Priorities
No money for the homeless (an elite group that has little to pay), but a new $40 million sports complex? No problem.
Today is the first time in five years commissioners are divvying some of the half-cent sales tax, with nearly $350 million up for grabs. The tax is expected to generate $4.8 billion before expiring in 2027.
Proposed projects in this funding round include $66 million for a 768-bed expansion of Falkenburg Road Jail, $50 million for stormwater drainage improvements and $40 million for an amateur sports complex backed by commission Chairman Jim Norman.
......Commissioner Kathy Castor said the project list has not received as much public input or planning as earlier funding rounds. She suggested commissioners might want to consider postponing today's vote.
Norman's proposed Championship Park is likely to get the most attention.
......Former Commissioner Joe Chillura authored the 1996 CIT referendum to help build the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' football stadium and pay for schools and other "public facilities" and infrastructure. He supports Championship Park.
"It is basically serving the general public," Chillura said. "It fills the bill more than a history center or art museum, which serve an elitist group that has little to say and little to pay."
Plans call for a 22,000-seat football and soccer arena, a baseball field with stands for 3,000 and a track that could accommodate another 1,500 spectators. Along with practice fields, the complex would be built on 425 acres off State Road 39 about 3 miles north of Interstate 4 on property the county owns known as the Cone Ranch.
......Commissioners have committed all of the money from the Community Investment Tax through 2008. But county finance officials expect the tax to raise another $1.4-billion from 2008 through 2026 that has not been committed.
......Tampa Bay Water owns the rights to pump water from much of the 12,000-acre Cone Ranch property, which it may do in the future. Hillsborough County has fought those plans, fearing damage from the pumping in an area that helps replenish the Hillsborough River.
Castor said she felt such a facility should be built in an area where growth is taking place and expressed concern about such intensive development in a rural area.
"This is a very interesting idea," she said. "I'm concerned that we undermine our argument about the environmental sensitivity of this area."
......The center isn't intended as a corner ball field for recreational league softball or pick-up games, he said. It is meant to attract players and teams from sanctioned leagues that come to town, stay in hotels and bring their tourist dollars with them.
Yeah, the general public. Well, the general part of the public that is not at all concerned about drinking water and rampant piecemeal over development of environmentally sensitive lands.
Question of the day
Why hasn't Tampa Rep. Jim Davis signed on to to co-sponsor H.R. 3763, the bill to overturn President Bush's Gulf Coast Wage Cut?
Maybe we should write him right now and ask. Here's mine - feel free to fine tune and send it as your own.
Dear Rep. Davis:
I understand that you have not yet signed on as a co-sponsor for H.R. 3763, the bill to overturn President Bush's Gulf Coast Wage Cut.
I hope that you decide to co-sponsor this bill. Denying fair wages to the people who will be rebuilding and living in the devastated Gulf Coast region is incredibly unfair, to say the least.
Your previous waffling on CAFTA and your support of the bankruptcy bill might lead one to assume that you have no compassion for the working classes. I sincerely hope that you put that notion to rest with your immediate and enthusiastic support of HR 3763.
Remember - Jim finally came around and voted against CAFTA, this summer, but he was waffling for an awful long time. Does Jim Davis hate working people?
Tampa on 29 cents per day
Hillsborough County is wringing its hands and trying to figure out just what to do with the estimated 11,000 homeless people on our streets. Remember: this is a community that gives away sports palaces worth hundreds of millions of dollars to millionaire billionaire capitalists who turn around and set ticket and concession prices that prevent the average citizen from ever stepping foot inside, yet the best we can do for the homeless is allocate 29 cents per day per homeless person. That's just .08% of the county budget.
After more than a year of meetings, a countywide task force offered recommendations Monday to provide homeless people with affordable housing, medical care, job training and employment.
But the plan hinges on a familiar goal: Hillsborough County must find a dedicated source of money to attract federal grants and provide such services.
The goal is a hot potato for politicians, who don't want to be associated with increasing taxes.
In Miami-Dade County, organizers created a penny restaurant tax to generate money for programs to help the homeless; more than 30 percent comes from tourists. In Broward County, the county government got permission to augment its budget with proceeds from a state gas tax that, in turn, allows Broward to operate three homeless assistance centers.
There are ways to be creative, said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who spearheaded the formation of the Tampa-Hillsborough Citizens Task Force on Homelessness.
But finding the source doesn't necessarily mean an additional tax, she said.
During a task force meeting with social service providers, religious leaders and law enforcement officers, Iorio suggested scouring existing funds countywide.
She pointed to Hillsborough County's millage as one area to study.
"I know the county would like to see a solution, too," Iorio said after the meeting.
Hillsborough's growing homeless population totaled 11,000 during the latest count in January.
The county already funds social service programs, including those that benefit the homeless, Assistant County Administrator Manus O'Donnell said.
This year's budget, which takes effect Oct. 1, has earmarked $524,000 in local and federal money for case management for the homeless and $628,000 for cash assistance to the homeless, O'Donnell said.
Falling in his uncle’s footsteps
What's this healthy 21 year old son of a war supporter doing drinking himself silly in Austin when he could be leading a platoon in Iraq or, at the very least, helping out some people in a real jam?
John Ellis Bush, the youngest son of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was arrested early Friday and charged with public intoxication and resisting arrest, law enforcement officials in Texas said.
The 21-year-old nephew of President Bush was arrested by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission at 2:30 a.m. Friday on a corner of Austin's Sixth Street bar district, said spokesman Roger Wade.
John Ellis Bush was released on $2,500 bond for resisting arrest, and on a personal recognizance bond for the public intoxication charge, officials said.
......It's not the first time Florida's first family has experienced legal problems with one of their children.
Noelle Bush, the governor's daughter, was arrested in January 2002 and was accused of trying to pass a fraudulent prescription at a Tallahassee pharmacy to obtain the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. She completed a drug rehabilitation program in August 2003 and a judge dismissed the drug charges against her.
Noelle Bush was sent to jail twice for violating rules during her rehab stint. She was jailed for three days in July 2002 after being caught with prescription pills and served 10 days a month later after being accused of having a small rock of crack cocaine in her shoe.
Gay club membership restricted
The club exists, for now, but students must try harder to join.
In a social studies classroom at Newsome High School, 37 students gathered Wednesday to form the school's first Gay-Straight Alliance.
The club is now official - over the protests of parents who were trying to stop it from forming.
But Newsome's Gay-Straight Alliance will have to follow a rule that doesn't apply to any other club on campus. All the students in it have to get their parents' written permission to join.
Principal Rebecca Anderson created the rule after getting phone calls from parents concerned that students would use the club to talk about sexual issues, school spokesman Steve Hegarty said.
"She thought it would be wise to take this extra step to make sure the parents knew what was going on," Hegarty said. "It seemed like a reasonable safeguard."
Sandy Davis, who was among the parents concerned about the Gay-Straight Alliance, said she wasn't satisfied with the compromise.
"I'd rather be the person to talk to my children about sexual issues," said Davis, who has two sons at the school. "School is not the place."
Davis said parents tried to meet with the principal as a group, but Anderson would not hold the meeting. She said Anderson told them she'd spoken with parents one on one and knew their concerns.
The compromise rule didn't please groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union either.
Michael Pheneger, who chairs the Tampa chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said placing a special restriction on only one club might violate the federal Equal Access Act.
"It seems to me that the whole idea of equal access is equal requirements," he said. "Singling out one club for parental permission seems to me an effort to discourage that club."
ACLU lawyer Rebecca Steele said the law prohibits schools from restricting clubs on the basis of the speech at meetings.
"If they require parental consent for this club, they'll have to for all clubs," she said.
......Parents opposed to the Gay-Straight Alliance wanted it to meet without official school sponsorship, outside of school hours and off school grounds - which, according to school rules, would mean it would not be a club at all.
Otherwise, Davis said, the club should become a "tolerance" club without a specific focus on sexual orientation.
"If you're going to teach tolerance, teach tolerance about being nice to everybody," she said.
Davis said that one of her sons has suffered discrimination throughout his life because he has a cleft palate.
"It's ridiculous to sit around and complain about being picked on because of sexual preference when you have kids like (my son) who are picked on for no reason," Davis said.
She said that Anderson's decision to require parental permission was not enough.
"That doesn't mean a thing to me," she said. "You have parents that aren't making such real great decisions ... I do not think the club has a place in the school system at all."
Vulnerable students would be drawn to the Gay-Straight Alliance, which she said the gay community was trying to place in the school.
I wonder if Davis and her ilk have any problems with these Newsome clubs?
Remember: Jesus hates fags, but thinks that football players in their tight little pants are really cool. Playing with guns is fine, but don't ever touch your best friend's little rifle, cause you'll burn in hell or end up like this poor boy.
Dear AbstinenceOnly,
I never thought something like this would happen to me.
A bunch of us from our church group got bored one day and started masturbating each other through our clothes in the rectory. Guys were rubbing girls who were rubbing guys in a great big daisy-chain of abstinence I'll remember for as long as I'll live.
Anyway, I was nestled between the legs of this girl I'd been watching in Bible study, while somebody else was rubbing away at my crotch. There was another girl laying across my chest and I had this great view of her breasts. Suddenly I felt this surge of energy, like a great white light. The Holy Spirit had entered me and immediately exited into my pants.
But then the girl who's breasts I'd been lusting after got up and I discovered that I'd just been masturbated through my jeans by my cousin Karl.
Does this mean I'm gay? Is it gay if you don't know it's a guy? To make matters worse, my dog has started humping my leg a lot, and I think I'm enjoying it. What does that mean?
Tough love
Remember the Dollars?
A couple charged with torturing five of their eight adopted children accepted a plea deal Wednesday and were sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 years of probation, to be served consecutively.
John Dollar, 59, and his wife, Linda, 52, were accused of using a cattle prod, mallet, pliers, chains and other items to abuse their children over a period of years. Authorities say the Dollars also deprived the children, ages 16 and younger when the couple were arrested, of food and sleep, bound them with chains and forced them to live in a closet.
But they were simply being loving Christian parents.
A Citrus County couple accused of torturing and starving five children agreed Wednesday to 15-year prison sentences, then said the crimes occurred because they took their religious beliefs too far.
"We are sorry that the children are hurt," John Dollar said. "We are firm believers in the God almighty ... because of those principles we were led to do certain things."
Those "things," prosecutors say, included pulling out the children's toenails with pliers, starving them and shocking them with a cattle prod.
......Disturbing details of the Dollars' life soon surfaced.
The family had operated a private Christian school in Tennessee, but many of the students rarely saw the Dollar children.
When the family moved to the Tampa Bay area, they changed homes frequently. Between 1990 and 2004, the Dollars bought and sold a half-dozen homes in Hillsborough County, from Plant City to Riverview to Valrico.
A closet door at one of their Hillsborough homes had a lock installed on its outside, as if it were meant to keep someone inside, not out.
A bag of what appeared to be toenails was found in the family's motorhome.
......Seven of the Dollars' eight adopted children lived with the couple in Pine Ridge, a central Citrus development.
Prosecutors say five of the seven were abused. The oldest Dollar child, Shanda Rae Shelton, 26, moved out of the home a couple of years ago. She is now married and has a child of her own.
About a dozen people sat in the courtroom gallery, including Citrus Sheriff Jeff Dawsy and the lead investigator, Detective Lisa Wall. Both approved of the plea deal, prosecutors said.
The children were not there. According to prosecutors, some of the children are staying in foster homes and others are living in a residential treatment program outside of the county.
Shelton didn't attend the hearing, either. No one came in support of the couple.
Florida’s schools are unconstitutionally poor
Gee, Jeb!'s education plans are really paying off. College admissions for black students are down, and Florida's public schools continue to rank among the worst in the country. Why does Jeb! Hate the Florida Constitution?
Florida is failing to meet a constitutional requirement to provide its children with "high quality" education, and the proof can be found in its poor rankings on graduation rates, teacher pay and per-pupil spending, a bipartisan commission said Tuesday.
The Constitutional Accountability Commission was created by the Florida School Boards Association to take a look at a 1998 amendment to the state Constitution that established the unique standard for public schools.
Former Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, and former Comptroller Bob Milligan, a Republican, chaired the commission and were on hand Tuesday to suggest that more money be spent on schools. They also urged creation of a system that compares Florida's performance to other states.
......The response from Gov. Jeb Bush's office: "Florida's education system is on the right track," said Bush spokesman Russell Schweiss. "Under the governor, funding for public schools has increased by $6.1-billion and Florida students are reading and performing math at higher levels than ever before."
Bush has made the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test the centerpiece of his education agenda, but the FCAT does not measure Florida's achievement against other states. By other measures, Florida continues to rank in the lowest quartile of states on seven of 10 key performance indicators and in the lower half on three out of four funding factors, the commission concluded after a 14-month study.
"We applaud the efforts in Florida, but when you compare against yourself it doesn't tell you much," Milligan said.
Among other comparisons:
Florida ranks 48th on per-pupil spending, ahead of only Nevada and Mississippi, according to the latest analysis by Education Week magazine.
--It ranks 30th on teacher pay, at $40,604, more than $5,000 behind Georgia, $6,000 behind the national average and $17,000 behind the leader, California, according to the National Education Association.
--It ranks 48th on graduation rates, according to the most recent figures from the National Center for Education Statistics.
......The rankings don't matter, said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, chair of the House Education Council.
"I want to do well, but I'm rejecting this whole idea of rankings as validating where we want to be," he said. "We don't need to have a beauty contest."
Florida is the only state in the nation where voters have approved a constitutional amendment that requires a "high quality system of free public schools," and makes education "a fundamental value of the state," the commission noted.
Thin skinned Rep. Dennis Baxley has been in the news lately as a pro-feeding tube, anti-family GOP thug. He's also been acting as a water boy for David Horowitz's dishonest drive to fix liberal bias in the nation's colleges.
Like Horowitz, Baxley is short on actual facts and big on unverifiable anecdotes that he says prove that conservatives face 4 years of bias and ridicule simply for matriculating at a state university.
A few weeks ago, some Baxley claims were shown to be, uh, just a little exaggerated. Actually, the professor who was mentioned came out and called the allegations against him nonsense...
Oh, and if education is a fundamental value, then why aren't state colleges free to state students? Just wondering.
Why no one should ever pay to enter the taxpayer financed Glazer Welfare Stadium – Reason number 132:
The civil liberties of 65,000 Tampa area residents will be violated Sunday.
Because we don't want to be the only ones not violating people's rights. Oh, and “it's only a matter of time” before the fear monger's wet dream – an attack against a stadium full of middle class white people – occurs.
For the first time Sunday, the 65,000 fans expected to pour into Raymond James Stadium for the Buccaneers' home opener will have to undergo pat-down searches for bombs.
Approved on Tuesday by the Tampa Sports Authority, the security measure will affect everyone entering the stadium, including players, and officials say it will be quick and painless.
......The NFL's goal is to stop "large improvised explosives" from entering the stadium.
"The intelligence community tells us it's only a matter of time before it happens in this country," said Milton Ahlerich, NFL vice president of security.
......Board members wrestled with the question of what to do if illegal drugs are found on fans during pat downs. Like weapons, drugs would be confiscated, stadium operations director Mickey Farrell said.
But no arrests could be made, sports authority attorney John Van Voris said, because the evidence collected would not have been legally obtained.
......Although the fight over the check has just begun, nearly all sports authority board members voted to implement the pat-down policy before the Buffalo Bills came to town Sunday. They said they didn't want to face criticism for being the lone NFL holdout city or - worse - watch a terrorist attack without a policy in place.
But questions remain about its legality. Becky Steele, regional director for the ACLU and a Buccaneers season ticket holder, opposed the pat-downs and cited cases in which judges have ruled "blanket searches" to be illegal.
She mentioned as an example the 1998 "Zen fest" concert in Pasco County, where the Sheriff's Office illegally searched at least 10,000 attendees.
Searches may be legal if people allow them through "implied consent," sports authority attorney Van Voris said. But the Buccaneers didn't forewarn season ticket holders that searches loomed before they bought tickets.
As part of the motion to approve pat-downs, the sports authority called upon the Bucs to give season-ticket holders a grace period during which they could get refunds if they objected to to the pat downs.
As a policy, the Bucs don't offer refunds, and as of Wednesday they had no plans to change that.
"We will not," security director Trescastro said.
Unless the team, which collects all ticket, concessions and parking revenue, changes its mind, Van Voris said, the authority, as well as the Buccaneers, could face a lawsuit by fans who claim the policy violates their constitutional rights..
A letter to Doris
Dear Mr. Doris:
Having read the recent St. Pete Times article about your quest to quash the nascent Homo Haven at Newsome High School, I was moved to write these words of encouragement.
First of all, I agree with your central thesis that it is truly shocking that high school kids might want to talk about sexual issues. Sexual urges, curiosities, and abnormalities are highly personal issues that should never be mentioned, much less acted upon. Sodomy is for suckers, and non-procreative coupling should only be practiced by experienced professionals.
Secondly, I am incredulous that the students who are proposing this so called support group have been allowed to remain in school. I hereby call for the immediate dismissal of these unnaturally urged rabble rousers. If they want to practice their aberrant alternative lifestyles, let them do so in an alternate county!
Finally, I wholeheartedly endorse your assertion that there is no tolerance issue around here. Deviants will not be tolerated, and troublemakers will be dealt with. Period!
Thank you for standing strong and tall and manly against the rising tides of tolerance and understanding in our society.
Sincerely,
Norwood
Trib to employers: Stand firm against equitable pay
Bemoaning the low Florida unemployment rate, the proudly conservative Tampa Tribune offers some unsolicited advice to those poor business owners who just can't seem to find anyone to fill their underpaid, overworked, benefit-free positions. Not surprisingly, neither fair wages nor finding someplace other than the newspaper's classified section in which to advertise are mentioned as possible strategies.
It's been four weeks since Mark Williams, manager of Dan's Fan City on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, taped up a sign in his window and started advertising in the newspaper for an assistant manager.
He can count the number of applicants he's seen on one hand. And none of them was qualified for the job.
"It used to be that you knew when the newspaper ad hit -- you'd get a flood," Williams said. "You become more aware that it's an employee's market right now, not an employer's market."
Gary Bingham, manager of Allen Sports Center in Tampa, taped up a help wanted sign last week. He said he had seen few applicants -- and the folks applying for jobs seem to have unrealistic expectations about pay and hours.
"I don't understand it," he said. "I've worked here 18 years."
Yeah, it's suddenly like people around here expect to be able to pay rent and other living expenses with only one full time job. How unrealistic. Don't these silly applicants know that higher wages hurt us all? Why do these job seekers hate America?
Bob Rohrlack, senior vice president for business development at Enterprise Florida, said a protracted tight labor market could cause problems for the entire state, especially if small businesses have a difficult time finding workers.
Collectively, small businesses are major employers, account for three-fourths of all new jobs and diversify the state's business environment, he said.
"It can hurt the entire economy," Rohrlack said. "It's important that we're focused on what's happening here."
Scott Brown, chief economist for St. Petersburg-based Raymond James & Associates, said he's not worried about the tight labor market -- at least not yet.
Brown said a tight labor market might force employers to raise wages, which can contribute to higher prices and inflation for consumers.
That isn't happening yet, he said.
"I don't think we're seeing labor costs pressure as being too excessive," he said.
No, labor costs aren't too excessive, but those stupid employees keep hurting themselves and dying on the job and no one seems willing to replace them.
Florida is among the nation's leaders in job growth, according to state officials. Statewide unemployment dipped to 3.8 percent in July, well below the national jobless rate of 5 percent.
Indeed, many economists say the state's job market is at or near full employment, the point where everyone who wants a job has one. Although there's a long-standing debate whether full employment occurs when the jobless rate hits 3 percent or 4 percent, the consensus is that jobs are as plentiful as they've ever been here.
Still, critics say, Florida's sheer quantity of jobs can't disguise the lack of quality positions. Pay and benefits remain below national norms, and the Sunshine State continues to be one of the nation's most dangerous places for workers.
In his "State of Working Florida" report released today, Bruce Nissen, director of research at Florida International University's Center for Labor Research and Studies, points to some unflattering statistics: Wages are below the national average. Florida ranks 47th among all states in percentage of residents with health coverage and 49th in private-sector pension coverage.
And last month, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said Florida trailed only California in the total number of workers who died on the job in 2004.
"It's easy to find a job, and that's good," Nissen said. "But we've got a structure in our state that skews us toward low-paying jobs."
The structure is called right-to-work.
It’s really a ‘right to work for less’
It’s no coincidence that some employer groups, Big Business and ultraconservative lawmakers back "right to work"laws because such laws weaken unions and in turn depress wages. Studies show that workers in "right to Work" states earn significantly less, while workers in non-"right to work" states earn significantly more. A primary reason is that workers with a union contract earn higher pay"weakening unions lowers average pay. Workers of color and women workers who are union members make significantly higher wages.
The average worker in a "right to work" state earns about $5,333 less a year than workers in other states. (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001)
Hispanic union members earn 45 percent ($180) more a week than nonunion Hispanic workers. (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2002 )
African Americans earn 30 percent ($140) more a week if they are union members. (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2002)
Union women earn 30 percent more ($149) a week than nonunion women. (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 2002)
…"Right to work" laws reach far beyond wages. Quality-of-life issues such as health care, education, worker safety and poverty suffer greatly in "right to work" states.
In "right to work" states 21 percent more people are without health insurance compared with those in free-bargaining states. (source: State Rankings 2000, A Statistical View of the 50 United States, Morgan Quinto Press)
"Right to work" states spend $1,699 less per elementary and secondary pupil than other states. (source: Education Vital Signs, 2000"2001 school year)
The infant mortality rate in "right to work" states is 17 percent higher than in other states, and the poverty rate is 12.5 percent compared with 10.2 percent in other states. (source: State Rankings 2000, A Statistical View of the 50 United States, Morgan Quinto Press; U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 2002)
The rate of workplace death is 51 percent higher in "right to work" states. (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001; AFL-CIO, "Death on the Job," April 2002)
But I digress. Here's the Tribune's helpful advice to businesses who are unwilling to bow to the rules of supply and demand: cheat with part timers and college students.
• Be creative and flexible with job openings: It might be suitable to hire two part-time workers to fill a full-time opening
• Consider college students for part-time positions.
See, college students are young and naive enough to accept low pay. And part time positions traditionally have even fewer benefits than low paying full time jobs, so follow the Wal-Mart philosophy and make more and more positions “part time”.
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More:
Pamphlets in the Fight Against Taft-Hartley 1947-1948
How to Organize a Union in Your Workplace
'Right to Work' States Are Really Restricted Rights States (AFL-CIO)