Author: opinionstogo

County Vote Is Grounds For Concern

When it comes to the environment, Florida has earned its reputation for preferring pavement over paradise. Faustian deals for strip centers, malls, condo corridors, cul-de-sac enclaves and exigent infrastructure are legion.

But increasingly so are growth compacts that bring necessary economic development – from jobs to affordable housing to a broadened tax base. Not unlike nature itself, smart growth is not a zero-sum game, but a balancing act.

Which brings us to the recent action by Hillsborough County Commissioners. Sitting as the Environmental Protection Commission, the commission voted to eliminate local control over wetlands protection by disbanding the 22-year-old wetlands management division of the county EPC. Without public discussion. From a script for smart, enlightened self-interest growth to a scenario that smarts.

First of all, the EPC is chaired by riparian renegade Brian Blair. That’s like having Rosie O’Donnell emcee the Miss America Pageant.

The procedurally maladroit, fact-challenged Blair has had the wetlands management division in his budget cross hairs for a while. He characterizes it as an unnecessary expense and a redundant hurdle for developers – given that there are federal and state regulations.

That it protects wetlands of a half-acre or less, which the state doesn’t, is of no ecological relevance to one who thinks mitigation projects are nature’s equal. In effect, if you’ve seen one marshland, you’ve seen them all.

That the net savings would be less than $800,000 on a county budget of $3.8 billion is immaterial. In fact, additional cost cuts should result from EPC Executive Director Rick Garrity’s proposed “one-stop” permitting process.

Moreover, the proposed budget cuts of County Administrator Pat Bean didn’t even reference wetlands regulation at all. Obviously she recognizes the difference between a wildlife-friendly investment in flood and erosion prevention and county commission sophistry at its counterproductive worst.

Hillsborough County, however, still must hold another hearing before the county’s commitment to wetlands is officially watered down. That means a turnout that isn’t comprised largely of the narrowly self-interested is paramount.

Tampa’s Demographic Challenge

Forbes’ annual ranking of 40 major metro areas in their attractiveness to young professionals was not kind to Tampa. The Big Guava finished 40th. There were several factors, but none bigger than demographics. It’s skewed older. When it comes to the 20-35 crowd, Tampa still can’t touch the competition.

So, what do you say if you’re Deanne Roberts, one of the founders of the young professionals-oriented Creative TampaBay and a former chairwoman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce?

“We are ground zero for boomer retirement,” points out Roberts, the president of Ybor City-based Roberts Communications. “And I’ve got all these young professionals saying they don’t like that. We don’t want this community to be that. What can we do?

“Well, we can get over that old-versus-young stereotype,” underscores Roberts. “Many of the things that older demographic wants are the same things that young professionals want. Affordable housing, mass transit and interesting leisure activities – from museums to the performing arts to restaurants.”

Roberts points out that the boomer generation is a new breed of retiree: much more affluent and involved than predecessors. And that includes business opportunities.

“Frankly, we want to capitalize on it – not bemoan it,” says Roberts. “We’ve been talking to the arts people. It’s important for our cultural institutions to tap into this. Think about re-tooling our programs and volunteer base. If our cultural institutions are healthier, then all the benefits also accrue to young people.

“If we’re ground zero for a new type of retiree,” emphasizes Roberts, “then we represent new business opportunities that young professionals can take advantage of. Any young professional with any entrepreneurial ability at all, what an opportunity this is – right in their backyard.”

Leaders Attuned To Tampa

Ray Chiaramonte is the assistant executive director of the Hillsborough Planning Commission, and Judy Lisi is the president/CEO of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. However disparate, their duties entail being attuned to the demands and wishes of residents and constituents.

They also have something else in common that mainly insiders only know. They both can carry a tune and even hold their own with those for whom singing is a day job.

At April’s inauguration of the mayor and city council, Lisi was called on to sing the National Anthem. At last month’s Tampa Downtown Partnership luncheon, Chiaramonte did likewise.

Not only are Chiaramonte and Lisi major Bay Area players, but each is also a star spangled regional resource.

Rays’ Pricey Pick

By all accounts, the pitching-challenged Tampa Bay Devil Rays helped themselves in the recent Major League Baseball draft by choosing Vanderbilt pitcher David Price as the number one, overall pick. The Rays still are hoping to sign him soon. In fact, they already have a working relationship with his agent, Nashville-based Bo McKinnis.

Only problem is that relationship dates to McKinnis’ representation of number-one draft pick Dewon Brazelton in 2001. The same Brazelton who frustrated the Rays by holding out until late summer after bad-mouthing their multi-million-dollar offer as “chump change.”

Too bad that wasn’t the case. It’s all he was worth. He stunk.

Ultimate Tax-Decision Day Approaches For Florida

Wherever there are taxes, there are inequities.

It is the nature of targets and exemptions and a consensus of necessary societal services. It’s what we call “tax policy.” Not all oxen are gored, and not all gored oxen are gored equally. And at some point the law of unintended consequences will inevitably kick in.

The brouhaha over property taxes has been a classic example.

Amendment 10 to the Florida Constitution — aka the “Save Our Homes” Amendment — was passed (by 53.6 percent) in 1992 to keep residents from being taxed out of their homes. It was enacted in 1995.

Its 3 percent-cap legacy has become all too familiar. Most notably, the disparities in the assessed values of identically valued homes can be dramatic. In effect, property-tax payments have shifted from homestead properties that have not been sold in recent years to those that have – as well as to non-homestead properties such as businesses, rental units and second homes. And then add a macro scenario: An uneasy and unpredictable impact on the health of the state economy.

A dozen years, a populist governor and legions of mad-as-hell property owners later, we have a formal reaction from the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature. There’s the rollback-and-cap bill that will punish local governments. And in January, Floridians will vote on the super homestead exemption. Part of the homestead-homeowner calculus will be figuring whether to exercise the option of keeping the “Save Our Homes” cap or not. It will help some; it’s a wash for others. It’s a shell game for everybody.

Ultimately, new home buyers, landlords, commercial property owners and snow birds will continue to wonder what all the ballyhoo is about when they’re still the fall guys in an inequitable property-tax mess.

Which brings us to this: How much longer will we pretend that the find-ways-to- placate-enough-property-owners gambit qualifies as reasonable, adult tax policy?

How much longer do we continue to ignore the 800-pound gorilla of tax pragmatism still lounging in the lanai? And we’re not even talking, although we should be, about a minimal state income tax, the least regressive alternative of all.

We’re talking about the multi-billion-dollar laundry list of sales-tax exemptions, a sizable chunk of which is not for food, prescription drugs, health services and solar-energy investments.

And even though it likely cost Gov. Bob Martinez re-election in 1990, we’re also talking, although not so blasphemously in 2007, about taxing services: from legal to advertising to tax preparation. At some point, a service-economy has to tax itself. Especially, when we’ve reached the point where, courtesy of Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, we were actually considering hiking the 6 percent state sales tax a startling, uber-regressive 42 percent.

And as Florida Tax Watch has noted, this state could reduce property taxes by at least $2 billion annually if Florida collected sales taxes owed on Internet purchases. Florida isn’t even talking to a coalition of states that are trying to arrange practicable, reciprocal relationships.

No, there is no perfect tax. Just perfectly unacceptable reasons not to give meaningful property-tax relief across the board – and to at least limit the inequities.

Alas, It’s Miller Time

Remember the speculation at play at the prospect of Joe Redner defeating Gwen Miller in their City Council run-off? They ranged from “what-the-hell, shake-up-the-establishment” scenarios to ultimate distraction to progressively green, smart growth advocacy.

But could anyone have imagined an assertive Gwen Miller? Talk about worst-case scenario. It transcends a major-market hub city merely having an inarticulate, issues-challenged chairperson presiding over its city council.

It’s apparent in the council’s new dynamic. Not all of Miller’s peers were supportive of her last candidacy, and Miller has neither forgotten nor forgiven. It manifested itself right away in skewed committee assignments and continues in a less-than-subtle, dismissive attitude. As if colleagues were obligated to show fealty to an embarrassment in their midst.

As to voters who weren’t supportive, well, they now have another reason to remain that way. With all the talk about budget-cutting – and Miller’s expressed reluctance to go along with the mayor’s request to slash council spending – she found a dubious priority. She ordered two flat-screen televisions — worth more than $1,000 — for her office and the city council receptionist.

It took Darrell Smith, Mayor Pam Iorio’s chief of staff, to save her from herself by talking her out of it – and suggesting that monitoring council meetings on a computer just might suffice during demanding fiscal times.

Miller, it would appear, should have been content with what her politically correct, euphemistic legacy had been prior to her recent re-election: “quiet” and “easy to lobby.”

Tampa And Orlando’s Vital Signs

In case you missed it, the I-4 corridor cities of Tampa and Orlando fared very well among the 379 U.S. metro areas rated by Moody’s Economy.com for their overall economic vitality. Tampa was 15th and Orlando 7th.

The bottom line seems obvious. Tampa’s growth in jobs and business in the professional services sector and a Bay Area unemployment rate of 3.3 percent more than offset turmoil in the real estate sector. For Orlando, it meant that an alarming murder rate doesn’t hurt as much as it should.

Fortifying Tampa

First the good news.

By all accounts, the sale and ultimate reincarnation of the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in West Tampa is proceeding, although hardly apace. It’s the nature of government property and attendant bureaucratic hoops. But it looks like the Heritage Square at the Armory group is on target to develop a project that would include a hotel, day spa, cafes, restaurants, boutiques and more.

The bad news is that this is the first choice for redevelopment. The back-up project is that of the Armory Partners Group of Tampa, who would build a video, film and sound studio and develop creative arts businesses. It would also include retail, a grocery store and apartments.

Tampa, ever mindful of the need to continually diversify its economy, is on the cinematic cusp of developing a more reliable and viable film industry. Lack of a studio complex, however, has long been a major governor on progress. The 522 N. Howard Ave. Armory property is centrally located and, at 10 acres, more than big enough to accommodate such a complex, as well as synergistic, arts-related businesses.

And in a quintessential working class neighborhood, a grocery store and affordable housing makes much more sense than a hotel, day spa and boutiques.