Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Hey Floridians!  You aren’t gambling enough.  Your kids will be more stupider if you don’t buy some scratch-offs right now.  You should probably smoke more cigarettes, too.  Think of the kids!

I can just imagine:

“Sure, I can drive this. How hard can it be?”

Maybe you should at least check out the “quick start” page of the operator’s manual.

“Naw, I don’t need no instructions. I drove one last time it snowed in Tampa. Can’t be much different than that!”

Um… It last snowed in Tampa in 1977. They may have changed since then.

“Bah! A truck is a truck is a truck. Gimme the keys.”

And with that, former Fire Chief Pete Botto jackknifed a brand new tiller truck, causing almost $6,000 in damage to the city’s new $886,000 Fire Engine.

It is a special truck, called a tiller truck, with a rear end that can be steered separately from the front end.

“As far as I can tell in driving it, you used to be able to swing the old tillers out wide. These don’t swing out the way the others did,” Botto said Wednesday.

Ya don’t say… C’mon, Petey. How much could things change in only, uh, THIRTY YEARS?

Captain Bill Wade said:

the luncheon event Tuesday was set up to bring in retirees who drove tiller trucks years ago so they could offer pointers on how to drive the vehicle. Tampa has not had a tiller truck for more than 15 years.

Captain Bill Wade also said:

“They did not know the unique operations of this modern tiller truck.”

Ya think?

Well, what did we expect. This is Tampa Fire Rescue, home of the good ol’ boys network of Tampa town rednecks.

Botto said that he might have jumped the gun in hopping into the cab and taking off during the ceremony for the truck’s debut, negotiating a wide-open training course the size of two football fields.

“We were just so gung-ho to get out there and drive it.”

You know the type. Those guys who think they can do it themselves, with or without a clue. Home Depot stays in business because of their five trips to fix a leaky toilet.

So we spend $886,000 on a new parade float, and your taxes will pay for another $6,000 in repairs before this thing sees its first strip show.

Yahoo!

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.

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.

As I’m sure you have heard, McCain won half of Florida’s Republican delegates, and Clinton won the Democratic straw poll. Also, you overwhelmingly voted to pass Amendment 1, choosing to grab a bit of cash now instead of just hoping there is some later.

It looks like about 40% of registered voters made their way to the polls yesterday, higher than any other primary election since 1988. In Hillsborough, at least 37% voted in the election, while Polk County set a record with 39% turnout. 40% of Pasco made it to the polling places, 41% of Pinellas County voters cast ballots, and Hernando County saw a 45% voter turnout.

So how does that compare to past elections? Steve Bousquet knows:

Strong turnout, but not a record

The highest turnout for a presidential preference primary in Florida was 58 percent in 1972, the year of the state’s first primary, and the first year 18-year-olds could vote. Richard Nixon would go on to be re-elected over George McGovern. Primary turnout in Florida has generally declined steadily since then, to a low of 19 percent in 2000 and 20 percent in 2004.

OK, so who is gonna’ mark a ballot next week (or mail in an absentee ballott, or perhaps early vote)?

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Besides the Presidential Primary, the property tax amendment (Amendment 1) will be on the table for your consideration as well as other referendums and local items depending on where you’re voting….

You are the owner of a business. A consultant comes to you and says he can help you to increase your profit by $40 MILLION, and it will only cost you $150,000. Of course, you are skeptical, so you check the last job this guy has done, and find that this consultant might have been exaggerating a bit.

The last time this consultant worked a similar deal, he made the same promises. He actually charged the $150,000, but the true cost was double or triple that, due to lost production from employees assisting the consultant. Furthermore, that entity’s profit only increased by about $2.5 million.

What a scam!! We might lose a half million dollars doing this, and realize an increase of only $2 million.

But wait. Isn’t that still a net increase of $1.5 million?

Florida TaxWatch wants to audit Hillsborough County’s finances, and promises to find ways to save the county some money. The $150,000 fee will even be paid by anonymous private donors.

Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean says it’s not worth it. County Commissioner Rose Ferlita wants nothing to do with it. Commissioner Brian Blair made the suggestion, and the five other commissioners agreed to it, making Ferlita the only no vote.

Dear Ms Ferlita, This is a no-brainer. It’s possible that the audit will amount to nothing, and we will have wasted some county employees’ time. But it’s more likely that they will find at least a few ways to cut expenses in the budget, and perhaps keep us from laying off employees. If you are worried about your favorite programs getting cut, you will still be deciding which recommendations are actually implemented.

Dear Ms Bean, How is it that you are always on the wrong side of things?

Link: Florida TaxWatch

County Commissioner Al Higginbotham invited several citizen groups and community leaders to be videotaped with him today for what his staff called a “Christmas commercial” to be televised on the county’s TV station, HTV22. Higginbotham’s term ends next year so he needs to get his re-election campaign in gear now.

A televised campaign commercial featuring smiling citizens and community leaders with the candidate would ordinarily be very expensive, and most candidates would have a hard time organizing it even if they could afford it. In contrast, this “Christmas commercial” will be paid for by the taxpayers.

The Fishhawk Republican club sounds delighted to be included:

Subject: Commercial for Holiday to be filmed in Fishhawk, join us

Commissioner Al Higginbotham has invited the Fishhawk Republican Club to join him and be part of his Holiday Greeting which will be filmed on Monday, December 3 at 1:15 in front of the fireplace at Town Square. Commissioner Higginbotham requests that you join him for this television shoot. It is exciting that he has invited the Fishhawk Club to be part of his holiday greeting. Please join us at 1:15 at Town Square in front of the fireplace. Please email me or call and let me know you will join us. Also, forward this to any neighbors in Fishhawk.

Thank you.
Debbie

Debbie Cox Roush
President, Fishhawk Republican ClubCo-Chair Hillsborough County Coalition for Women, Mitt Romney for President
Event Chair HCRP

I wonder if Higginbotham also invited the East Hillsborough Democrats to be involved in his taxpayer-funded Holiday commercial? I wonder what Louise Thompson thinks of this use of our county-funded television station and film crew? (Louise is Executive Director of TBCN, the Tampa Bay Public Access television station which Hillsborough County commissioners decided not to fund anymore, while using our their TV station for their own self-promotion.) How do you, as a taxpayer, feel about your commissioner spending your taxes to film himself wishing you a happy Holiday? In an election year?

I don’t like my taxes being used to fund a politician’s self-promotional commercial during campaign season — a commercial which will discourage other candidates from coming forward to run against the incumbent, looking so well-connected with happy civic leaders and all.

The commercials were to be filmed Monday at 1:15 in the Fishhawk Town Square, and 3:15 at the Red Barn Ranch on Thonotassassa Rd. If you had known about it, you could have dropped by and made your way on TV too. After all, you are paying for these campaign spots —er, I mean Christmas Commercials.

Cross Bar Ranch is a wellfield in Pasco County. You can find it North of CR 52 and just East of US Hwy 41, just south of Masaryktown. Pinellas County purchased the property decades ago, and has been pumping water from there for Pinellas residents since 1980.

Because fresh water isn’t abundant in Pinellas, the 12,000+ acre piece of land was important to the county. But now that Tampa Bay Water exists to ensure everyone gets what they need to drink, they no longer need the property. Pasco County wants the State of Florida to help them buy it (scroll down), and some folks simply want to keep it from being developed.

Since at least 1992, the county has had to pay someone to “manage” the property. The water meter must be read to find out how much is pumped out, and report that to the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Oh, and they must “manage” the population of wild hogs. And as of the beginning of October, Albert Roller will get $2.7 million over the next five years to continue to do just that.

But some folks say that Roller has a funny way of managing the property. Rumors persist that there are lots of parties going on at the Cross Bar Ranch. And it’s been suggested that some Pinellas County officials (perhaps Utilities director Pick Talley?) use the land as a private hunting lodge. In addition to the wild hog population that Roller must keep down, there have been allegations of deer hunting there, too. Albert’s brother lived on the property, too, and Pasco County Deputies say Ralph Roller molested a boy there. Ralph is no longer welcome at the Ranch, though.

Much of this is rumor. Any outsiders that gets onto the property are sent away, so no one has seen any “hunting lodge.”

I’m just wondering how I can get a gig that pays half a million dollars a year to kill hogs and read a meter.