Mary Mulhern Thank You Party

Tampa City Council member Mary Mulhern will hold a thank you party for her supporters.

Friends - Rochelle A. Reback, Jane Gibbons, Gary Gibbons, Yvonne Yolie Capin - are hosting a Thank You Party for me at the end of my 8 years on Tampa City Council. It is as much an opportunity for me to thank YOU for your support! Hope you can make it. No contribution and NO GIFTS.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 18

5:00pm - 7:00pm

WHERE: Gaspars Grotto

1805 E 7th Ave, Tampa, Florida 33605

The Most Important Legislation Ever

Yolie Capin is running for a second term on the Tampa City Council. I find it amusing that she is bragging about this piece of groundbreaking legislation on her campaign website.

The committee I initiated The Economic Impact of Cultural Assets was behind making the “Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich” the signature sandwich of the City of Tampa. City Council members supported the designation as another way to celebrate and promote Tampa's heritage by leveraging our cultural asset. Resolution passed.

I don't have a problem with Capin. However, bragging about legislation for a sandwich is rather silly.

Quote of the Day

"If anyone knows about grandstanding, it’s him with his 6-foot yardstick."

Frank Reddick, Tampa City Councilman

Mayor Bob Buckhorn accused members of the Tampa City Council of "grandstanding" on the red light camera program. There has been consesus to kill the program. Buckhorn and the City Council have disagreed on how revenue from tickets acquired from the program should be spent.

Reddick 's comment referred to Buckhorn's support for a six foot limit law between patrons and dancers in strip clubs. Buckhorn attempted to outlaw lap dances when he was on the Tampa City Council. Strip club owner Joe Redner vowed to take every arrest of his dancers to trial. The City of Tampa hasn't enforced the law in years.

Reddick's quote perfectly called out Buckhorn for grandstanding.

City of Tampa May Make Unauthorized Peeking Cameras Legal

I can't believe the Tampa City Council is even debating whether or not surveillance cameras can peek into homes without a warrant.

Today Tampa City Council approved changes to an ordinance reinforcing that would make it a crime for Tampa Police to use surveillance cameras purchased for the Republican convention for unauthorized peeping on residents inside their homes. But they put off a decision about whether the cameras will be a permanent part of the city’s landscape. There’s been ongoing friction between council and the mayor’s administration about who has the authority to authorize deployment of the cameras. To help clear that up council scheduled a workshop for next August suggested by member Harry Cohen.

The correct answer should be no one should have the authority for "unauthorized peeking." Perhaps Mayor Bob Buckhorn and the Tampa City Council need a refresher course on the Fourth Amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Tampa Police chief Jane Castor says that the cameras will not be used to peek into homes. We were goiven assurances that the Patriot Act was temporary and would only be used against terrorists. We have seen warrantless wiretapping on law-abidding American citizens since the Patriot Act became law.

I was in downtown Tampa during the Republican National Convention. The excessive security kept Tampa residents away from downtown. Out of town Republicans went to Ybor City to spend their money. Downtown Tampa is already a mess. Intrusive surveillance cameras will only make downtown Tampa less friendly to visitors.

Update: Mitch Perry reports that the decision to have the surveillance cameras is strictly up to Mayor Bob Buckhorn. He has already decided to keep the cameras. It appears that the ACLU is going to have the City of Tampa to court.

Domestic Partnership Registry

Good news on the LGBT rights front. The Tampa City Council passed a domestic partnership registry. The new registry will cover both gay and straight couples.

The first reading last month drew a large crowd of supporters and no opponents. The second reading brought out fewer people, but supporters gave a standing O when they passed the measure 7-0.

This is a nice time to rub salt into the wounds of David Caton and Terry Kemple. These two religious extremists have bashed gay people for years. It seems that they couldn't muster up a grassroot effort to stop the domestic partnership registry from becoming law. Caton and Kemple have no supporters. They are only good at gaining media attention.

City of Tampa May Soon Have Domestic Gay Rights

The Tampa City Council voted to have its legal department formulate a domestic partner registry ordinance. This doesn't mean domestic partnership marriages. What does mean is legal language will be crafted. Creative Loafing's Mitch Perry cites the Orlando domestic ordinance. The fact is the City of Tampa ordinance has not been written yet.

In Perry's defense, Council member Yolie Capin cited was inspired by the Orlando domestic ordinance.

The proposal was brought forth by Council member Yolie Capin, who told CL after the meeting that she had been thinking of bringing the issue up for awhile, but was inspired to do so after the city of Orlando passed an ordinance in December and enacted it last month.

The Tampa City Council still has to vote for the final ordinance.

Nadine Smith with Equality Florida says the city of Tampa is doing the right thing. "Domestic partnership policies provide a handful of vital protections that are critical for couples at the most vulnerable times in their life, " she wrote CL in an email. "In taking this step, Tampa will join communities across the state who recognize that people need the legal rights necessary to take care of their loved ones."

Meet and Greet With Tampa City Council Candidates

The Hillsborough Young Democrats will hold a meet and greet at the Streetcar Charlie’s Bar & Grill with Tampa City Council candidates. The meet and greet is open to the public.

Where: Streetcar Charlie’s Bar & Grill

When: Thursday, January, 27
7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m

Tampa City Council Allows Street Soliciting to Continue

You know the economy is bad when the Tampa City Council refused to vote for a ban on street-medium soliciting. Councilman Tom Scott had the best response to people who wanted the ban.

"We have a 13 percent unemployment rate in Hillsborough County," said Chairman Tom Scott. "Everybody who has an income, you ought to thank God every day for that. You never know where life is going to take you."

St. Petersburg made it illegal for panhandlers and newspaper sellers to stand on the medium and solicit. St. Petersburg has been known for Draconian policies toward the homeless; including the destruction of homeless people's tents. St. Petersburg's law as pushed some people to the city of Tampa.

Local law enforcement and community leaders claim there has been an increase in accidents because of solicitors on the medium. They failed to support the claim with facts at the City Council meeting.

But council members were more moved by stories of people trying to scrape by.

"I have a right to earn a living," said Sonia Long. She said she has a college degree and never expected she would support her children by selling newspapers on an east Tampa street corner.

"I challenge you to show me how many accidents are because of us," she said, noting that a recent uptick in bicycling deaths wasn't caused by street vendors.

Darren Driscoll, an independent contractor for the St. Petersburg Times, said he employs 180 people in Hillsborough County every Sunday. In five years, he said, none of his workers has been involved in an accident.

"I feel we're part of the solution with today's economy," he said.

Kay Andrews, publisher of the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin, said people sell newspapers on the street to put food on their tables.

"It has supplemented many incomes," she said. "It's unfortunate that a lot of our elderly people and our young people have to do this, but they do it. They do it with integrity and honesty."

Alex Pickett wrote about how many homeless people make an honest living by selling newspapers. The City Council made the right decision by not destroying these people's livelihood. Too bad the same thing can't be said about St. Petersburg.

Is Light Rail Going to TIA?

The Tampa International Airport has been resistant to a light rail line going to the airport. TIA officials said they don't have the space; which very well be true. What is interesting is recent developments have caused TIA to reconsider a light rail line going into the airport. Tampa City Council members Mary Mulhern and Joe Caetano have expressed a desire to have a light rail stop at the airport. David Armijo, executive director of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority, said he has had requests to extend the line to the airport.

"Adding the segment into the airport will require more environmental and engineering work and will add more time," he said. "However, it would appear that, subject to the review process, that is the No. 1 request from the stakeholders and the public. … HART is now working on estimating the cost to add this to the project review."

I wonder why the change of heart from TIA. Obviously, members of the Tampa City Council and Hartline are big supporters of light rail. Mayor Pam Iorio and Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe have been pushing for light rail for years. I'm wondering about the politics, but it seems some people did some very delicate behind-the-scenes arm-twisting to TIA. Personally, a think a light rail line to TIA makes sense.

In related news: the U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report saying the Orlando to Tampa rail line would add $3 billion to the Central Florida economy each year. I haven't read the report so I won't comment on the numbers. I will add is I-4 is a traffic nightmare. Anything to help aleviate the gridlock is a good thing.

Light rail won't be the only answer. Eventually, the economy will rebound and people will start moving back to Central Florida. That means the need for more roads, schools, and other infrastructure. The Florida tax base can't fund schools during good economic times. Gridlock is going to get worse in future years. The Florida government needs to talk about infrastructure and gridlock asap.

Tampa City Council Passes Transgender Protection Ordinance

Great news: the Tampa City Council passed civil rights protections for transgender people 5 to 1. Councilman Charlie Miranda was the lone dissenting vote.

The new rule prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on "gender identity and expression," with that defined as someone who has an "inner sense of being a specific gender" regardless of their "assigned sex at birth."

Miranda said he voted no because he was afraid transgender people would create a disruption in the workplace. This attitude lead to the firing of Largo City city manager Susan Stanton. Largo garnered negative national publicity from Stanton's termination.

A big surprise was Councilman Tom Scott voting for the ordinance. Scott is a pastor at the socially conservative 34th Street Church of God. During his tenure on the Hillsborough County Commission, Scott voted for the ban of gay pride displays in county public libraries. Scott stated LGBT issues are not related to civil rights. Scott voting for the transgender ordinance is surprising.

"I did not sleep well last night. I spent most of my time as a Christian praying and seeking wisdom and direction on this particular ordinance," he said.

Scott said he wasn't intimidated by people who threatened not to vote for him if he supported the ordinance.

"The only vote I care about is God's vote," he said, noting that as a county commissioner he cast votes against gay issues.

Equality Florida is asking supporters to thank the Council for passing this ordinance. I am asking you to thank Terry Kemple for once again failing to achieve his silly Christian conservative agenda. Kemple attempted to stop Kevin Beckner from getting elected and a Valrico bikini bar from opening. Kemple failed on both counts. The L.A. Clippers have a better winning streak than Kemple. Send Kemple a message on Facebook and thank him for his lack of accomplishments.

The Chutzpah of Pam Iorio

Everyone with a basic knowledge of the legislative process understands all budgets contain financial line items of financial statements. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio submitted a budget to the Tampa City Council with no line items. The City Council knew Iorio wanted to spend $754 million for city needs. The City Council had no idea what those needs were. This is where things take a turn for the hysterical. Iorio's office said they did not put the line items in the budget because they wanted to save money on paper. The City Council wasn't buying that nonsense.

"It doesn't serve any public purpose for us not to have transparency," council member Mary Mulhern said at a budget workshop on Thursday. "The devil's in the details. We need to see the details."

The bogus green claim claimed. Finance director Bonnie Wise got more blunt and said the law doesn't require budgets with line items.

"I was kind of taken aback," Scott said.

Chief of Staff Darrell Smith said they were just trying to save costs. This has to be the worst spin I have heard. Iorio didn't want the City Council to pick her budget apart. Mulhern says at much.

"They don't want anyone to question their appropriations," Mulhern said after the meeting, although she declined to speculate on why that might be. "The fact they didn't want us to see it makes me suspicious."

It is bad when a Democrat is making such a statement about a Democratic Mayor. This takes amazing Chutzpah for a Mayor to submit a budget without financial statements and claim it is a cost-cutting move. Wow.

Candidate Forum With Frank Margarella

Tampa Gold has a Q and A forum with City Council district 7 candidate Frank Margarella. Joseph Caetano was suppose to attend the event, but did not inform moderator and Tampa Gold webmaster Bill Sharpe he was not going to attend. Sharpe called minutes before the start of the event. Caetano told Sharpe he wasn't feeling well.

This is the second candidate forum Tampa Gold has hosted. I sent out several feelers about Bill Sharpe. Even a longtime Tampa Democratic activist who worked on a Senate campaign. He has no idea who Bill Sharpe is and how he is getting the pull to host candidate forums.

The forum itself is a lot of policy wonkery for the new Tampa district. It is fun to see Jim Johnson to restrain himself long enough not to scream "Newt Gingrich in 2008!" The medication is working.

Terry Neal brings up that districts poorer than Tampa can't afford taxing districts" to pay for growth. Margarella mentions affordable housing. That is aal good. How is that going to deal with growth?

Voter apathy is mentioned. This forum isn't going to cure it. Man, this is some boring shit. I'm making myself watching it.

Terry Neal has an interesting history with City Council.

Neal brings up checks and balances. I don't know how he expects to bring a judicial into the mix. Margarella says the charter should be looked into.

Jim asks about limited growth from Save Our Homes. Margarella says we should urge caution before we increase fees and parking tickets. Margarella thinks "fine tuning" should take care of everything. I believe it when I see it.

Neal asks about green space. Margarella says green space is essential. He says developers should be required to make more green space.

MUST. STAY. AWAKE.

David Brickhouse asks about transportation. Margarella is droning on and not saying anything. He mentions hospitals. Can we get back on transportation?

Jim asks about the community investment tax. Personally, I hated it. It's better known as the stadium tax. Margarella mentions the economic impact of Raymond James Stadium. I wrote before that sports arenas have zero economic impact.

Neal brings up taxes spent for the community and not pork. Margarella call the Florida Aquarium a financial waste. No argument from me.

What the hell did Brickhouse just asked? Margarella asked him to repeat the question. Lots of talk of synergy. Margarella talks about taking advantage of the VA and H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center and Research Institute.

We now know that Margarella likes to play golf and is a musician. That is some muckracking, Jim.

Do vacant lots create crime? They bring homeless people.

Margarilla talks about flexibility and justifying budget expenses.

Jim mentions he ran for office. Gee, how that go?

Margarilla is surprised he is given 3 more minutes to talk. The end is near.

Talking points: mass transit, long range planning, crime, awareness, looking into people's eyes.

That's all folks.

I watch this shit so you don't have to.