Comments on: hillsborough county spends frivolously

By: Hills-bro'

Hills-bro' — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:05:19 +0000

Mr. Bill – I believe it was the City of Tampa who pushed the trolley idea down our throats.

John – TBARTA has no funding because the People’s Governor vetoed it. Now, a state created bureaucracy is holding its hands out to local government for funding. The same state that berates local government “drunken spending” on a daily basis over this property tax mess.

Mariella – CTV Regularly hosts Pam Iorio programming and face time. It’s no different.

Peter – Tampa keeps electing Gwen Miller and Linda Saul Sena. Whats your point?

By: jlb

jlb — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:59:06 +0000

All of this is from the county that had 2 commissioners doing hard time in jail 25 or so years ago for accepting bribes. And now they abrogate their responsibility (also dating from about 25 years back) to require FREE PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNELS in return for the franchise to operate a cable outlet. I just don’t get it. Nor do I get the insane $1M+ expenditure to study a water taxi. Even in populous Ft. Lauderdale the water taxi isn’t working to it’s full capability if it’s still running. In case you didn’t notice about 5 years ago, it was tried in Pinellas County and failed miserably. Nowhere has there been recognition of that failed effort. The study will probably conclude a Taxi in Tampa Bay is feasible but in reality if it was profitable, some private entrepreneur would have provided the service here years ago. Norman & Blair et al just don’t seem to have any saneness whatsoever - they just keep feeding off the public dole. My apologies for the alliteration – too bad those elected can’t acknowledge their own failures.

By: Peter Rad

Peter Rad — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:55:06 +0000

What do you want from Jim Norman? He only knows how to spend OUR money. How does he keep getting elected?

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:49:09 +0000

And yet being surrounded by water means we should stick to the car?

The fact is that most any major metro area (and, even though local government wants you to think otherwise, this is a major metro area) offers different choices for mobility to the locals. Here? You can drive or you can stay home. It’s that simple.

By: jason

jason — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:40:59 +0000

I think those areas have different circumstances that make ferrys more attractive, notably in the NW fewer land routes due to the geography and in the NE a much more dense population.

By: John

John — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:17:23 +0000

I think the entire Bay area could use a ferry from time to time 00 but the routes would be limied due to seagrass beds and the possibility of hurting them from consistent boat action.

I mean, crap, look at Pinellas County and the beaches. There is scarce parking on Clearwater beach and no ferry access to teh beach. There is no attempt by the city for people to stop DRIVING to Clearwater beach and to park downtown. And yet, for tourists, what is the biggest draw to Clearwater or any of the suncoast for that matter? The water. The warm climate. The sun. The other touristy stuff.

Touristy. THAT is why a direct DT Tampa to DT St. Pete ferry might be unfeasible. Because tourists can’t be the only ones who use it. And yet there are ways to make a ferry feasible as both a tourist attraction and a commuting tool… The Northeast pulls it off (Staten Island ferry, the ferrys between Long Island and New England, etc). So doe sthe pacific Northwest.

By: jason

jason — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:45:11 +0000

Offhand I could have used a ferry a lot over the past few years, but I don’t think that would apply to many people here.

By: Trumandem

Trumandem — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:21:03 +0000

Interesting. Gov. Christ cut the state funding for the Mayport ferry here in northeast Florida. Now the city, Jacksonville, FL, is making the same arguements you outlined in your post to keep it open and running. I feel the same way you do, why this waste of precious tax revenue resources. I’ll keep following your story closely to see how they both work out.

Trumandem
http://trumansconscience.blogspot.com

By: Clyde

Clyde — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:40:02 +0000

Ah, Mr. Norman once again demonstrating the truth of the old saying about everybody being of some value – even if only to serve as a horrible example.

By: Mariella Smith

Mariella Smith — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:31:55 +0000

Let’s see how often the commissioners’ names and faces show up in that $150,000 worth of TV commercials they negotiated “for us.” I'll bet they're getting $150,000 worth of paid political advertising — much like commissioner Al Higginbotham’s Christmas commercial. In his 2008 topics list, Howard Troxler says he still has “half an itch to do a public-records request and figure how much it cost to make Commissioner Al Higgenbotham’s holiday-greetings commercial at public expense.”