Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

We have said before that Buddy Johnson is not fit to be the Supervisor of Elections.  He continues to prove us right.

He’s not real good with the money stuff:  Thanks to his banker’s generous lending policy, the guy has property all over the Tampa Bay area, yet he seems to have trouble paying his taxes on time.

He not real good with bad employees:  Buddy Johnson has a history of letting people go with big severance pay on the condition of silence.  To be fair, that practice is county-wide and like the Tribune, we would like to know what’s up with that.

He hires and promotes questionably:  Johnson hired his boyhood Little League teammate Jim Reed in 2003 at $50,000.   Reed got five raises or promotions within 19 months, and left the office this week making $125,000.  Reed is wisely bailing on Johnson to move to Virginia to be with his wife, former Managing Editor of the Tampa Tribune, Donna Reed.

At least he is competent at the election stuff, right?  Uh, nope.  He has non-citizens registering to vote, and mistakes in nearly every election are well documented, too.  Not to mention his attempt to collect illegal contributions for his own campaign.

Still, through all of that, he is undeterred, and is running for reelection as Supervisor of Elections this year.

I suppose he still has his connections.  For instance, his campaign treasurer is also his banker.

There is no way that even county Republicans can get behind this guy for reelection.

So the question is will they find someone to run against him in the primary?  Or will they just concede the race to Phyllis?

The Grapefruit Gal and I were fortunate to attend the Rays’ home opener against the Mariners last week from field-level seats, and as announced back in February, recent Bucs retiree Mike Alstott threw out the first pitch. Curiously, he was joined by an unannounced guest: Governor Charlie Crist, who also threw out the first pitch at last year’s home opener.

Certainly I’m not arguing the Gov was stealing the spotlight from one of Tampa Bay’s most popular athletes, especially being one of St. Pete’s native sons, but I noticed a peculiarity in the Rays’ treatment of their two guests that really stood out.

The Rays traditionally supply the honored first-pitch guest with a customized uniform featuring their name and some kind of relevant number. For Alstott, that meant his instantly-recognizable #40. Rays slugger Jonny Gomes caught for Alstott, and honored the tough-nosed running back by wearing an Alstott Bucs jersey. Yet the Rays skimped on Alstott’s jersey, giving him a cheap “replica” Rays shirt instead of the more expensive “authentic” ones like the players on the field wear. Note the lack of a ray patch on his sleeve and the cheap replica-style letters and numbers on the back.

Meanwhile, check out the jersey the Rays supplied Governor Crist with. It’s a legitimate authentic one, complete with Ray patch and authentic nameplate and numbers.

(Note to the Gov: tucking a jersey into your jeans makes you look like a dork. Plus, it shows off your fish-themed belt, which is also dorky.)

So why did the Governor get to share the spotlight with the A-Train? Why did he get a nicer jersey? I’m sure it has nothing to do with Rays ownership depending on his support for their new waterfront stadium plans. And what’s with his number? 12? I can’t see any immediate significance to the number, unless it’s a clever early promotion for a ‘12 presidential run.

Then again, this picture from last year’s opening day shows Crist sporting a #12 jersey yet again. (And that hideous fish-belt.) So what is it?

(Check out my full Flickr stream from opening day here.)

State Legislators are still trying to kill local environmental protections.  Now the Senate has passed a bill to do just that.  Of course, they are trying to make sure those pro sports franchises keep their tax breaks too.  Meanwhile, Disney World doesn’t want anyone to see politicians at their theme parks, so they created a politician FastPass in the hopes that they hurry up and leave.

This week’s Newsbits:

Tom Scott will be the new chairman of the Tampa City Council. Gwen Miller goes from chair to vice-chair.

Bob Henriquez got a new gig as an administrator for the state Department of Children & Families. He was the only applicant for the unadvertised position which pays $105,000 per year.

County Commission Chairman Jim Norman is gonna run for the State Senate in 2010.

New Beginnings wants $125,000 from Hillsborough County for 1,000 voice-mail accounts and 1,400 identification cards for the homeless. The County Commission seems fairly receptive.

The American Institute of Architects picked Tampa for their Center for Communities by Design Long-term Sustainability project. The idea is to create a plan for communities to meet environmental, economic and social needs of today without harming future generations.

Brandon residents have had enough with the suggestion of a bypass through their area, but it continues to come up time and time again.

Ybor City wants to completely do away with panhandling.

Muscovy Ducks are causing rifts in a Town ‘n’ Country neighborhood.

What if you held an election, and no one (literally - not one person) cared?

The City of Tamarac (near Fort Lauderdale) wants to annex the adjoining neighborhood of Prospect Bend. The question of annexation was on Tuesday’s ballot for Prospect Benders, and not a single one of them showed up to vote. Check out these tidbits from the article:

on Election Day, poll workers sat in a nearby polling site… for 12 hours — to no avail.

“I’m just shocked that there was an election held and no one showed,” said state Rep. Jack Seiler, D- Wilton Manors…

… registered voter, 23-year-old Juan Vidal: “It doesn’t make any difference to me either way.”

And now some folks want Floridians to vote twice for the same thing?

Good luck with that.

I don’t have time to rehash some of the ridiculous things that your local governments have been doing lately.  Luckily, we have a couple of daily newspapers who take it upon themselves to point out the shenanigans at least now and again.  Here are a couple of editorials that you should read, and know that they are close enough to be endorsed by the editorial board of Sticks of Fire (uh, that’s just me).

St. Pete Times:  Don’t padlock the parks - In response to budget cuts, the county is ceding control over its parks to private sports leagues.  With the county’s OK, those leagues have been kicking tax paying residents out of the parks for "not paying."  The Times says it is a "lazy form of money management" and "indefensible."

Tampa Tribune:  Jim Norman’s Disappointing Focus - Hillsborough commissioners agreed that they need a better relationship with the city of Tampa.  It’s campaign season, so Norman’s first idea is to replace Tampa’s fire-rescue department from with his buddies in the county’s politically powerful firefighters’ union.  The proposal is a solution in search of a problem. The Tribune also says that "Norman is incapable of rising above personal, petty politics" to focus on the big challenges facing this community.

Tampa Tribune:  Giving Tampa Codes Some Teeth - Get rid of the ridiculous hoops that Code Enforcement must jump through, start giving out fines, and make life difficult for repeat violators.

That’s enough for now.

Editor’s Note: I’m an idiot. This issue was before the city council on Thursday, and I didn’t get it written up until then. In fact, they probably already voted.  How on earth will I ever get our elected leaders to look to Sticks of Fire for advice, when I don’t give it to them in a timely manner?

The Tampa Tribune says the city should allow the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to close a street adjacent to the sheriff’s headquarters, and wall it in as part of the HCSO compound in Ybor City.

20th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues (satellite map) has had Bob’s Barricades in the way since September of 2001. Sheriff Gee now wants to put up a more permanent obstacle in order to make his command center more secure, and the Trib Editorial Board defends him, saying security is more important than residents’ opinions.

The Barrio Latino Commission opposes the plan, because it would damage the “historic grid system” of the Latin Quarter. Which is a lame excuse. But the people who live there don’t like it either.

Resident Manny Leto says the compound doesn’t do Ybor City any good:

…the sheriff’s office provides little benefit to the historic district. The sheriff has no jurisdiction in Ybor; policing the area is the responsibility of the Tampa Police Department. The sheriff (and other county facilities) does not contribute property taxes to Ybor’s CRA fund, and the building itself is a daunting fortress in the middle of a mixed-use, tourist-friendly, historic neighborhood.

What’s more, every time local reporters cover county-related arrests, they report “live from Ybor City,” reinforcing the perception that Ybor is full of criminals.

I’ve never seen sheriffs patrolling Ybor City - in fact, they laugh at TPD for the undesirable duty.

The Historic Ybor Neighborhood Civic Association opposes the plan, and has also complained about TV coverage “live from Ybor City” for crimes that happen out in Wimauma.

Besides playing the DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY card (you are supposed to think: “OMG - TERRORISTS!!”), the Tribune editorial board had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for any other excuse.

For instance, Ybor owes ‘em one.

“construction of the sheriff’s headquarters in Ybor City [came] during the 1970s, when the historic district was desolate and crime-ridden, contributed greatly to its revival.”

They went back 30 years?!?!! What have they done for Ybor lately (besides the bad publicity)?

“the sheriff’s office continues to be a good Ybor citizen, allowing… visitors to the Ybor City Museum to use county property for parking.”

How freakin’ generous. That museum racks up MILLIONS of visitors, I’m sure. But then the Tribsters also suggests the changes are temporary:

“Gee says the brick roadway will not be disturbed and would be returned intact to the city should the headquarters ever be moved…”

Not just to publish a horrible pun, but…

Gee, do ya really think that will happen?

This is a land grab, pure and simple. And make no mistake, it would never be reversed. Once the gate / fence / wall is up, the entire thing will belong to the Sheriff’s Office.

There is no reason for a compound in Ybor City. The county still has plenty of room out on Falkenburg Road.

Besides, Ybor could use the space to add another eighteen and up bar or two.

Update 1130am:  Replaced last paragraph. 

In preparation for upcoming mandated property tax cuts, Hillsborough County Commissioners Rose Ferlita and Al Higginbotham want to talk with the city of Tampa about merging both parks and recreation departments to save money.

Higginbotham says it makes no sense for both him and his neighbor to each buy a lawn mower, when one mower could do the job on both lawns.

But in an email to the Tribune, Mayor Pam says that the county doesn’t weed whack, or edge the driveway, or even put out any inviting gnomes:

“If our well-run department were to be merged into the larger bureaucracy of county government which serves its residents throughout the unincorporated area, we would lose out in determining the quality of our parks and programming as well as responsiveness to our citizens.”

She also suggested the county’s more conservative values would ruin public recreation, bringing up Ronda Storms attack on gay themed displays at libraries.

Of course, Hillsborough didn’t say if they would run this combined parks department or if the city of Tampa would be in charge. I wonder if Hillsborough County would even consider Tampa run their parks department (ha ha ha).

I use local parks, but only for recreation - I have no experience with other amenities such as after school care or organized sports - so I don’t really care if it is run by the city or the county. As long as it is safe, convenient, and easy to use. After all, it’s just a park.

I could have sworn that I remembered the current county commission reversing the ban on gay displays at libraries.  If they have, I cannot find it online.  After reading Mayor Pam’s entire email on the St. Pete Times website, and looking at Wayne Garcia’s piece about it, I see that the ban is still in effect.  All government facilities should be inclusive of all of our citizens, so it does matter who runs the parks.

Of course, it matters more who runs our government.