|
The
Issues - Articles and Comments
Moffitt deal exposed weak leadership
Lack of leadership and vision: The
County commissioners debate on whether to go after the bioscience
industry was less about fiscal policy than leadership - who has it and
who doesn't. District 2 Commissioner criticized Tampa Mayor’s
contribution even though it was nearly two-thirds more than a package he
celebrated only weeks ago as "exciting" and "prominent." But the
Moffitt debate was a troubling glimpse of his poor capacity to think in
visionary terms and rattled by the demands of managing a diverse,
growing community.
St. Petersburg
Times Published Feb 26, 2007
read the article
Steep Drop Predicted for Home Prices
"This is the most severe housing recession since the post-World War II
period," Several reasons: overbuilding by home builders, exiting of
investors from the area, and a fair amount of sub-prime mortgage loans
causing an increase in foreclosures. The height of the housing boom
was in 2004-05 and speculative activity was rampant causing prices to
surge much higher than other regions.
Reuters Posted: 2007-12-06
read the article
Ex-Buc Selected To Be Free
Agent In Regional Transit Leadership
No Trust: 'The governor wanted someone who is not tied to any
engineering firms or developers or law firms. There has been trouble
with some of these transportation authorities'. Quarles was chosen
because he doesn't represent any particular industry or political
viewpoint. .
The Tampa Tribune Published: October 1, 2007
read the article
Is Florida Over?
"It's just not the place I originally moved to. You've got overcrowded
roads. The utilities are higher now. Taxes are unreasonable. Everything
in Florida is more expensive." The state became a place for rampant
speculation that more than doubled prices in a four-year period.
Florida housing prices force people to look elsewhere. Florida is also
dealing with new competition. The South's less-expensive, relatively
warm states have been reaching out to seniors and fiddling with their
tax laws to attract them.
The Wall Street Journal Published
September 29, 2007
read the article
Citizens Deserve A Voice
Developers are
pushing the County Commissioners to put two more developers on our City
– County Planning Commission, so they can gain a clear majority.
Comprehensive Plan amendments that they approve will line developers'
pockets while putting taxpayers on the hook for expensive
infrastructure, and sticking us with more traffic-jamming sprawl.
Citizens will lose confidence in the process and in our elected
officials who rigged the system.
Tampa
Tribune, Published: September 19, 2007 read the article
County's Got That Fishy
Smell
Massive sellouts to special interests, attacking our environment,
and a huge fundraising event by his developers have left a smell at
County Center. Now we have to deal with the reality of our community
danger of imploding under the weight of the pro-development attitude of
our commissioners.
Tampa
Tribune Published: Sep 30, 2007
read the article
Poor Leadership Hobbles the County
The County Commission has seemed almost paralyzed by the challenge
of managing the fourth-largest county in the fourth-largest state.
Members do not bring the right skill sets to the table and resist
looking for solutions that would stretch beyond the next election or the
county line. They are caught up in their own pet projects and small
potatoes like sports, toll booths, nickel-and-diming the infrastructure
– instead of the strategies that move our county forward. They lose
sight of the big picture. And a transportation plan that District 2
Commissioner conceived will worsen sprawl in the very suburbs already
crawling with traffic, and add stress to the environment in a county
struggling to generate new water supplies. Is anyone in charge?
St Petersburg Times, EDITORIAL Published August 21, 2007 read the article |
