Hillsborough Commissioner Jim Norman invents a grassroots approach to keeping parks open
By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist
The Hillsborough budget saga continues. County Administrator Pat Bean has submitted a proposed budget and now the county commissioners are reviewing it in detail via a series of budget workshops.
Even though some commissioners are continuing to dig and review the budget, we still have the same nagging problem – there is a huge imbalance between cuts in basic services and large donations to non-profit organizations. While we’re closing parks and libraries, we’re still lavishly funding organizations like the Sports Authority, the Sports Commission and Hillsborough’s many chambers of commerce.
Fear not, though. Commissioner Jim Norman, known in some circles as the Johnny Appleseed of Money Trees, has come up with a creative twist on how to solve the budget cut dilemma. In an editorial by the Tribune dated Aug. 6, it was reported that, during one of the budget workshop meetings, Commissioner Appleseed suggested that the county should seek donations from citizens. He thought that they should put a donation check box on Tampa Bay Water’s bills so that citizens could donate up to $5 toward keeping the parks and libraries open.
It’s easy to understand Appleseed’s motivations for putting forth this idea. The Sports Authority provides Norman with a luxury suite at Raymond James Stadium to watch football games in (St.Pete Times, Sept 20, 2008). He’s helped them stay well funded all these years so they want to reciprocate by affording him with, shall we say, the type of comfort that only connected politicians can appreciate. If he cuts their funding, will he continue to watch games from inside that gorgeous enclosed luxury suite with a private kitchen or, instead, will he be reduced to sitting on a bar stool at Beef O’Brady’s looking at a flat panel TV? It’s easy to see why the Money Tree man doesn’t want to kill the money tree.
But are citizens willing to donate more money to keep basic services alive, while their tax dollars are going toward funding organizations that give luxury boxes to politicians, and while those same citizens still have to pay a dear price to sit in the bleachers? I think Johnny Appleseed still has a problem.
So I put on my thinking cap and, EUREKA!!! I’ve taken the Money Tree man’s idea and improved it!!!
Let’s do this – let’s significantly reduce the funding for the Sports Authority and the Sports Commission in the budget, keep the parks and libraries open, and allow citizens to donate up to $5 to the Sports Authority/Sports Commission via their water bills.
Here’s what Tampa Bay Water’s bill might look like:
If you would like to see more funding directed toward basic services for communities and less of it applied to corporate donations, let Jim “Johnny Appleseed of Money Trees” Norman and the other commissioners know.
