? Only with detailed information can citizens be informed before voting on the best way to FIX IT NOW.

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TBARTA Now Offering Community Workshops Online -
Giving the Public Even More Opportunities to Participate

The Transportation Authority seeks public participation in the second phase of its master plan development

Tampa, Fla. - (July 17, 2008) - An online option for public participation in TBARTA’s Community Workshops will be available for this round of regional transportation master planning.

On Tuesday, July 22, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., and Wednesday, August 6, from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) will host Community Workshops online at www.tbarta.com.

What are TBARTA Community Workshops?

Light rail or bus rapid transit? Commuter rail, managed lanes, or waterborne transit? TBARTA will ask the public to imagine the possibilities and share their ideas on different transit modes for our region at the next series of community workshops.

The workshops are part of TBARTA’s effort to develop a transportation master plan for the seven-county West Central Florida region, including Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota Counties.
TBARTA has recently completed Phase One of the master plan development, during which the public provided important comments on where transit service should be located to serve regional transportation needs. The second phase has begun, and TBARTA is now asking the public what type of transit mode would be best for each of the transportation corridors that moved into Phase Two. Some of the transit mode options that will be evaluated are bus rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, managed lanes, and waterborne transit.

Participate Online

To participate in online Community Workshops, visit www.tbarta.com and click on the “Meetings” tab to locate the link for the online meetings. Or go directly to:

Online Community Workshop #1: http://www.tbarta.com/?q=node/1188
Online Community Workshop #2: http://www.tbarta.com/?q=node/1189

During the two meeting times - Tuesday, July 22, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., and Wednesday, August 6, from 6 - 8 p.m. - a live, moderated Powerpoint presentation will be given at the beginning of the meeting time and repeated one hour later. In addition, TBARTA representatives will answer questions and ask for ideas and comments from the online audience.

During the online Community Workshop, visitors will be asked to complete a survey. This survey will also be available on the website outside of the meeting times for residents to complete at their convenience.

Other Opportunities to Participate

Additional Community Workshops will be held from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the following locations. The workshops will be held “open house” style and will all contain the same information, so please stop by any time at the location of your choice.

Wednesday, July 23 - Manatee County
The Lakewood Ranch Community Room
(located in Northern Trust Bank, Suite 203)
6320 Venture Dr., Bradenton

Thursday, July 24 - Sarasota County
Venice Community Center
326 South Nokomis Ave., Venice

Tuesday, July 29 - Pasco County
Alice Hall Community Center
38116 Fifth Avenue, Zephyrhills

Wednesday, July 30 - Citrus County
West Citrus Community Center
8940 W. Veterans Dr., Homosassa

Thursday, July 31 - Hernando County
Holiday Inn Express - Spring Hill
3528 Commercial Way, Spring Hill

Tuesday, Aug. 5 - Hillsborough County
Doubletree Hotel
4500 W. Cypress Street, Tampa

Thursday, Aug. 7 - Pinellas County
Largo Cultural Center
105 Central Park Drive, Largo

As the master planning process moves into phase three, additional workshops will be held for public comment as well. These workshops are currently planned for Fall 2008. For more information on TBARTA and the Master Plan, visit www.tbarta.com or call 813-217-4048.

Individuals requiring accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act or persons who require translation services (free of charge) should contact Brandie Miklus at 813-217-4037 at least three (3) days prior to the meeting. Public participation is solicited without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, nation origin, disability, or family status.

About TBARTA

The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority was created by the Florida Legislature in 2007 to plan and develop a multimodal transportation system that will connect the seven counties of the Tampa Bay region. These counties include Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota. TBARTA’s mission is to improve mobility and expand multimodal transportation options for passengers and freight throughout the seven-county region. The legislature has mandated that TBARTA must create a Regional Transportation Master Plan for the Tampa Bay region by July 2009 and TBARTA is working to complete it by the end of 2008. The goal of this Master Plan is to engage the public in developing a vision for regional integration of transportation systems and foster partnerships with government agencies and business entities.

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Boy, just a few short days to celebrate the death of the Bypass/ Green Swath of Death and then I read the July 1 front page of the Trib showing the cracks in the reservoir. Great, so I won’t have a road destroying my community but now I might need to don my scuba gear to get out to the barn. Tampa Bay Water (who look to me like the TBARTA of water with their regional board) are saying that the reservoir is safe (yeah and their inspectors said they had 12 inches of cement when it turns out there is only actually 3 in some places). Hmmm, claiming to have 12 inches while really only sporting 3…………. seems to me that overestimating how well-endowed the reservoir is could be disastrous. When it comes to holding back 15 billion gallons of water, I think size probably does matter and oh yeah, taxpayers paid for 12 inches! This photo is from last year’s report that I found on their website, so they have known about this for some time.

When we first heard these rumblings last year we were told everything is fine, and not to worry our pretty heads about it. I was busy fighting a road at the time and Ronda Storms said in the paper she would take care of it. (hey, give me some credit here for not making a comment about Storms). After reading the most recent article about the cracks, I contacted some of our BOCC (Commissioners Higginbotham and Sharpe are on TBW). Mr. Johnson, Higginbotham’s aide, replied promptly via e-mail and gave me some information about the reservoir. Mr. Johnson explained that the soil-cement was a less expensive alternative than other options such as rip-rap. He also made me aware that it was “essentially recycled material” since the native soil from the excavation was used. (Not a good case for recycling but I give him an A for effort on that one). He also provided parts of David Carrier’s June 20th report and describes Carrier as the state expert from FDEP on dams and reservoirs. Carrier reports his findings from the consultants Black and Veatch who are excavating the test pits. Here are the parts of his report that scare me: the B and V folks found seepage/erosion conduits in the soil beneath the geotextile. The diameter of the conduits varies from several about 8 inches; and they “evidently meander beneath the soil cement.”

Evidently meander? Hey, I am not a scientist or engineer but evidently meandering past the layer that of geotextile that is supposed to be keeping the water out of my neighborhood does not make me feel safe. It gets worse he is later quoted in the report: “In one of the conduits a tape measure could be pushed to a length of 12 feet, but presumably it extends even farther.” Presumably? How much money does this guy get paid to presumably inspect the reservoir that evidently has some meandering holes underneath the cracking surface? These types of descriptions from an expert beg the question………… Is he inspecting crack or smoking it? As you can probably tell, I wasn’t feeling too confident about this guy when I read the end of his report “In particular, the geomembrane deep in the embankment has not been breached and the safety of the dam has not been compromised.” Um……Mr. Expert, how long before those 12 ft (but presumably farther) conduits extending beneath the geotextile meander even farther? What happens when the dam has 15 billion gallons of water in it instead of just under the 4 billion gallons that it is holding now?

Why should you care especially if you don’t happen to live in rural Lithia? Because your tax dollars built this cracking mess and it is costing a fortune to fix it. After reading Wayne’s recent article on Ralph Hughes, concrete mogul, and his ties to 6 of our 7 current county commissioners I am surprised they couldn’t at least get us a deal on real concrete.

My question is how far does 15 billion gallons spread if the reservoir is completely breached? Can anybody presumably guess just how far that water will meander if it breaks through the rest of the barriers? TBW is proposing to put another reservoir out here. I say NO. Why should one little corner of the region assume so much of the risk for all the counties (Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas) that TBW supplies to? The land surrounding the current reservoir will be for hiking, biking and horse trails and it is scheduled to be opened next spring. This sounds great but adding another reservoir would decrease the land available for this and certainly increase the risk they have already imposed on our community.

TBW needs to FIX IT NOW but the question is how? The pictures in the Trib show them patching up the visible cracks where the reservoir is dry but I wonder how they patch those cracks underwater and how do they fix that tunneling that is described outside the cracks and in the mound itself? You can contact TBW here and ask them. You can contact our BOCC here and let them know if you have concerns. Mr. Johnson assured me that Commissioner Higginbotham will continue to monitor the reservoir very closely and remains committed to ensuring the safety and continued operation of the reservoir. I do hope that is the case but if living in rural Lithia has taught me anything it is that citizens need to pay attention and look out for ourselves.

UPDATE: Since this was submitted I heard back from Eric Larson, Commissioner Mark Sharpe’s aide.  I have found him to be accommodating and helpful anytime I have a question or request.  He provided me with more information (in the linked .pdf) regarding the structure itself and assures me that the safety of the dam has not been compromised.  He provided contact information to TBW and suggested I attend the next TBW Board Meeting on August 18 in Clearwater and put my concerns on the record.  I did email TBW on July 3 regarding this issue and have yet to hear back from them.  I also questioned what they were filling the cracks in with since it looked like real concrete and not soil-cement to me in the pictures.  Mr. Larson informed me it was grout cement.

I also heard back from Mr. Johnson who expressed confidence in the state inspector.  They both harped on the fact that the soil-cement is not what is holding back the water it is just a wave-attenuation (so I could have been surfing in Lithia if not for this wave-attenuation device?) and that the cracks have nothing to do with the integrity of the structure.  It is the “evidently meanders beneath the geotextile” part that is scary to me.  I am glad that I am a good swimmer just in case that meandering continues.

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Here is the funny part - I recently received an e-mail from one Aundra Bryant from the office of the Governor. Charlie thanked me in the e-mail for taking the time to write to him in SUPPORT of the appropriations for TBARTA and proudly proclaimed that he signed the act that would support them. I was not the only one, as two others in opposition informed me they received the same letter back as I did thanking them for their support. Way to keep your finger on the pulse of the people Governor. This inability to differentiate opposition vs. support could explain a lot!

What can you do? Sorry no suggestions this time as I am still shaking my head and rolling my eyeballs.

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Lies, conspiracy theories and loss of government trust are all things that came with this experience of fighting the Swath. Massive citizen opposition has killed this idea many times over, including an EAR amendment, the BOCC, the South County Transportation Plan, and finally the MPO Needs Assessment Map. That is a lot of funerals, but it was dead at the county level.

TBARTA is regional, and for some reason it thought it would be appropriate to resurrect the Swath. So, should we have ever had to wage this war in the first place? No. The good news is that the power of the public prevailed in spite of the hidden agendas, political motives, and the powerful developers that wanted to make this road a reality. Mr. Neimann asked TBARTA to please nail the casket shut this time. Maybe now they can get on to finding transportation solutions where people already live……..INSIDE the URBAN SERVICE AREA.

Here is an interesting note……..before the final vote to approve the map with the remaining routes, commissioners, appointees on the board, and mayors spoke up about specific lines that did or did not make it to the next phase. They noted the actual placement of lines, some because it would never work and others because they don’t see the exact alignment they want,and this goes on for quite some time. I have attended the last three meetings, and I found it funny that I haven’t heard them speak out about this before now with the exception of Commissioner Nora Patterson of Sarasota, who is not shy about protecting her community. In other words, turns out - they are all just a bunch of NIMBYs like me. Finally, Patterson makes an amendment to the motion that includes everyone’s concerns regarding the remaining lines. (I know you are dying to know if our Hillsborough representative, Commissioner Ken Hagan, said anything about our county……………he wasn’t there). Mayor Pam Iorio gave them a lashing for their maps, though, since she didn’t see the part of the Tampa Rail line she wanted. Bob Clifford of FDOT assured her that it was there.

Oh and there is more promising news. Chairman Shelton Quarles, former Buc, knew where the meeting was this month, and there were two great presentations given by agencies in our county (I can’t believe I just said that). Was I just so excited that the Swath was removed that I actually enjoyed these presentations? No. Over the last year I have suffered through many presentations at the BOCC, the MPO, the Planning Commisson, TBARTA, and community meetings, so I know a good one when I see it, and these two were both excellent on Friday. The Hillsborough Aviation Authority gave a great presentation on how it is  ready for mass transit. Ray Chiaramonte of the MPO also gave an excellent presentation of Hillsborough’s plans for mass transit. Both presentations showed me that our area has done their homework with respect to their plans. I hope TBARTA will do the same.

I hope this is my last post about the Swath. What can you do? Go out and celebrate!

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