http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/05/na-hillsborough-needs-administrator-to-push-hard-f/

Climb down Pat, and shut up. You’ve been at this much too long. Do something with her, BOCC!! It’s an election year!!

Now doesn’t that mean that a nefarious “boss” of hers on the BOCC could have her do dirty work he is prohibited by rules from doing himself? Sure looks like it happened Tuesday, and again, the citizens are the losers. This is absolute power for The Dark Side, all balled up in our own little Bean bag. Nice gig for both her and The Dark Side on BOCC. This needs really close scrutiny. …..Come November’s elections changes must be wrought.

Not a defense, not a reason. Just saying it could have been written in such a way that the exact same quote portrayed her as “working hard to make every cent count.”

Just my 2¢ (taxable.)

I recently read the March 31 Tampa Tribune article titled “Poll On Land Conservation Program Put On Hold”.

I am a local practicing architect who lives in Temple Terrace and I am flabbergasted at the backwardness of County Administrator Pat Bean’s remarks in the article. She is at best uninformed, at worse she’s a BOCC pawn. Obviously, Ms. Bean is acting on directive from at least some of the County Commission, if not, then she should be forced to resign immediately.

Not continuing with ELAPP, which citizens throughout the county will tell you is one of the smartest programs the county has ever embarked on, is incredibly myopic and goes against the direction of groups like 1000 friends of Florida and others.

ELAPP is needed. I know, as I have been nominating properties for ELAPP acquisition every year for the last six years. I can tell you that it is hard to find undeveloped property to nominate in the county that some developer does not already have their eye on, and since the land development industry (and unfortunately largely not “good” development) is so obscenely powerful in our county, not one of the properties I have nominated as ever made it to acquisition (though some got close). And while it is probably naïve, as Bean suggests, to only consider land for ELAPP that has not seen the hand of man in the last 178 years, there is plenty of land that has beautiful second or third growth forests on it that should well be acquired by ELAPP, and now is the time to do it.

As an architect I don’t feel we should build on every vacant parcel, having open and unaltered greenspace throughout the county adds to our quality of life, the quality of our built environment, and improves the diversity and strength of the natural environment and old Florida landscape that we love—that’s why many of us live here.

I am tired of the rest of the state viewing Hillsborough County has the backwater of the State, please insure that ELAPP is continued and that our county can continue its slow crawl towards a brighter future, and a new millennium.

Queen Bean needs to remember that she is not an elected official who influences policy. And shut the heck up. Especially about our precious ELAPP program.

I asked our Commissioners how much ELAPP land can $200,000+ buy in today’s market
and suggested we re-appropriate Ms. Bean’s salary on something worth spending it on!
Maybe Commissioner Sharpe should hold a workshop to talk about her job description and put her under a microscope publicly like he is doing to the MPO director!