The Political Whore

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Regional parks came up during budget talks last week at the Hillsborough County Commission. County Administrator Pat Bean’s budget proposal would close them down two days a week, much to the dismay of well, almost everybody showing up at the last budget public hearing. Looks like they will now remain open seven days a week after all. Several commissioners voiced their concerns and wanted parks to be kept open! Nimby translation: Get this angry mob of voters off our backs already and give them their damned parks!

There will be a new fee, which sounds like most likely to be $2 a car. It isn’t official yet, but commissioners voted unanimously to proceed with the idea that Mark Thornton, parks director, came up with for them. I wouldn’t ordinarily complain about $2 except I know what they are spending in other areas and things like the Sports Authority funding appears completely intact.

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Photo credit: capitalist_b/flickr.com

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

As we fight to keep public parks open, the Tampa Sports Authority uses your tax dollars to hire a new executive director at $170,000 a year plus a $2,000 a month housing allowance for up to five months. Looks like you are also footing a $12,500 bill for his moving expenses. Meanwhile, County Administrator Pat Bean is recommending to the Hillsborough County Commission to cut hundreds of jobs and basic services.

Commissioner Jim Norman, who sits on that board, voted to approve the director but not the housing allowance. He is quoted in this article as saying “the people who are paying this today, which are the taxpayers will be outraged.” Um, Mr. Norman I bet if taxpayers knew how much of their money goes to the Sports Authority in general they would be outraged that it even exists.

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Our FLA senator, Mel Martinez, center, chums it up at with Tampa Chamber visitors recently.

By George Niemann
PoHo contributor and R-LAND and UCAN activist

Since we’ve got such a budget crunch looming that we have to close public facilities and lay off Hillsborough County workers, I wonder if Hillsborough’s economic development “donations” to the many chambers of commerce ended up paying for the Tampa Chamber’s trip to Washington, D.C.? And if so, how much did it cost to send this delegation to the capital to discuss legislative business impacts on our dime?

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By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

In a Hillsborough County Commission meeting last week, Commissioner Rose Ferlita brought up those clandestine raises issued by County Administrator Pat Bean. When Ferlita holds up a mountain of paperwork indicating that she has done her research that usually isn’t good news for whoever might be on the other side of that paperwork. Ferlita didn’t think that Bean had fully informed the Commission prior to giving those raises, and because proper procedure had not been followed, the board’s decision to approve those appointments back in November could be null and void. During the discussion, Ferlita cited agenda documents and ordinances (article 6 section 1) and she even brought up a similar situation from way back in 2005, before she was even on the board.

Other commissioners echoed similar complaints about not having the full information, and this is not the first time they have hammered Bean about this raises. Commissioner Kevin Beckner brought it up several weeks ago. But Bean held firm during Wednesday’s meeting stating she felt “we” had done everything “we” were supposed to (is there a Co-County Administrator that “we” don’t know about or does “we” just mean herself and Commissioner Jim Norman?) Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Remember when the whole idea behind the Cone Ranch possible sale was because Commissioner Ken “Half-Truth” Hagan wanted to “preserve it” after being asked by big-time Republican donors to subdivide and sell off Cone Ranch [more than 12,000 acres of publicly owned land in Northeast Hillsborough County]?

The county now has an advisory board pondering this deal. You can read my take on their first meeting here. This second meeting started with County Administrator Pat Bean addressing the panel lobbing threats about the state of the county water utility which owns the land. Wasn’t this panel supposed to be objective? Yet here we have the County Administrator throwing in her 2 cents. She did admit that the land was already preserved though, glad we got that cleared up. Recall the earlier threats that the Florida Environmental and Conservation Group (FCEG) (the group pushing the sale) made implying that the alternative could be commercial or residential development. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Hillsborough County pork thinks it should be fed before basic public safety services, before public parks, before important public agencies like the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC), The Planning Commission and before voter-approved programs such as ELAPP [the county's environmental land buying program]. Hillsborough pork even thinks it should be in line in front the homeless. Why? Because under Pat Bean’s administration, evidently, that is how it works. Hillsborough pork knows no boundaries and has no ethics. Who thinks it is time for a little visit to the butcher?

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By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

If you think County Administrator Pat Bean’s recent double digit raises to a few of her favorite minions amid epic budget cuts were unbelievable you might want to take some Beano before catching a glimpse at her proposed budget itself. The millions thrown at special interest is enough to make anyone’s stomach turn. County Commissioners have the final say on her budget. Many of these same Commissioners renamed their Moral Courage award after a pardoned ex-felon last year, and they also think it might be OK to sell off sensitive publicly owned land to investors in order to “preserve” it, so I suggest you offer to help them in this budget decision making process.

Parks are what got me looking into this budget in the first place. When I heard my beloved Flatwoods Park was on the chopping block to be closed two days a week, (and knowing how much this Commission gives away each meeting on the consent agenda alone) I was furious. They pass out hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions regularly under the Consent Agenda without even discussion yet they now claim they have to cut public parks. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean took more than a few stutter steps last week when the discussion at the budget workshop finally addressed the earlier article in the St. Petersburg Times about her issuing fat raises to a handful of her BFFs. Commissioners are in the middle of a budget nightmare, up to 900 jobs could be eliminated and Bean is passing out up to double-digit raises to some of her faves, including the bean counters.

So at the end of the day’s budget workshop last Thursday, Commissioner Kevin Beckner acknowledged the elephant/s in the room and brought up the subject to Bean newspaper in hand.

I had my own concerns with two of her minions getting these raises. Lucia Garsys is listed in the Times article as a “former planner,” yet she makes even more money than the head of The Planning Commission. How can Bean justify this, and more importantly how can Commissioners let her get away with this? (Especially with elections nearing?) Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Hillsborough County’s top lobbyist Edith Stewart makes $136,094; that is including a 17 percent raise of $20,000. I had to read this in the Times even though I did ask Commissioners what our lobbyists made in an e-mail back on April 14 and have yet to hear back on that.

Why did I want to know? Because I didn’t think our lobbyists were doing anything about bad environmental and growth management bills and  I wondered how much you were paying them. Now we know. Maybe she got the bonus for letting SB 360 get through? I also asked Ms. Stewart herself in an e-mail several months ago to provide me with a detailed list of the activities of our lobbyists in Tallahassee and asked if any of them have ever spoken on the record in committee about SB 360 or any bills for that matter. I am still waiting. I even suggested the Board fire Ms. Stewart in this recent post regarding SB 360 so to read she recently got a raise while sitting back and letting the worst growth management laws quietly pass in Tallahassee is unbelievable. Especially amid such a budget crisis. In fact she got the highest percentage increase. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Well, for one the now State Sen. Victor Crist, who has an eye on Ken Hagan’s county commission seat in a game of musical sprawlers and  just voted to throw Hillsborough under the bus by gutting what meager growth management laws we do have. Yep, he voted YES on the deplorable bill SB 360 denounced by environmentalists, smart growth advocates and anyone with two brain cells that touch (who aren’t in the pockets of developers).

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Legislative records show that Crist changed to a "No" vote on the bill. In an interview with PoHo, Crist said he was off the floor in a budget conference meeting during the vote in question and another Senator "voted his button," a fairly common practice in the Legislature. Crist said he noticed the yes vote and changed it by the end of the day. More from Crist in the comments section. The Senate floor vote record is here.]

Remember that in 2010 when we have the “special election“ experts think is going to occur for Hagan’s seat. I didn’t know anything about Crist one way or the other before this, but voting yes on SB 360 tells me all I need to know. Looks like some of his constituents aren’t all that happy with him either regarding past issues. You can contact Crist here and tell him what you think.

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