good morning, tampa
Welcome to all of you who found Sticks of Fire from the mention in Steve Otto’s column this morning.
You can find Jadell Kerr’s complete unedited comments on a post about the county commission selling out our wetlands. There is also news of Jadell’s suspension because of those comments.
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August 12th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
The final EPC Public Hearing on the fate of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection (EPC, The County Commission wearing different hats) Commission Wetlands Division will be August 16th, 2007 at 9:00 AM In the County Center, 601 East Kennedy Boulevard, 2nd Floor Boardroom. There will be 26th Floor overflow seating.
There are two public hearings scheduled at the same time regarding our wetlands regulation in Hillsborough County: 1. To amend Rule 1-11 (sets up the wetlands rules and division) to incorporate language regarding cow ponds, ditches, man-made ditches, etc., as proposed in Dr. Garrity’s hybrid proposal on July 26, 2007 AND 2. To eliminate Rule 1-11 (local wetlands protection and the wetlands division) and Rule 1-14 (mangrove protections).
Keep in mind the County’s EPC regulations are much stricter than the States, which obviously has upset local developers.
There has been a flurry of press coverage on this issue, here are just Sunday’s articles:
Tampa Tribune
“At War Over Wetlands”
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/aug/12/bz-at-war-over-wetlands/?news-opinion-commentary
“Que Sierra, Sierra: Fearing Wetlands’ Fate”
http://www.tbo.com/news/columnists/steveotto/MGB5XOQS85F.html
“Agency’s End Could Imperil Wetlands”
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBRX71Z85F.html
St. Petersburg Times
“Wetlands agency on the brink”
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/12/Hillsborough/Wetlands_agency_on_th.shtml
Terry Flott of the United Citizens Action Network (U-Can) u-can@earthlink.net reports that some Commissioners have placed an S.O.S. call for back up from their development friends. In addition, she reports that other Commissioners “have found the need to request that Tax Watch conduct a ‘review for the presence of duplication in services between EPC’s Wetland Division AND SWFWMD’”. Interesting timing.
Sadly, The Tampa Bay Builders Association and The Greater Tampa Association of Realtors have also recently jumped on the bandwagon to eliminate the EPC wetlands division.
If you still think they have an open mind, visit the following link: http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/bocc/about/contactus.cfm, and ask the 4 County Commissioners who voted against our wetlands: White, Hagan, Blair & Norman to please reconsider their vote.
Bring your popcorn August 16th folks because the circus has come to town!
Yours In Community Spirit,
Grant Rimbey
President, Citizens for the Revitalization of Temple Terrace
August 12th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
who is steve otto?
August 12th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
I think we should settle this with a fist fight — us against those c*ck sucker developers.
August 12th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Is the 26th floor the same floor it was the last meeting/Obvisously those who voted against our wetlands for building purposes have allready conceded to green-unfortunetly not our green but to green dollars-tell them that no one will vote for them or their greedy friends in their next term in a non-partisan race. Would you please find out if it is wheelchair accessible and how long does the average person have to make their plea to keep the wetlands.
August 12th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Junior, the hearing will be held on the 2nd floor, with the overflow crowd on the 26th floor. (Developers are rallying their side to show up in force, and the county is expecting a big crowd.) The two rooms will be connected by closed-circuit TV to allow public participation in both rooms.
The usual time allowed each citizen is 3 minutes, but with Brian Blair in charge, you could be limited to a 1- or 2- minute speech. There’s just no way to know ahead of time how Blair will handle it. (He limited people to one minute each at the last EPC meeting.)
The whole building is wheelchair accessible. Just make sure you get on the correct elevators — not all of them go to all floors.
August 12th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Google.com
August 14th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Steve Otto writes a column for the Tribune. He was at Tampa Bay Sierra Club’s August meeting to hear a great presentation by Jadell Kerr that was well attended.
http://florida.sierraclub.org/tampabay