Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 30, 2009, at 12:39 pm
His candidacy has been called “quixotic” as he flies into the face of a Republican challenger who likely will be Charlie Crist, but Kendrick Meek is strongly confident in his ability to force Floridians to examine the real record of their favorite, white-haired governor.
Meek is a rising star in the Democratic Party, finding himself with a seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after just four terms in office. Helps to have a progressive voting record and agenda. It probably also doesn’t hurt when your mom served on the House Appropriations Committee with (now Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, as Congresswoman Carrie Meek did.
He’s largely untested (he won his seat in Congress unopposed after his mother retired so close to the qualifying deadline that nobody could mount a real challenge to her son) but he’s shown great energy and won a good deal of the hearts and minds in the Florida Democratic Party, so much so that a few major challengers have stepped aside rather than force an expensive primary race with him.
Meek was in Tampa today and stopped by the Creative Loafing offices. We talked about how to pay for health care reform, whether the stimulus is working, his role in forcing smaller class sizes in public schools and his famous 2000 showdown with then-Gov. Jeb Bush over the dismantling of affirmative action in the state, which resulted in a 26-hour sit-in at the lobby of the Governor’s Office after Bush refused to meet with him and another lawmaker.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 29, 2009, at 1:57 pm
UPDATE: We have 10 candidates for mayor, as Alex Haak didn’t qualify. They are Deveron Gibbons, Kathleen Ford, Bill Foster, Scott Wagman, Larry Williams, Jamie Bennett, John Warren, Richard Eldridge, Ed Helm and Paul Congemi. The primary election to determine the two finalists is Sept. 1.
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Today is the last day to file all the necessary paperwork to run for St. Petersburg mayor or city council, a day called Qualifying Day. We’ll know who is in and who is out by 5 pm.
A last-minute entry into the field, however, is entrepreneur, preservationist and restaurateur John Warren, 59, who owns Savannah’s Cafe on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.
Warren, who has been frustrated by the city’s inability to help small businesses and truly grow its downtown in a sensible fashion, told supporters in an e-mail that he knows he is getting in late but doesn’t hear the issues he thinks ought to be disucssed.
“I don’t believe current candidates are addressing the issues that need to be discussed, nor do I feel they have the vision or experiences to deal with today’s challenges. Apparently many of you agree,” Warren wrote.
He also hints that he will get rid of controversial police Chief Chuck Harmon if the SPPD can’t start battling crime more effectively.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 29, 2009, at 1:41 pm
From the there’s-no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity-(or-polling) files comes this pitch to Scott Wagman supporters to pony up some bucks despite a pretty rotten showing in a recent St. Petersburg Times poll that placed Wagman tied for fourth, behind Kathleen Ford, Bill Foster and Deveron Gibbons and tied with Larry Williams.
For those not studied in the art of politics, this is called spin.
But before the Wagman haters chime in, let’s give some context to the poll. More than 60 percent of the voters surveyed said they didn’t have a preference yet, meaning that this is a wide open race and the poll was only an indication of a lack of voter engagement and existing name recognition, not a legit look at who will finish in what order. I don’t say this to defend Wagman’s poor showing; but the truth is not all of the campaigns have spent little or nothing in tems of direct voter contact (direct mail, television ads, radio ads, robo-phone calls, etc.) that is what gets voters ready to make decisions. At best, some of the campaigns have been walking door to door and using some new media advertising on Facebook and the like. That’s not enough to drive serious interest to an off-election year municipal election.
But Wagman felt his placement in the poll could be spun to his advantage with supporters and sent them this e-mail today: Read the rest of this entry »
Rhodes, 50, was supposed to be tried today on charges tied to his Jan. 16 arrest. But the trial was continued until Wednesday because his attorney was awaiting transcripts from a previous hearing.
Now, instead of going to trial, Rhodes will plead no contest on Wednesday to a misdemeanor obstruction charge, defense attorney Jeff Brown said.
As part of the plea deal, Rhodes will serve 50 hours of community service. Adjudication will be withheld, meaning he will not have a conviction on his record.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 29, 2009, at 10:22 am
Reporters are gathering at the Hillsborough Medical Examiner’s Office for a noon newser at which a preliminary report into the death of famed TV pitchman Billy Mays is set to be released. We’ll pass along coverage on Twitter (follow @poho) and over at the Daily Loaf blog.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 29, 2009, at 9:45 am
A stunning admission, if completely unsurprising to anybody who has run campaigns in any African-American community in this state: The way to get coverage in black-owned media is to pay for it.
That was the direct message to Jim Greer, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, from a group of African-American media execs over the weekend:
“At the end of the day, it’s about money. If you buy advertising, you’re more likely to get coverage,” said Johnny Hunter, president of the Florida Association of Black Owned Media and publisher of Sarasota’s Tempo News.
That according to coverage of the meeting in the Orlando Sentinel. Greer’s response?
Greer promised that the party would stop ignoring black media. He said that mainstream newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Tribune and Tallahassee Democrat cover the party’s issues regardless of whether they advertise, but the party chairman nevertheless seemed willing to accept the quid-pro-quo arrangement.
“When I hear that when we advertise, the paper will be more likely to disseminate Republican issues, am I hearing right?” Greer asked. “I don’t understand the legitimacy of disseminating information and having a tie-in to revenue — but I get it.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 28, 2009, at 7:17 pm
Cross-posted from The Daily Loaf blog
By Denis Baldwin Daily Loaf contributor
Last week, I attended the Rhino Political Action Committee’s political mixer at NOVA. Like the first event I attended, local mayor candidates and other politicos met with the common man, answering questions and trying to convince us that they were the right person for the job.
Unlike the first one I attended, the candidates actually seemed to have an agenda now. Many spoke on the importance of keeping our children in programs to avoid gangs. Others spoke of keeping the streets clean, both of garbage and of drug users and prostitutes. Still others pushed issues involving the St Pete Pier and its ongoing subsidy by taxpayers. It seems that everyone was making good points, making this a valuable (if somewhat overwhelming ordeal).
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 27, 2009, at 6:00 am
By Heidi Lux Daily Loaf contributor
After my brief, stolen moment with Governor C. at the charity fashion show, my life returned to its usual mundane routine. I was a nobody. Why would C. even remember me?
So when I answered my cell phone after class Monday afternoon, I was astonished to find myself on the line with C.’s assistant. Apparently, the Governor had been impressed by me and wished to meet me under better circumstances, and would I be available Friday night? I would. I was instructed not to tell anyone the Governor and I would be meeting, nor was I told where the meeting would take place.
The week passed by me as I sat through my USF classes, unable to concentrate, my entire attention on C. What should I wear? Where would we meet? Was it a date? But the biggest question I had was, why me?
Finally at eight o’clock on Friday night, I stood on the stoop of my apartment building, in a black dress pilfered from my older and more fashionable sister Fate’s closet, and held my breath in anticipation.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the scene, accompanied by a loud noise and gusting wind. I didn’t know what to secure first, my hair or my skirt. So I halfheartedly tried to catch both while managing to hold neither, as a shiny, black helicopter descended in front of me. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 26, 2009, at 4:44 pm
Of the Big Six candidates for St. Petersburg mayor (Jamie Bennett, Kathleen Ford, Bill Foster, Deveron Gibbons, Scott Wagman and Larry Williams), the only one that I have not had a chance to have in the CL Studio was Williams — until now. The former St. Pete city councilman came in recently to tape his half-hour on the HoCast, talking about how to battle the city’s crime problems and whether he is behind the eight ball because he got into the race late.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 26, 2009, at 3:20 pm
Call it Phyllis Math: a gathering of Phyllis Busansky’s “five closest friends” numbered nearly 1,000 at her funeral at Temple Schaarai Zedek in Tampa on this dark, rainy Friday morning. It was a running joke throughout the tributes to the late Hillsborough County supervisor of elections, how Busansky had told so many people that they were one of her three or five or seven closest friends.
For some, that would be duplicitous; Busansky, however, meant it and was close friends with just about everybody she met, forging an instant connection, building communities and circles of influence, her longtime friend Jeannie McGuire told the gathered mourners. McGuire had one of my favorite lines of the funeral, talking about Busansky’s sense of fashion as not quite classic but “classic — plus dramatic.”
There were more laughs than tears.
Tampa Tribune columnist Steve Otto, who long held a valued spot on Busansky’s speed dial and in heart, called his politician-friend “a tornado with hair.” Busansky’s daughter, Rebecca, read a 2005 e-mail that came to Busansky’s husband, Sheldon, from a woman that Phyllis had helped in the 1960s get into a college. The woman was hoping that Sheldon was related to Phyllis so he could pass along her thanks.
Most touching was the remembrance of her son, Alex, who said he was happy to have had 47 years with his mother. “I am my mother’s son,” he told the crowd, which flowed over into a separate room and outside, where monitors were set up. “If you’ve met her, you’ve met me.”
The room was full of politicians and elected officials, from Mayor Pam Iorio to the county commission, city council and constitutional officers — including Gov. Charlie Crist. Even the man that Busansky vanquished in the 2008 elections, former Elections Chief Buddy Johnson, attended, making for an uncomfortable moment when Rabbi Richard Birnholz said he had endorsed Phyllis in that election because it was the community’s only hope to clean up a hopelessly bungled office. Johnson later shook hands with people in the parking lot.
For progressives, it was a trip down memory lane, a viewing of some of the people who helped Tampa and Hillsborough County make great strides during an eight-year period, from 1988 to 1996, when social conservatives began their destructive takeover of county government and the rise of suburban development gave them the numbers to consistently beat urban progressives at the ballot box. Busansky’s quarterbacking of the county’s landmark indigent health care program, part fiscal sense-part social justice, that was a highlight of that era.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 26, 2009, at 8:24 am
The now-rejected watefront ballpark; will St. Pete-Pinellas also be rejected?
And the other shoe drops. It was predictable after the outburst earlier this week from Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman about poor attendance at the Phillies series that it was just setting the table for a St. Petersburg departure. Now, comes confirmation that it is very actively being considered.
The A Baseball Community, studying everything from new sites for a Rays stadium to how to boost ticket sales, now confirms that three of the five geographic areas it is analyzing are in Hillsborough County. The three are in Westshore, downtown Tampa and east of the city at/near the Florida State Fairgrounds. Those sites join mid-Pinellas County (the Feather Sound/Carillon area) and downtown St. Petersburg on the list of five regions under study.
The astronauts trained at lots of sites in the U.S. and around the world, at least a couple of which humans had turned into wildernesses. According to Diamond, “Since human settlement began, most of [Iceland's] original trees and vegetation have been destroyed, and about half of the original soils have eroded into the ocean. As a result … large areas … that were green at the time that Vikings landed are now lifeless brown desert.” Similarly, much of the area around Sudbury, Ontario, was a moonscape in the 1960s due to nickel smelting.
In neither case, however, was environmental devastation the main draw for NASA. Instead it was geological features. Although the real purpose of the moon shots was bragging rights, the nominal goal was scientific exploration. One thing the moon had plenty of was rocks, and that meant geology training lest the astronauts wander right past the specimens they were supposedly there to study.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 24, 2009, at 2:13 pm
Love this story. Just love this story.
Soon-to-be-former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford first came up missing, then his staff explained that he was hiking alone on the Appalachian Trail, then earlier today came word she was cruising off the coast of Argentina. Now, the truth.
Yes, it’s another woman.
From CNN:
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday, amid speculation over his whereabouts for the last several days, that he has been engaged in an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.
“I’ve been unfaithful to my wife,” Sanford told a news conference in Columbia, the state capital. “I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina.”
His voice choking at times, Sanford apologized to his wife and four sons, his staff and supporters, and said he would resign immediately as head of the Republican Governors Association. The affair was discovered five months ago, Sanford said.
Watch the video of his admission from a live news conference after the jump:
I noticed it 30 years ago, when I began teaching. In my history class, students seemed to have little interest in the cast of characters until photography came along. Pictures changed the way we looked at history. We were never as interested in George Washington as were in Abraham Lincoln. It was because of those portraits of Lincoln, where we could look into his haunted eyes.
You can’t hide from pictures. The horrific video of a young woman, Neda Agha-Soltan, bleeding out on a Tehran street not only makes the political upheaval in Iran more tangible, it also shows the power of new media. We don’t turn to television, toward any immaculately dressed network news anchor, to see these images. We click on YouTube and get handheld cell phone video from a helpless bystander.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 24, 2009, at 10:06 am
The News Media Guildi is protesting (and rightly) on behalf of its members at the AP because of new social media policies at the news organization that will now require reporters and editors to remove comments and other info on their Facebook pages that don’t meet AP standards.
“It is making some people cringe,” said Kevin Keane, News Media Guild administrator. “It is not appropriate for a company that heralds free speech.”
Keane also objected to another portion of the new rules that states: “Posting material about the AP’s internal operations is prohibited on employees’ personal pages.”
“You can’t tell people not to talk about anything internal to AP,” Keane said. “It is too broad. People have the right.”
Equally is its backwards policy on reporters using Twitter to communicate news. Here is both the Facebook and Twitter provisions from AP’s Q&A-format policy:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 24, 2009, at 9:14 am
For decades, Tampa has faced a conundrum; every day tens of milions of gallons of treated wastewater is dumped into Tampa Bay, wasted in a word. In St. Petersburg, treated wastewater is used for residential lawn watering, thanks to the foresightful construction of special water lines in neighborhoods. But Tampa’s attempts to re-use its wastewater hasn’t met with the same success.
So now the Tampa City Council wants to skip the whole lawn watering step and move right to drinking the highly treated sewer water. It voted yesterday to ask voters in a 2010 referendum if they want to build a system to deliver the potty product back to their drinking faucets.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 23, 2009, at 3:52 pm
It’s funny the things you remember — and don’t remember — about your friends when they die. I spent much of the afternoon searching my brain for a tiny detail about Phyllis Busansky among the thousands of bits of info I know about her over the past two decades.
A drink. I can’t remember the last line of a 1991 Tampa Tribune article that I wrote about Phyllis on the night she completed her major opus, an effort to create a decades-ahead-of-its-time indigent health care plan in Hillsborough County. I remember how she gathered allies, the narrative approach the story was written in, the delight in my editors when they read it. The last line had her going out for a drink after the vote (I was along) and detailed exactly what she drank.
But it’s gone, lost in the recesses of my brain and not available online.
Phyllis Busansky — who died on the job at an elections conference in St. Augustine overnight Monday — was a unique political force in Tampa Bay. She was a domineering presence, physically and mentally, smart and savvy, with top columnists’ phone numbers at the top of her speed dial and an unwavering enthusiasm that led to her say the word “fabulous” at least once every 10 minutes.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 23, 2009, at 2:40 pm
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Winning a mayoral forum or debate is not the most meaningful thing in a campaign. The myriad gatherings of the 10 mayoral candidates in St. Petersburg that have already occurred and are yet to occur likely won’t alter the Sept. 1 primary outcome one iota.
Why?
Because such forums are a place that can only do a candidate harm. Stumble, or stumble badly, and the media coverage can magnify it into major damage. “Win” such a debate and not only will the MSM mostly not declare you the winner, but you have only “won” in front of a few hundred people, at most.
The way campaigns are really won are through spending campaign contributions on direct mail, television and radio advertising and through a concerted grass-roots voter contact effort.
So that brings me to reporting the “results” of Monday night’s mayoral forum held by the St. Pete Pride organizers at the King of Peace MCC. The “winners”?
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 23, 2009, at 11:05 am
From Congresswoman Kathy Castor:
Phyllis will be well remembered in our hearts for her brave leadership, for her open, gregarious style and for her ability to fix problems that were tough to tackle. Her legacy as the primary author of the Hillsborough County Health Care Plan lives on every day in the improved health of our neighbors and our community. She was truly passionate about making sure those who least could afford medical services had an advocate on their side. She already was showing that passion as Supervisor of Elections, working to guarantee that voters’ rights were protected in Hillsborough County. My thoughts and prayers are with her family. She will be sorely missed.
From Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio:
I am shocked by the death of Phyllis. How sad that death claimed her just as she was embarking on a new challenge that she loved very much. The public needed her and this was her calling. I had the pleasure of serving with Phyllis on the County Commission and her passion for helping those who needed help the most was something I always admired. This is a great loss to both her family and to our community.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 23, 2009, at 9:42 am
Phyllis Busansky was a friend of mine, and I worked on her various political efforts, including her stint as the director of welfare reform in Florida, so it is with great sadness I pass along news of her death today, from ABC Action News:
Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky has been found dead in her hotel room in St. Augustine, according to Pam Iorio.
Ms. Busansky was supposed to be participating in a conference in St. Augustine. When she didn’t show, coworkers came looking for her, and found her dead in her hotel room.
Foul play is not suspected.
I spoke with a mutual friend who mentioned that Phyllis had a health problem earlier this year in which she was hospitalized but that they thought it was simply hyperventilation. Busansky did battle lung cancer in 2007 but told friends she was cleared of the disease after surgery.
She was 72 and had battled lung cancer. She died in her sleep, said Sigrid Tidmore, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections office.
“Honestly, this is all I know,” Tidmore said.
Tidmore was with Busansky last night, before she went to sleep about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. She said Busansky was not complaining of any pain. When Busansky didn’t respond to phone calls this morning after not showing up to today’s conference meetings, hotel security went to check on her and found her dead, Tidmore said.
(Busansky’s office says she was 73, but the Times says records show she was 72.)
Tidmore went on to say that everyone connected to Busansky was in shock, that she was very vibrant and had lots of plans for the office. I can attest; I ran into Phyllis two weeks ago in Bamboozle in downtown Tampa and she was her usual exuberant self, eliciting a promise from me that I would pay a call on her to hear about her innovations at the office in a few weeks, after she was done traveling.
Busansky was a mainstay of local Democratic politics for the past two decades, after winning a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission in the late 1980s as part of a reform effort that brought progressives to that board.
Under state law, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist will appoint a successor until voters choose a new supervisor in the 2010 elections.
UPDATE: This statement just in from the Supervisor of Elections Office:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 22, 2009, at 4:34 pm
Elaine Silvestrini over at the Tampa Tribune has a great story to go with all the Brian Blair news today: One of Blair’s benefactors, the late Ralph Hughes, a top Money Man and power broker in Hillsborough County politics and business, died owing millions of dollars to the Internal Revenue Service.
The agency has filed a claim with Hughes’ family trust seeking more than $69 million in unpaid income and business taxes and interest for the years 2003 to 2007.
Hughes’ beneficiaries – his widow and two of his three children – are contesting the IRS claim, arguing Hughes paid millions in taxes.
After Hughes died at age 77 on June 27, 2008, Hillsborough County commissioners voted to rename the county’s Moral Courage Award for him. The decision was controversial, with detractors accusing commissioners of repaying their benefactor and injecting politics into what was supposed to be a nonpartisan award.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 22, 2009, at 2:27 pm
OK, so this was shot long before former wrestler and Hillsborough politician Brian Blair’s arrest on child abuse charges this weekend, but we’re pretty sure here at PoHo Central that the always erudite Iron Sheik feels the same way about that “jabroni” Blair today as he did back in March.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 22, 2009, at 11:38 am
In video now just hitting TV news websites, Brian Blair calls the family fight and his arrest “an unfortunate situation” and “a misunderstanding that could have been prevented.”
Fox 13’s Warren Elly has a report on that station’s website, here is the link (sorry, but the video didn’t embed into our software.)
According to Elly’s story, Blair told reporters on the way out of jail:
“It’s a misunderstanding that could have been prevented. I have over 7,000 hours mentoring children and the last thing I’d ever do is hurt a kid. Sometimes the hardest kids to mentor are you own. I guess that’s all I’ll say for now,” Blair told FOX 13.
Elly came by Creative Loafing before Blair’s release and I taped a short interview about what this does to Blair’s political career. Blair told reporters upon his release that his supporters would understand his actions once they hear the full story, but I’m kind of doubting that. Blair is not dead politically in the sense that he won’t ever quit the game, but he can’t possibly win public office after this.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 22, 2009, at 10:54 am
Ah, the evolution of media. Murphy-Goode winery is looking for a blogging-tweetering “social media whiz” who is into wine to move into their vineyards home for six months and jump-start its viral marketing efforts.
CL’s own wine expert, Corkscrew author Taylor Eason, is an applicant, and here is her video:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 22, 2009, at 8:32 am
At a first appearance hearing this morning, a judge has ordered that jailed former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair be released on his own recognizance, without any bond posted, commonly referred to as ROR. Blair likely won’t clear the jail’s long release process until this afternoon.
According to one reporter at the scene, Blair’s wife, Toni, spoke briefly to media to say only that her sons were fine, but she made no other comment.
Blair was arrested this weekend and charged with two counts of child abuse after getting into a fight with his teenage sons, shown in this photograph from his campaign website Blair continues to maintain.
Brian Blair, the former pro wrestler and Hillsborough County commissioner, is facing child abuse charges after he allegedly got into a scuffle with his teenage boys.
Blair, 52, was arrested his home on 12702 Boulevard N shortly after 5 am and booked into the Orient Road Jail at 12:45 p.m, jail records show.
According to Hillsborough Sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon, Blair got into an argument with his two two teen-aged sons that turned physical, sheriff’s Deputy Larry McKinnon said.
“It was a family argument between him and his sons and during the altercation at least one was battered,” McKinnon said.
The Times adds these details from the arrest report:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 21, 2009, at 6:00 am
Ed.’s note: Brian and Taylor were kind enough to have me sit in on their food and wine podcast last week. I have to remember to have them to talk politics on my HoCast. Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf:
By Michelle Schenck CL Green Community contributor
Everyone has a pet peeve or two. It is common to get slightly annoyed with a member of the human race every now and again, even if it is something small, like the way way a person slurps their cup of morning joe or the last person in the bathroom not replacing the toilet paper roll. It is the way that you confront and handle these matters, if at all, that turns these pet peeves into issues.
For example, when I was a little girl, I used to see a family member (they shall remain nameless) leave the water faucet on while doing the dishes. She or he would start to wash a dish, walk away to do something else, and then come back. I didn’t understand why they didn’t just turn the water off if they were going to step away for 15-20 seconds at a time? It seemed like such a huge waste of water even at a young age when the words “green” didn’t really mean much to me.
I would say time and time again to “Stop doing that!” It became frustrating and eventually became a pet peeve of mine. As I grew older, though, I was able to talk to that same person about this habit in a better, less screamy and immature way. I would talk to them about the importance of conserving water and to only use it when you are in need of it, not just because they can. They finally understood my point and, at least around me, has always made a conscious effort to turn off that faucet when they weren’t using it. It felt good to get a pet peeve off my chest so to speak while also instilling a green action in a family member.
Now days, I still get those pet peeve feelings but I feel a little more confident expressing myself in a mature manner about these peeves, at least if I have some form of relationship with the person. When I go to the beach, for example, if a friend just throws their water bottle or any trash for that matter on the sand and walks away, I will confront them about it. Nine times out of 10, a trash or recycling can is nearby and I just laughingly look at them and say, “Really?!” They usually laugh a little too and realize their mistake, pick it up, and throw it away. Sometimes people just need a little light-hearted reminder from their friends or co-workers about green actions.
As readers, what kind of green pet peeves do you have and what have you done to bring these peeves to light? Have you confronted anyone or groups of people about it? What kind of tactics do you think are acceptable to confront someone about green actions? Please post here.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 4:51 pm
My column for next week’s print edition is about St. Pete City Council candidate Steve Kornell, who faces a tough run against Angela Rouson for the seat that Jamie Bennett is leaving. I caught up with him at an Ybor City fundraiser attended by Hillsborough progressives for this podcast chat.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 4:20 pm
A curious piece of political literature has been hitting South Tampa homes over the past few days as a handful of County Commissioner Ken Hagan’s supporters do what is called a “lit drop” of campaign literature.
Only it is not really campaign literature, or at least, it doesn’t carry the necessary campaign disclosures that a campaign advertisement would carry. Nor is it a county government piece, as it points out that it was “Not produced at taxpayer’s expense.”
That left some Democrats e-mailing me furiously about how this was akin to the stealth campaign that Buddy Johnson ran with federal dollars in 2008, the one being probed by the Feds and the St. Pete TImes’ Jeff Testerman. And it caught the attention of at least one Democrat who has been thinking about running against the Republican Hagan in 2010.
The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy over the administration’s defense in court of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Tracy Russo, a spokesperson for Justice, confirmed the meeting to me, after I posted … that top gay rights lawyers were miffed that administration lawyers had rebuffed their requests to meet and discuss ongoing litigation involving DOMA.
At the meeting — which hasn’t been announced and is expected to include leading gay rights groups like GLAD and Lambda Legal — both sides are expected to hash out how to proceed with pending DOMA cases.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 9:53 am
Our sister paper, the Chicago Reader, and its excellent media writer Michael Miner has a piece about the (ta-dah) future of journalism, but it makes some good points to ponder, including this one:
EveryBlock cofounder Daniel X. O’Neil, speaking on the panel “Why the News Still Matters,” went this tweet one better. “I think there’s just a lot of real unnecessary negativism about journalism,” he told the 170 or so people in attendance. “Frankly, I think it’s going to be great. I swear to God we’ll look back ten years from now and we’ll all be making an insane amount of money and we’re going to look at each other and we’re going to say, ‘Hey, you were there that day! Remember, we all thought we were screwed?’ No, we’re not. Everything’s great. It’s literally impossible for the answer to the question ‘What happened?’ not to be valuable.”
Wow, the rosiest assessment ever. I believe I am going to be making an “insane amount of money” in 10 years. Just not in journalism.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 7:24 am
The file-sharing battle against industry group RIAA is not going so well. The only person to take the RIAA to trial over its file-sharing crackdown has lost, again, and lost even bigger, in a retrial:
A jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset must pay fines totaling $1.92 million to the RIAA, as a penalty for violating the copyrights on 24 songs.
The trial was Thomas-Rasset’s second, after the first was declared a mistrial. Thomas-Rasset is the only defendant accused of violating copyright to go to trial. The decision was reported Thursday by the Associated Press.
Th fine works out to $80,000 per song.
“There’s no way they’re ever going to get that,” said Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four from the central Minnesota city of Brainerd, told the AP. “I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.”
Read the PCMag story. And here is a fuller AP account.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 6:54 am
That is the hope of legislators, who saw Gov. Charlie Crist sign a bill on Thursday that will curtail the practice of state workers who go through a state retirement DROP program, only to resurface with their same jobs 30 days later, giving them a pension and a salary.
You may recall the controversy earlier this year when Hillsborough Planning Commission chief Bob Hunter did just that, drawing attention from 10 Connects’ investigative reporter Mike Deeson and support from a group of activists, including PoHo’s own Kelly Cornelius.
State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said the bill he and Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, sponsored during the 2009 legislative session is specially appropriate in these tough budget times. Fasano said it is not fair that some high-paid public officials arrange to draw their pensions and continue working.
The law won’t take effect until July 1, 2010, so employees who retire before then will still be allowed to return to work after 30 days and keep their pensions. But the new statute will require a six-month break in service, which Fasano said will prevent elected big shots from “double dipping.”
“The six-month ban on re-employment will put a stop to the abuse of this system by elected officials, and judges in particular,” said Fasano. “Those individuals will not be able to take a six-month break from their elected or appointed positions. It will also keep senior management from ‘retiring’ and coming right back to their old positions at a higher salary, since their position will have to remain unfilled for six months.”
Sidestepping critics who say it won’t solve Florida’s pill-mill problem, Gov. Charlie Crist signed long-fought legislation Thursday designed to crack down on clinics and doctors who dole out excessive narcotic painkillers — mainly in South Florida.
The law will force pain clinics, pharmacies and doctors selling pain drugs to log every prescription into a statewide computer database, where the medical officials and police can detect drug dealers and addicts who go from office to office amassing hundreds of pills a day.
Also, the law gives state regulators new powers to inspect and closely oversee clinics owned by investors, a segment of the business that police identify as a blatant source of illegal narcotic pills.
“I’m thrilled,” said Tina Reed, a Davie mother whose adult son used to be an addict and runner for a dealer, and who had been part of a coalition lobbying for the bill (SB 462). “It may not be a perfect bill but the fact is we have a database established that we can work on. We’re not cured of this crisis, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 18, 2009, at 11:03 am
aac_tampa_sulhurspringsholiday.jpg
Sulphur Springs Christmas Holiday
Tampa is competing in the National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference today, and judging of the various communities’ projects has already started. Tampa’s presentation featured a booming entrance, with the Middleton High School drum line, and civic activists and city employees side-by-side talking about their three projects.Tampa will find out tomorrow night at about 7 p.m. if it gets the title and the bragging rights that goes with it.
Here are the details, as summarized in the AAC conference program:
Tampa, Florida
Economic Development in East Tampa As one of the older developed areas of the city, East Tampa declined during the 1960’s and 70’s period of Urban Development. In 2003, Tampa Mayor Iorio announced that one of her strategic initiatives would be the transformation of East Tampa to a community with flourishing recreational, social and culture activities. The City of Tampa staff focused on the assets of East Tampa with the idea of creating a model to use in other challenged areas of Tampa, reaching out to the residents and challenging them to create a vision for their neighborhood. The residents collaborated with the government, schools, universities, churches, sports organizations, businesses, and non-profit organizations. Responding to resident participation, the City of Tampa launched an aggressive campaign called Operation Commitment. The goals included rooting out crime, prostitution, drugs and code violations. At the same time, the City of Tampa created the East Tampa Development Division to focus exclusively on the economic and civic revitalization of the area. In doing so, it took the important step of designating East Tampa as a Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) eligible for Tax Increment Financing (TIF). To date, over $21 million dollars has been generated providing the necessary financial resources to upgrade aging infrastructure, resurface streets, add sidewalks and make corridor beautifications.
[Shown in the photo gallery above are the new Fair Oaks Park renovations and the Cyrus Green Pool]
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 18, 2009, at 9:19 am
Tampa’s hometown delegation for the All-America City Awards being hosted at the Marriott Waterside took the stage this morning behind the Middleton High School drum line, providing a blast of energy to an already interesting but lower-key set of community presentations. That’s Mayor Pam Iorio at the center, in a blue suit, after she spent time posing for pictures with former Mayor Sandy Freedman, who led Tampa in 1990 when it was last given the AAC designation.
The group highlighted three civic projects: Improvements in East Tampa, the new 40th Street Bridge and road widening, and a holiday celebration in Sulphur Springs.
Thirty communities are vying for 10 slots to be designated an All-America City. The winners will be announced tomorrow night. CL is staffing today and tomorrow’s presentations, and you can follow on Twitter, either my tweets (@poho) or by following the hashtag #aac on our All-America Tweet Feed.
Claire Enders, the chief executive of Enders Analysis, told a Commons committee that newspapers would close across Britain because revenues would collapse by 52% – or £1.3bn – between 2007 and 2013.
“We are expecting up to half of all the 1,300 titles will close in the next five years,” Enders told the Commons culture, media and sport select committee hearing on the future of local and regional media.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 17, 2009, at 2:00 pm
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference starts today in Tampa, and a common theme for cities is revitalizing downtowns. Here is Erie, Penn.’s effort along those lines:
Just as in many other urban communities in the latter half of the 20th century, residents began moving outside the city limits and into the suburbs. Part of the city’s present day vision is to bring those families and young professionals back downtown by offering new and attractive urban living options. Downtown Erie’s 70-block core has been broken up into phases with different projects designed to fit each area. Some of the projects include streetscaping, façade renovations, and lighting and park improvements. In several other areas, the goal is to provide different levels of housing including market rate housing, low to moderate income housing, and some luxury housing, as well as office space and opportunity for commercial and retail development. The plan calls for approximately $56 million in real estate development, representing 40,000 square feet of commercial development, 143 residential units, parks and street improvements. Presently the Erie Redevelopment Authority and various development partners have approximately $6 million of mixed-use development under construction and another $12 million in projects are planned for construction in the next 6 to 24 months.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 17, 2009, at 11:16 am
Twelve-year-olds throughout the world are in mourning today as the rumored corporate shrinkage of MySpace is coming true. About 480 workers will be hitting the bricks by the end of the day, according to its news release:
MYSPACE REDUCES STAFF BY NEARLY 30%
Return to Start-Up Culture a Focus for Company Moving Forward
LOS ANGELES—June 16, 2009—As part of a plan to restructure itself into a more innovative, efficient, and entrepreneurial business, MySpace announced today that it will reduce its staff by nearly 30%. This restructuring plan crosses all U.S. divisions of the company and lowers the total number of domestic staff at MySpace to 1,000 employees.
“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” said MySpace Chief Executive Officer Owen Van Natta. “I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product.”
“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace,” said Jonathan Miller, News Corporation’s CEO of Digital Media and Chief Digital Officer. “I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace’s next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team.”
Is Facebook far behind? Although we loooooove us some Facebook…
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 17, 2009, at 10:30 am
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference starts today in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing communities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Toledo, Ore.:
In 2005, the City built a state-of-the-art skatepark for the youth of Toledo. Youngsters had lobbied city council for a park, prompting a city councilor to apply to Oregon State Parks for funding. It was built on a lot donated by the city, with an adjacent lot donated by a landowner. The Siletz Tribe also contributed funds to the project. The new facility is located next to an area the city had already developed as a recreational area, with a city park, swimming pool and library nearby. The presence of the skate park has increased use of the adjacent facilities, and it provides a space for youth to gather and recreate. Volunteers help monitor the park, and youth help maintain it. An art project was organized to add interest to the area, and an adjacent business allowed its outside wall to be used for a mural. A volunteer art director helped Toledo elementary students design and complete the mural using donated materials. Landscaping design was donated and volunteers installed the landscaping. The park has earned notice from around the region, and is a destination for skateboarders.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference starts today in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Wooster, Ohio:
Wooster, Ohio
Knights Field Park
A successful collaboration between government, community organizations, residents, and developers led to the recent transformation of Wooster’s Knights Field Park from a “low use” neighborhood park to one that now attracts children and families from all parts of the city and county. In 2005, the Kiwanis club asked the city’s parks manager for an opportunity to build a new playground at Knights Field. Funding was obtained through the state’s community development block grant program, a design firm was retained, and neighborhood schoolchildren were employed as “design consultants” to assist in the design of the playground. With the Kiwanians providing the labor and city park staff acting as project managers, the playground was built over a two-day period. In addition, a neighborhood improvement association created a butterfly garden, and, in 2007, Knights Field pool was converted to a “sprayground.” The third step in the revitalization of the park was the opening of Kiddie City, a kid-sized community meant for the use of young children operating tricycles, bicycles, big wheels and small electric vehicles. As a consequence of this revitalization effort, park officials have seen a dramatic increase in the usage of Knights Field Park, and the City of Wooster received the 2008 Award of Excellence from the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 16, 2009, at 3:40 pm
Trimming the fat at the top of the St. Petersburg City Hall pecking order would help mayoral hopeful Kathleen Ford trim property tax rates in the city by 8.5 percent, according to a proposed budget she released this afternoon.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 16, 2009, at 2:28 pm
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards gets in full swing tomorrow morning in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Cpl. Max Klinger’s favorite city, Toledo, Ohio:
Food needs are rising for many people in the Toledo community due to economic conditions. In an effort to meet this need and make Toledo a more livable community, area leaders and organizations have been exploring how the use of growing systems in urban settings can meet rising local food needs. Experimental efforts have already been underway in the region for the past two years through the production of various community gardens. Toledo GROWs is the community gardening outreach program of Toledo Botanical Garden. Toledo GROWs offers organizational resources and technical assistance to support the development of sustainable garden projects that serve people of diverse ages and abilities. Toledo GROWs has collaborated with dozens of Toledo organizations to create over sixty community gardens throughout the city. In 2008, over two thousand citizens participated in community gardens. These participants received free seeds and free plants as well as educational opportunities. The greenhouses also provide employment to youth in their neighborhoods while eliminating hunger, transforming blighted lots and strengthening communities.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards gets in full swing tomorrow morning in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Somerville, Mass., a Boston suburb:
Over the past several years, the City of Somerville has increased its focus on creating a transparent, inclusive form of municipal government for all community members and through a variety of media, to create a more inclusive and responsive community. This idea includes the creation of a government management model that not only tracks administrative trends and constituent requests to increase accountability, but also provides the City’s residents with the opportunity to respond to and provide feedback on City initiatives and the annual budget process, to create an inclusive, transparent form of government. To that end, in 2004, Somerville adopted the CitiStat model of management, dubbed “SomerStat,” which institutes a series of regular forums with all City departments and key decision-makers to identify problems, assess success of service delivery and track constituent concerns, determine opportunities for improvement and, along with the City’s 311 Customer Service Center, provide data on departments’ service demand and delivery, as partially determined by residents. Somerville’s goal is to build and sustain a continuous, positive relationship and ongoing conversation between City government and community members, and all of these tools have increasingly made that goal a reality.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 16, 2009, at 10:30 am
The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards conference is starting to register guests tonight in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Benson, N.C.’s delicious entry:
In 2003, Jan Matthews-Hodges won the Blue Ribbon and Best in Show at the North Carolina State Fair for her pound cake, and The Pound Cake Company was born. With the help of a $7,500 Microenterprise Loan from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center, Jan started the Pound Cake Company in a small downtown location as a part-time enterprise. In fall 2005, Jan began making plans to expand her business, but she needed a much larger space to do so. While Jan was perfecting her pound cake recipe, the Town of Benson, in October 2004, acquired the dilapidated shell of the old Benson Middle School. The goal in this acquisition was to create a business incubator in hopes of creating new jobs for the Town. The Pound Cake Company was to be the first tenant. Government partnerships and grants led to a full-time business in what used to be the Benson Middle School Cafeteria, employing between 15-20 full-time personnel. The Pound Cake Company now distributes to Lowes Foods, The Fresh Market, A Southern Season Gourmet Market and Whole Foods Market. What started as a part-time bakery has become a full fledged industry that will employ over 40 Benson citizens by the end of 2010.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 16, 2009, at 6:29 am
The Tampa Bay Rays continue their inevitable move OUT of St. Petersburg and to a mid-Pinellas location after being denied a waterfront ballpark and realizing, “Hey, we could be closer to tens of thousands of new fans if we weren’t stuck in The Burg’s downtown.”
The latest evidence? The Rays commissioned a study on rehabbing Tropicana Field. Even with improvements and a retractable roof, to the tune of $471 million, the Trop would only be a “B-, B+” kind of facility, the report concluded.
The Rays, however, want an A+ home. Rays stadium procurer Mike Kalt wrote to the A Baseball Community meeting, according to the Times, “We believe the study leaves little doubt that a renovation of Tropicana Field would not be a prudent course of action going forward.”
I did not go seeking my scandalous affair with Governor C., it found me.
The first time I met C. was on a freezing cold February evening. The temperature had fallen to an unbelievably low 68 degrees, and I was forced to wear a t-shirt due to the extreme temperature. Fate, my older sister, had dragged me, reluctantly, along with her to a charity fashion show she was modeling in at the Vinoy in St. Petersburg.
It was a half hour drive from our apartment in Tampa. If I had known the way things were going to turn out, would I have still crossed the Howard Frankland, or would I have paused and reconsidered when I reached West Shore Plaza, stopping in the mall for some window shopping at BCBG before heading back to my mundane middle class life? I cannot honestly say whether the Destiny St. Clair I was then would have been so bold as to willingly embark upon the life I have since lived, but as I reflect now, I’m glad it all happened. Read the rest of this entry »
The National Civic League starts early registration in Tampa tonight as it gets ready to open the 2009 All-America City Awards conference. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Statesville, N.C.:
In 1990, Fifth Street Ministries began running emergency, winter and battered women’s shelters. In 1991, faced with inadequate space and a deteriorating facility, Fifth Street Ministries moved to a dilapidated and abandoned school. The move allowed the soup kitchen to move into a functioning cafeteria and the expansion of the winter shelter program into a year-round night shelter. In subsequent years, additional services were offered, including a free health and medical center, a children’s program, and a thrift store that provided clothing and employment opportunities for shelter guests. In 2008, Fifth Street Ministries provided 58,247 meals, 11,005 shelter nights in the overnight shelter, 13,335 shelter nights in the emergency shelter, and 7,852 shelter nights in the battered women’s shelter. 350 volunteers donated well over 5,000 volunteer hours to make this possible. The need for Fifth Street Ministries’ services continues to grow and, with the help of community partners, Fifth Street Ministries opened a new facility on December 6, 2008. It has room for overnight guests, a cafeteria, and rooms for counseling, training, education and support groups. The new facility also enables Fifth Street Shelters to offer transitional housing and additional training in a variety of areas.
Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.
