The Political Whore

New feature time: I’m going to point out great conversations that occur on our comments, as well as the comment of the week. You win nothing except your 15 minutes of fame.

This week, the best conversation occurred in response to my latest post about the doings of Sen. Ronda Storms, and an anti-city law that would limit the finances of urban redevelopment districts, between Chris, Chris W, Bill Peak and Can’t We All Just Get Along. Here’s a sample:

1. Chris W Says:
   March 5th, 2008 at 6:07 pm eMaybe it’s time for Tampa and points west to form West Hillsborough County and leave the rest of it to the social conservatives so they can form their own inbred utopia.
2. Chris Says:
   March 5th, 2008 at 6:42 pm eLOL Chris W

   I grew up on the “west side” and to me anything east of US 301 was foreign territory.

   However, many younger, up and coming families have moved into Brandon, FIshhawk, etc in recent years (b/c of jobs and waning affordbility of home in Tampa proper)…give them some time to stay and get acclimated (unless the market drives them right back out first), and you might see a “moderation” across the county in a few years.

   And Tampa, the city, could stand to do a better job of moving itself out of the bubble for which it has viewed the world for years…Wayne was right in the aritcle, there’s 3x as many unincorported residents than city denizens…that’s a political fight the city lost 2 decades ago and will never get back.

3. BillPeak Says:
   March 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pm eOf course Help me Ronda would want to renew the city-county wars, these kooks thrive on dissension and the “us against them” attitude that is killing our county. Ronda and her master Hughes simply would never let the city and the county unite and heal towards the common goal of making the area a better place to live…”them gays is wiked”. In the united world of ideas and creativity they’d be lost and insignificant. They are only head honchos when they can mis-inform, play dirty politics, and buy off politicians….i.e. make things shitty for the rest of us.

   Without the “us and them” theatrics these losers would be exposed as the short-sighted cowards they really are.

4. Can’t We all Just Get Along Says:
   March 6th, 2008 at 1:11 pm eBill, I don’t disagree with your vew ont the policy issues.

   However, it’s not like the City of Tampa is brimming with gracious comraderie as well.

   The fact is the County – by nature of the role of local governments and by electoral facts – will always politically and fiscally hold the upper hand.

   That puts the city in a position of “suck it up and deal with it if you want to accomplish anything” that it frankly has never embraced, nor gotten past the denial that it is no longer top dog.

   And at the end of the day, perhaps the BOCC is representing their constituents well. Have you ever asked residents in the unincorporated county what defines their quality of life?

   If it comes down to 3 county residents opposed to mass transit versus one city resident in pro, you know how that vote is always going to go.

   And the more shrill you get calling those residents names like hillbilly, rube, ignorant, etc., the more they will glady exert that 3:1 power they have to strike you down in opposition.

Read the entire exchange here.

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