The Political Whore

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner proved once again Wednesday morning why he is the voter’s cure for ex-Commissioner Brian Blair. Beckner pulled item A-27 from the Consent Agenda (you know the place where they vote on fortunes to be doled out without even discussion). A-27 had buried in it an award to HDR. Yes, that same HDR, responsible for the controversial Lithia Pinecrest PD and E study, and the same HDR being sued for by Tampa Bay Water for its design on the cracking reservoir.

That item on the consent agenda even got past me but not Beckner. He pulled the item for discussion and said he would not support giving taxpayer money to them in light of the reservoir concerns until they had redeemed themselves. He got some arguments from Commissioner Jim Norman and even a county attorney, but Beckner stood strong. While he couldn’t get the support to completely blackball the company, he did get everyone’s support to send the item back to staff for further review.

Last week during budget talks, he presented fellow board members with an idea to save the Victim’s Assistance Program and the Consumer Protection Agency which were both on the budget chopping block. Beckner asked why should the cost for these programs be borne by law abiding citizens? He suggested that the officials charge criminals more for booking in order to support the Victim’s Assistance program and the Consumer Protection Agency. After all, it is the criminals supplying the need for these programs so shouldn’t they be funding them? Ultimately the sheriff has to approve these increases in booking fees that Beckner suggested. Beckner told the board “Crime doesn’t pay but I believe in Hillsborough County criminals will.”

I am just afraid that this guy is way too good to stay very long in Hillsborough’s little backyard game of politics. Might as well enjoy him while we can.

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

(Insert Blaring Sirens Here) Consent agenda Alert, Consent Agenda Alert!

I guess the great job HDR did on designing the Cracking Reservoir and the 6-Lane Cluster Study of Lithia Pinecrest warrants another contract to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars to the firm for another PD and E study, this time for Van Dyke Road. Where might this sweet deal be going down? The consent agenda of the Hillsborough County Commission, of course! Does this firm (who Tampa Bay Water is currently suing and citizens have exposed due to their judgment, or lack thereof) and its tall tales told to citizens with regards to the Lithia Pinecrest Road Widening/Not Widening Project deserve yet another fat contract?

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I attended the recent swearing in of Kevin Beckner (so that is what all of you Obama supporters felt like?) Still fresh from the euphoria of seeing a good guy win one (and watching incumbent Commissioner Brian Blair go down in flames), I later headed down to the public workshop that evening regarding the Lithia Pinecrest road widening project in eastern Hillsborough County. I had like six or seven hours in between these two events to just be happy that the people of Hillsborough made a good decision electing Beckner and since Commissioner Kevin “the people have spoken and I am switching teams” White (a longtime pro-development vote) seems to have gotten the message, just maybe NOW the residents would have a majority on the board (so that is what the late Ralph Hughes must have felt like!)

Hey, six hours of hope was good, wasn’t it? Turns out we have been duped by our county AGAIN! When Iand many others attended a meeting last year regarding the widening of Lithia Pinecrest we were told that the rural portion of it (now known as segment D) from Fishhawk to State Road 39 would NOT be widened. The staff assured us…………assured us.

That is why I thought it was fishy when I read this article promoting this year’s meeting that said it could to be 6 lanes all the way through. WTF? In fact, all I remember them talking about last year was possibly 4 lanes and that was only in the urban sections, so to read that they were now talking about 6 lanes all the way through raised many suspicions. So many of us decide to attend this year’s meeting, and it was Beltway deja vu. Lies, circles, and deflections.

There are sections of Lithia Pinecrest that are overloaded by traffic and need relief, but those are in the Urban Service Area, and make no mistake about it, those sections failed because new home construction was approved without appropriate infrastructure. You can thank past and a few current county commissioners for that. The section I am referring to is in the Rural Service Area and it serves us rural types just fine, thanks. Why are we opposed to widening on this particular stretch? Because plowing a bigger road through a rural area is nothing more than a recipe for sprawl. Six lanes with a median is 1-75!

We have been down this road before……..and we destroyed it!

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