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.
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]
Experts and analysts were prepared for a close election between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi. That didn’t happen; Ahmadinejad won by a landslide, 2 to 1.
Civil unrest has ensued. On Saturday, disappointed and suspicious demonstrators took to the streets. Those protests, supporters of Mousavi, were countered the next day with pro-Ahmadinejad rallies. Divide is growing and Khamenei is now calling for an investigation hoping to quell the unrest.
You can’t mix oil and water, and you sure can’t mix politics and religion. It’s not because one is more noble than the other. It’s because their goals are at odds with each other.
Confronted with a news story involving lesbian penguins at a German zoo, you would think that evil geniuses Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller could muster at least one decent lesbian joke.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 4, 2009, at 1:30 pm
The Atlantic has a great column by Conor Clarke that should be required reading for every numnut who is going around spouting off that President Barack Obama has turned this nation into a socialist satellite. Yes, we can argue the wisdom of the GM bailout/semi-nationalization (and it appears, at least at this point, to be a bad deal for us taxpayers) but we are farrrrr from a socialist nation as a result, as Clark points out in his column and in this amazing graphic:
Do me and The Atlantic a favor and read the entire column and pass it along via e-mail to your goofy friends/relatives who bombard you with BS email about how we are becoming socialists.
In a recent blog posting, Nadine Smith, Equality Florida’s executive director, issued a formidable challenge to GLBT people everywhere: If you want equality, sacrifice for it. With the bus boycotts and lunch counter sit-ins of the black civil rights movement as her inspiration, Smith asks “What can we (GLBT people) do that demonstrates not only the rhetoric of equality but the personal sacrifice that will awaken the conscience of a nation?”
Smith answers this question with a simple suggestion:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 3, 2009, at 10:28 am
2008’s winner for Best Politician, Sen. Charlie Justice
Times flies when you’re struggling to make ends meet, but it is rapidly approaching that time in each summer when a Tampa Bayite’s thoughts turn to … Best of the Bay!!
This year, as we expand and make voting for the best goods, services, places, people, restaurants, bars, strip clubs, etc. more fun and interactive, we’re going to start by asking you: What categories in People, Places and Politics (the equivalent of our News & Politics section, my personal bailiwick as your Political Whore) would you like to see in the balloting?
Here are a few of the classics and new CL staff ideas we hope to feature this year (after the jump):
By Mitch Perry PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio
Last week, Lakeland State Senator Paula Dockery said she was seriously contemplating
a run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.
Apparently, she didn’t get the edict that party Chairman Jim Greer issued recently that all good Republicans should get behind Attorney General Bill McCollum’s candidacy.
But as far as Republican consultant (and soon to be PoHo contributor) Chris Ingram is concerned, Dockery’s possible entrance into the race is a good thing.
By Kelly Cornelius PoHo contributor and R-LAND activist
Ever hear the saying don’t look a gift horse in the mouth? That is probably because horse’s teeth can tell you how old they are.
Being a horse person I am a strong believer in vetting before buying a horse which is also called a pre-purchase exam. Along with checking for any glaring unsoundness or other health issues it is a good way to see if your potential steed will hold up for the job you will be asking him or her to do. As you might expect, if you want a horse for light trail riding the pre-purchase bar might not be as high as, say, an Olympic jumper or even something in between.
Most vets will admit that while almost no horse “passes the vet;” there are just shades of failing. It still makes good sense to have a thorough exam performed. The only time it doesn’t make sense to vett a horse is if all you want the horse for is a lawn ornament. If you want a performance horse, however, you should know what you are buying and whether there is a reasonable assumption that your new steed can perform its job. So, before you take the plunge and buy old Dobbin, have him vet’ed.
I feel the same way about Supreme Court Justice nominees by the way. I think we can safely say they are well beyond trail horses and into the category of Olympic jumpers so the bar needs to be set very high. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 28, 2009, at 10:44 am
“Answer me this question, because I am very much interested in trying to replace Obama. Okay?”
That is how U.S. Sen. Roland Burris opens the door to the idea of being appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the Senate seat left open by the election of Barack Obama. This comes during a taped conversation with Robert Blagojevich, the former gov’s brother and fundraising muscle. Robert Blagojevich, as you may recall from our coverage, is a University of Tampa graduate, and gave the commencement address there a few years back.
But then Burris goes on to say that since it is known that he wanted the appointment, that he couldn’t be raising money for Blago without it being seen as an attempt to buy the seat. Burris said, “Rob, I’m in a dilemma right now trying to help the governor. I’m now trying to figure out what the hell the best thing to do. I know I could give him a check, myself.”
Which he never did.
So, should Roland Burris be removed from the Senate on the basis of this conversation?
Posted by David Warner on May. 27, 2009, at 5:01 pm
A small but vocal group of protestors, both gay and straight, stood at the busy corner of 66th St. and 49th Ave. N. in Pinellas Tuesday night, armed with handmade signs and the passionate conviction that the California Supreme Court decision upholding the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage was a slap in the face to gays and lesbians everywhere. With storm clouds gathering above, they stood their ground and talked to CL.
Beth Fountain, a writer and former lawyer, questioned the dense language of the decision, in which the court essentially contradicted its position from a year before.
Like Fountain, musician Lisa Noe of the band Karmic Tattoo wondered why gay marriage could be “OK one minute, then it’s not OK the next.” And Rick Boylan, president of the Pinellas chapter of Stonewall Democrats and the secretary of the state Democratic party, pointed out that, even with the setback in California, the state is still years ahead of Florida in its recognition of gay rights: “We’re still dealing with issues that are left over from Anita Bryant days.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 27, 2009, at 9:54 am
For those tracking the grandaddy of bad growth management bills in this year’s Legislature, Mary Ellen Klas (@meklas) of the Miami Herald just tweeted:
Crist hints at a veto of HB 1171 the so-called State Farm bill, deregulating well-capitalized insurers, but sign growth management Sb 360.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 27, 2009, at 9:40 am
Here’s an interesting idea from New American Media’s Roberto Lovato, writing in HuffPo about the Supreme Court confirmation process for Sonia Sotomayor:
Rather than allow herself to be put at the center of another racism and sexism-laden political circus around the qualifications of a candidate who brings more real-life prosecutorial and actual judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years, Sotomayor should consider another strategy. She — and we — should instead view those hearings as nothing less than a trial to determine whether the GOP is ready to make restitution for its role in a number of judicial and political wrongdoings perpetrated in the Bush era. Those wrongdoings include unleashing unprecedented and dangerous political attacks on Latinos, and breaching the political and electoral contract the “new GOP” said it wanted with Latinos, one of the country’s most important voting blocs.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 27, 2009, at 6:25 am
The first shot in the confirmation battle over Sonia Sotomayor is out there, a video appearance by the judge at Duke University in which, ABC News reported, she said that the district appeals court is where “policy is made.”
If that is true, that would make her an “activist” judge, a label that is radioactive and would create a real problem for Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
So what did she say, exactly? And what did she mean?
The left-leaning Media Matters defends her and says her words were taken out of context, that ABC (and others) erred in their characterizations. That spin is being echoed by Democrats on this morning’s news shows. It goes like this:
In fact, Sotomayor was responding to a student who asked the panel to contrast the experiences of a district court clerkship and a circuit court clerkship. Sotomayor’s remarks from the Duke panel discussion … :
SOTOMAYOR: The saw is that if you’re going into academia, you’re going to teach, or as Judge Lucero just said, public interest law, all of the legal defense funds out there, they’re looking for people with court of appeals experience, because it is — court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know — and I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know. OK, I know. I’m not promoting it, and I’m not advocating it, I’m — you know. OK. Having said that, the court of appeals is where, before the Supreme Court makes the final decision, the law is percolating — its interpretation, its application. And Judge Lucero is right. I often explain to people, when you’re on the district court, you’re looking to do justice in the individual case. So you are looking much more to the facts of the case than you are to the application of the law because the application of the law is non-precedential, so the facts control. On the court of appeals, you are looking to how the law is developing, so that it will then be applied to a broad class of cases. And so you’re always thinking about the ramifications of this ruling on the next step in the development of the law. You can make a choice and say, “I don’t care about the next step,” and sometimes we do. Or sometimes we say, “We’ll worry about that when we get to it” — look at what the Supreme Court just did. But the point is that that’s the differences — the practical differences in the two experiences are the district court is controlled chaos and not so controlled most of the time.
Watch the video clip after the jump, and you make the call:
Actually, I could’ve titled this post “Are Republicans afraid of homosexuals?” But I’m going to pick on the conservatives for now. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by David Warner on May. 26, 2009, at 1:17 pm
Ellen and Portia can stay married, says the court. The rest of you gays? Maybe not.
Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. But the court let stand the marriages that took place between May 4, 2008, when the same judicial body said it could see no constitutional excuse for banning gay marriage, and Nov. 4, 2008, when 52 percent of voters replied, “OK, we’ll give you a constitutional reason, you activist judges you!”
By Kelly Cornelius PoHo contributor and R-LAND activist
A piece in the Timesfrom Senator Mike Bennett-R who spawned SB 360 (a bill that dismantles growth management), shares his idea of smart growth as it is titled For smart Fla growth. OK, Mr. Bennett, I guess that depends on what your definition of smart is. He says in part:
The bill promotes growth in dense urban areas by removing the state required costs of transportation concurrency and the duplicative development of regional impact (DRI) process within those areas.
(Nimby translation: Developers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for more growth by having to pay for infrastructure; that is what you taxpayers are for.)
Posted by Mitch Perry on May. 25, 2009, at 7:05 am
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.
D.C. reporters were disappointed last Friday when Nancy Pelosi refused to answer questions regarding her current contretemps on the CIA and waterboarding.
It came right days after her disastrous news conference where she alleged that the CIA misled her in a Sept. 4, 2002, secret briefing about torture.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 24, 2009, at 6:00 am
Editor’s note: Weekend Rewind is a new feature of PoHo, republishing the best, longer posts about politics and public affairs from my blog and Daily Loaf as well, in case you might have missed them the first time around. Think of it as my version of a Sunday/weekend newspaper.
So it’s come to this? “Global warming” is out and “climate change” is in? We are no longer looking for a “silver bullet”, but rather seek “silver buckshot”?
Based on a recent article in the NYTimes, linguistic battles are shaping as PR firms and lobbyists look to shape the language of debate over climate-change legislation working its way through the halls of Congress. Though, navigating this new lexicon may help to improve the image of this most important social, environmental, and geo-political issue. Perhaps when renamed, “global warming” will climb from its last-place position of twenty important voter concerns (based on a recent Pew Research poll). Read the rest of this entry »
Iran’s missile launch on Wednesday is not making President Barack Obama’s diplomatic efforts in the Middle East any easier. This demonstration, however, could be seen as more of a reason for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to embrace the two-state solution.
Netanyahu has made it clear that he sees Iran as a threat. On Tuesday, after meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he said:
“[Iran] is a great danger to all of us, to Israel specifically and to the moderate Arab regime, and to America. Especially if this regime were to arm itself or arm terrorists with nuclear weapons, the consequences could be unimaginable.”
Here’s video of the Israeli leader in Washington, after the jump.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 20, 2009, at 12:26 pm
Here’s the latest tweak of our enormously popular governor, from his friends across the aisle in the Florida Democratic Party. It’s the first online ad with the “Cut and Run Crist” theme that the party has been drum-beating since Crist announced his Senatorial bid last week.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 20, 2009, at 6:51 am
Continuing in our series of summer vacation videos, shot for our Summer Guide 2009 being released on newsstands today, here is Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio on her plans, or more accurately, lack of plans:
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a summer vacation planned for ‘09, I think based on your question I’m going to go home and plan one right away.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 18, 2009, at 1:05 pm
St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Jamie Bennett — his campaign wounded by two weeks of revelations and accusations about dirty tricks, not to mention the firing of his campaign manager Peter Schorsch — has issued a statement today saying he is NOT going to quit the race and has hired a new campaign manager.
“In the days since I learned of Peter’s outrageous conduct, I have reflected and consulted with family, friends and political supporters about what I should do,” Bennett said in a statement he e-mailed to the press. “I care about our community far too much to be disheartened or discouraged by this personal and political setback. I simply will not allow the irresponsible actions of one individual to deny our community the vision and leadership we all deserve in our next Mayor.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 15, 2009, at 9:30 am
It may have been the worst news conference performance by a sitting Speaker of the House ever. Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi harmed her own cause and ratcheted up the torture debate in a newser in which she parsed her knowledge of CIA waterboarding briefings and accused the spy agency of lying to Congress.
Even Florida’s former Sen. Bob Graham (and his infamous lil’ notebooks) has leapt to her side, telling HuffPo that he, too, was lied to by the CIA about torture tactics and use. From that interview:
“When this issue started to resurface I called the appropriate people in the agency and said I would like to know the dates from your records that briefings were held,” Graham recalled. “And they contacted me and gave me four dates — two in April ‘02 and two in September ‘02. Now, one of the things I do, and for which I have taken some flack, is keep a spiral notebook of what I do throughout the day. And so I went through my records and through a combination of my daily schedule, which I keep, and my notebooks, I confirmed and the CIA agreed that my notes were accurate; that three of those four dates there had been no briefing. There was only one day that I had been briefed, which was September the 27th of 2002.”
Has anyone else noticed that Dick Cheney just won’t go away? Maureen Dowd of The New York Times has. Her take on Cheney as the new “Rogue Diva of Doom” after the jump.
Posted by Mitch Perry on May. 12, 2009, at 5:50 am
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio
Democratic Party political strategist James Carville has published a new book out with the audacious title of “40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.”
The first thought from any sensible person should be that the hyperbole is a little rich. If nothing else, political junkies don’t have to have a long memory to remember how Karl Rove fell off his petard with his (now ludicrous) proclamation about ushering in a” durable Republican majority” earlier this decade. That didn’t exactly work out that way.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 12, 2009, at 5:00 am
Former Creative Loafing reporter and mensch Max Linsky (picture, above, in the good old days in Tampa, moonlighting as a freelance restroom attendant) has an exciting new gig: Managing editor at The Stimulist, an Internet news start-up being headed by MSNBC’s Carlos Watson.
From Business Week:
Another personality who first made a name in traditional media is putting the final touches on an ambitious online destination. Carlos Watson, an MSNBC anchor who also hosts a weekend show on talk radio network Air America, and a small band of staffers are readying The Stimulist, a news and opinion site slated to go live on May 12.
Watson bills The Stimulist as being aimed at what he terms “the change generation;” that is, an audience of young professionals between the ages of 25 and 49. Watson is still on the shy side of 40 and counts himself as a card-carrying member of this cohort, and freely uses the words “we” and “us” to describe his intended audience. “People in their 20s, 30s, and 40s—educated but edgy,” he says. “I don’t think of us as the same as the yuppies of 20 years ago. We are more down to earth, more digitally savvy, and more diverse.” And more global: The Stimulist aims to draw 30% of its traffic from outside of the U.S., which would be significantly more than even a site like nytimes.com gets.
Obviously, the Web is a very crowded place, and many who have succeeded in more traditional precincts of media have encountered less success online. The ultimate success of The Stimulist may hinge less on its precise editorial positioning than on whether Watson can supercharge his career and to what degree his personal brand takes root in the market. There is chatter regarding his roles being expanded at both Air America and MSNBC.
… Watson, who worked for McKinsey & Co. and started and sold an educational company before beginning a media career, is the sole bankroller behind The Stimulist, though he expects to lure outside investors eventually. The site’s managing editor is Max Linsky, a former editor in the Creative Loafing chain of alternative-weekly newspapers. Its chief operating officer and chief revenue officer is Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu, who has worked closely with Watson on his TV shows.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 11, 2009, at 11:19 am
Nobody can really be surprised by the tangle of accusations and revelations in the St. Petersburg Times over the weekend by former PoHo contributor and political consultant Peter Schorsch about Jamie Bennett and his mayoral campaign (IF we can believe any/all of Schorsch’s allegations), just surprised that the meltdown caused by having Schorsch in the campaign happened so suddenly.
Whether the allegations are true or not, Bennett’s ability to be elected mayor is mortally wounded. Nothing worse for a politician and campaign worker than a publicly played-out, back-and-forth session of throwing each other under the bus.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 11, 2009, at 11:09 am
Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who a few months ago expressed interest in Mel Martinez’s seat in the Senate, said today she will not run for statewide or national office in 2010.
“My four-year term as mayor does not end until March 2011 and I believe that running both the city of Tampa and a statewide campaign at the same time over the next eighteen months would shortchange the citizens of Tampa,” she said in a statement e-mailed to supporters and the news media.
Posted by David Warner on May. 10, 2009, at 11:33 am
Frank Gorshin in a 1969 "Star Trek" episode referenced by Dave Itzkoff.
In more proof that the blockbuster Star Trek movie has tapped into the zeitgeist, or at least the hype-geist, the Week in Review section in today’s New York Times includes three count ‘em three Trek-inspired stories. Surprisingly, only two out of three use the now-obligatory Obama-as-Spock trope.
• Columbia J-School prof and pop historian David Hajdu on Star Trek as “an early manifestation of our contemporary absorption with the pop culture of the past.”
• Dave Itzkoff’s “Ideas & Trends” piece on the socio/political climate of 1966 (when the TV series debuted) vs. that of 2009
• Maureen Dowd’s dream that Spock/Obama swoosh in and use the powers of logic to save newspapers. (I especially liked the ‘red matter’/'read matter’ pun, though it may work better if you’ve seen the movie.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 8, 2009, at 2:14 pm
The evolution of a mayor, 1974-present?
In Tampa these days, playing “Will Dick Greco run for mayor in 2011?” is getting to be nearly a full-time sport, the rumors are just that hot-and-heavy. So I picked up the telephone and gave him a call and asked him, “Are you getting ready to run for mayor – yet again?”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 8, 2009, at 6:48 am
The controversial Orlando light rail plan, known as SunRail or the CSX deal to opponents, just won’t die. Today’s Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the city’s mayor, Buddy Dyer, is vowing that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to trying to figure out how to resurrect the twice-killed plan.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 7, 2009, at 6:58 am
Our governor is not having a good 2009. Maybe it all started when he (rightly) stood with President Barack Obama to tout the economic stimulus plan. Whatever the start of the slide, one thing is increasingly clear: Charlie Crist’s political capital in Tallahassee is near zero.
His clean energy bill — a priority — was killed by the speaker-designate in the House as retribution for not getting messy offshore oil drilling. Crist’s proposed budget was ignored on arrival. He faces a tough primary battle against conservative forces led by Marco Rubio should he decide to seek the U.S. Senate nomination in 2010 that, just a few months ago, was viewed as more of a coronation than an election.
The latest slip in Crist’s power? The Legislature has approved changes that give the governor less latitude when outsourcing public work to private industry. Former Miami Herald scribe Gary Fineout blogs:
Democratic Party political strategist James Carville has published a new book out with the audacious title of “40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.”
