Mas Tequila?

BusinessWeek recently profiled rock guitarist Sammy Hagar, owner of Cabo Wabo Enterprises, the country's second-best-selling brand of premium tequila. Hagar owns three Cabo Wabo cantinas, which have hosted concerts from acts such as Iggy Pop, U2, Guns N' Roses, Van Halen, and Hagar's own Waboritas. Hagar mentions the Orlando market in the article as one of the three markets where he would like to locate additional Cabo Wabo cantinas.

Anyone want to step up to the plate?

Sunday Funny - Rules of Washington

If it's worth fighting for, it's worth fighting dirty for.
Don't lie, cheat or steal...unnecessarily.
An honest answer can get you into a lot of trouble.
The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
Chicken little only has to be right once.
"NO" is only an interim response.
You can't kill a bad idea.
If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried.
The truth is a variable.
A porcupine with his quills down in just another fat rodent.
You can agree with any concept or notional future option, in principle, but fight implementation every step of the way.
A promise is not a guarantee.
If you can't counter the argument, leave the meeting.

Can Bedroom Communities Support Themselves?

Since most of the property tax reform proposals seem to be centered on reducing or eliminating property tax on residential properties, we ask the following: How will a bedroom community support itself if most of its tax base goes away?

Conversely, if local governments can only receive property tax from commercial or high density residential (apartments) after the tax changes are made, will this cause a sudden and drastic position switch for some local governments, which will now want to encourage commercial development to drive tax revenues?

If a tree falls in the forest...

One of the apparent beauties of using a blog vs. an old printed newsletter is that if you write something in your blog, and someone else (or a group of someone elses) tells you that you've stuck your foot in it, you can just sneak back out to your blog and delete those entries. Imagine what you'd have to do in the "50's" after you handed out your hard-copy gossip rag to a bunch of people, and then tried to go back and collect all the copies. Transparency, indeed.

Whooo is lurking in the shadows now?

Election Wrap Up

The numbers are in and there are no real surprises, except for the District 49 seat if you are a Republican. Could it be that the local Republican party is losing its edge? We will have to see if their internal conflicts will carry into the 2008 election cycle.

Against the doubting-Thomases' dire predictions that the newly created District 2 seat would end up in the hands of Armando Ramirez, John Quinones has won the seat. We believe many sideline politicos owe an apology to the voters of District 2. They showed wisdom in their decision.

Smith vs. DeNike - Not really a shocking victory. Not really much of a choice for the voters either. We will just have to see if Mr. Smith can get the all powerful Umbrella Corporation off the ground in the next 4 years.

Hot Update!!!
It seems one local activist has been caught operating in the shadows recently. Secret e-mails attacking Kissimmee City Commissioners have been working their way through the Internet grapevine. Apparently when called to the mat on the shadowy attacks, the activist responded by attacking the worth of City Secretaries. We believe that this attack is completely unfounded and uncalled for especially on Secretary's Day.

This same local bloggiod publisher has also declared his intentions to run for Kissimmee City Commission in 2008. We are still working to confirm this story. Sources close to the activist say that they are not sure if this is true because of his past record of running, not running, running again, and then not running. Wayne Who will stay on the story.

Decision 2007 1/2

The results are in...

State Representative District 49 - Darren Soto
County Commission District 4 - Ken Smith
County Commission District 2 - John Quinones

Oh my... what will Armando run for now?

Revenue Ballyhoo

Until the legislative session is over and debate about the impact of property tax reform is decided, we continue to offer potential revenue generation tips for local government. Today's potential income source:
advertising on government service vehicles. Does it seem to anyone else that the sides of big service vehicles like sanitation trucks and street sweepers make good potential locations for rolling billboards? We would
guess that there are businesses in the area that would make use of advertising on trucks that drive regular routes, for instance, a sanitation truck that is in a certain neighborhood twice a week. Perhaps local governments want to consider talking to agencies that already have advertising on their vehicles (like Lynx and the Council on Aging) about what it takes to run such a program.

We also believe that sponsorship advertising in this way could help boost ratings on Access Osceola. If every week a department with these types of service vehicles were to give a report on their respective task, we could create a loyal fan base among those in the viewing audience. Just imagine, "The KUA - Center State - Makinson's Hardware Volvo was running wide open today. I really have to thank my crew for keeping the swing arm greased and flying. We hit a little trouble on Turn 1 on Dyer over there, but I was able to keep 'er out of the marbles and bring 'er home. I would just like to thank all of our sponsors for making this season possible." Now that is a meeting we would all tune in for.

Why Vote?

It is the eve of an election and the local newspapers, some elected officials, and local activists are begging for people to actually vote tomorrow. The low voter turnout of the past few elections and primaries has many people involved in government on edge.

Low voter turnout has always been blamed on the voters. Yet, when much of the "information" we receive from candidates is in the form of attacks against their opponent(s), it is difficult for the voters to make an educated decision on who to vote for. Many candidates seem to believe that it is most important to have name recognition only, and that any publicity is good publicity. This leaves many voters with only the option to vote for the lesser of two evils when they go to the polls.

We offer this: be an educated voter, and be an involved community member. Read the newspaper editorials and other items where the candidates have had an opportunity to express their ideas for our future; research those candidates who have served before to make sure that they have not made decisions in the past that you do not agree with; compare qualifications and remember that "experience" is not always the one best qualification; and ask questions based on what matters to you. At the same time, get other people in your
neighborhood/civic organizations/workplace to get out and vote as well... if the candidates know that they only have to market themselves to "super voters" because they are the only ones who come to the polls, they won't spend the time to market to the rest of our community's citizens. It is only when the majority of the voters in our community cast an educated vote that we will get the government we deserve.

Sunday Funny - Flags tell us information about our taxes

A visitor from Holland was chatting with his American friend and was jokingly explaining about the red, white and blue in the Netherlands flag. "Our flag symbolizes our taxes," he said. "We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bill, and blue after we pay them."

"That's the same with us," the American said, "only we see stars, too."

For Immediate Release

Kissimmee FL - In a second attempt to boost ratings, Access Osceola has started their own Do It Yourself show. The launch of the pilot episode is expected to be aired soon (Government was not able to confirm a date) and will be starring CRA director, Gail Hamilton, KUA's very own, Chris Gent, and the KUA Bucket Truck Gang. The filming of this episode took place last week at 804 Bryan Street. Future filming dates have yet to be determined. Sources suggest that Access Osceola is working to secure a guest appearance by native Floridian Bob Vila on a future episode.

Refreshing Redevelopment

In a time of strained budgets and frayed nerves, many ideas are being floated for ways that local government can reduce costs.

We note that the Kissimmee CRA has purchased a historic home in the Downtown area, and continues trying to raise funds in order to refurbish the home and convert it into CRA office space. The current CRA building is slated to be removed during the lakefront revitalization project.

We suggest that the city and the CRA consider moving the CRA into the offices vacated by Former State Representative John Quinones. This frees up the current CRA property to allow the lakefront plans to continue, gives the CRA access to the city's phone system, network, and other city departments, and lets the CRA redevelop the historic home to community standards as project funds allow, and then the home can be resold and remain on the tax rolls (assuming we still have a property tax by the time that happens).

If this cost saving plan is not worthy of discussion, we would also like to suggest turning those same offices into a Food Court as a revenue-generating measure. This would serve multiple purposes and would make the lives of local activists more convenient as they scour city hall for nuggets of random wisdom.

Orange Julius anyone?

And the Crickets Chirp

Local activist blogs are all a buzz and presumably at war with each other. In an attempt to silence one local activist, another local conspiracy columnist has sent a cease and desist communication requesting that all references to their site/column no longer be used in the activist’s emails or referenced from said activist’s blog. At least we think that's what the message was...we had to use our magic decoder rings to try and get to the point.

It is important that we all work together to spread the truth (fact or fiction) to help confuse the community even more than it already is. In an effort to help local activist(s) continue the fight we offer the following links that may be placed in blog entries or as part of an email signature.

Mutual UFO Network - http://www.mufon.com
Above Top Secret - http://www.abovetopsecret.com
True Conspiracies - http://www.trueconspiracies.com
Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie - http://zapatopi.net/afdb/
Democrat Conspiracy Network - http://www.foxnews.com
Republican Conspiracy Network - http://www.msnbc.com
It's All A Conspiracy Network - http://www.rosie.com
Tax Conspiracy Network - http://axthetax.org
Traffic Conspiracy - http://www.metroplanorlando.com
Voter Suppression Conspiracy - http://www.oscelections.org
Global Trading Conspiracy - http://www.walmart.com

In Remembrance - Virginia Tech Massacre

With respect to the victims of yesterday's tragic events, Wayne Who will not be posting any witty commentary today. Instead, we ask that you keep the families of those who were injured and who lost their lives in your thoughts and prayers.

Objects in Motion

Newton's first law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. The same could be said for politicians. Once a politician gets elected to office, they tend to find ways to stay in office. The proof of this theorem can easily be seen by some of the items that are on the agenda of this week’s Kissimmee City Commission meeting. It’s not that other governments don't deserve their due credit in manipulating the power structure, but Kissimmee is in the process of these discussions now, so they deserve the spotlight at this moment.

The process of elimination, or the smell test as some would call it, should be applied to this week’s items on the agenda. First we have "Listing Candidate Names by Lottery," which passes the test because in no way does it help any current commissioner hold on to their seat, or aid in keeping certain people out of the process. Second (last on the agenda actually), we have a "Charter Change on Election Dates," which also passes the smell test because it helps to increase voter participation and reduce the cost to the taxpayers of the city. Good government so far.

Now we need to look at "Eliminating Term Limits" and "Vacancy Occurring from a Suspension from Office" as smell test candidates.

Removal of Term Limits: This directly proves the “stay in office law” and fails the smell test. Removal of term limits in no way makes for better government for the citizens, but instead only enhances the opportunity of empire building by those in power.

Vacancy Occurring from a Suspension from Office: This one just seems odd all the way around. The idea is to have a full commission making decisions that best represent the citizens, not keep holding the door open for a politician that has been removed. Government does not exist to benefit those who are elected. Holding the open seat also creates a situation where opposing forces could reduce the number of votes on an issue to pass changes that may be held up by a challenging commissioner. On top of this, add the fact that government would hold the seat vacant even through an election cycle? There is that strange odor again...

The second part of the Vacancy-Suspension from office charter change has its own aroma. If the Mayor-Commissioner is the one that is removed, the Vice Mayor will ooze into the Mayor's seat until it is no longer necessary. Wow! First of all, the Vice Mayor is no more than a ceremonial title for a bogus position that is picked by (bickering) commissioners and not by the people. The voters do not elect a Vice Mayor, or the Mayor Pro-Tem and this fails the smell test in that regard.

Physics or politics, you be the judge.

We still get to vote, right?

This Tuesday, the Kissimmee City Commission begins the process of changing the City Charter with regard to election procedures. As they consider these changes, we ask that they keep this question in mind: "What compels Kissimmee to be different from other municipalities?"

Lottery for placement of names on the ballot
We feel that this is one of those "feel good" measures. Is there any statistical data that says that, in Kissimmee, the first name on the ballot gets elected more often than the second, third, fourth, and so on? That didn't seem to be the case in the last city election. And anyway, there are some people in the city that could change their name to "AAAAAIloveKissimmee" and still not have any chance of getting elected.

Term limits
Floridians statewide like term limits. A defined span of time in office should bring a sense of urgency to getting things done. And a truly beloved elected official could serve 8 years, sit out an election, and then run again. It seems to us that most city officials who have left office lately have been more likely to say "thank goodness that it's over." On the otherhand, looking at some of the recent elections, we might be running out of "good candidates."

Suspension from office
This should happen so infrequently as to never really be an issue. But it does seem that more candidates come out for an appointment process than a special election process... witness the 21 people who interviewed to be appointed acting mayor vs. the 5 who ran in the special election.

Eliminating petitions and adopting state election law
Getting 20 petitions signed isn't a big hurdle, and we all know that. But any reform of the qualification process has to begin with an across-the-board enforcement of the qualification standards. In the last city election, three candidates "opted out" of paying the qualification assessment fee simply by signing a piece of paper saying that it would be a "hardship" for their campaign (no further proof required). Interestingly, what all three had in common is that they have previously run for office or held elected office, so apparently one of the things you learn after a campaign is what "loopholes" you can exploit.

Election dates
Shifting the election dates appears to be all about saving the cost of a special runoff election. While this is a goal, we think a more important goal is to have the maximum number of people vote in the election that decides who our leaders will be. There are already too many "elections" going on in Osceola County, with St. Cloud holding spring elections, the School Board holding elections with the state primary, and Kissimmee and Osceola County holding elections with the state general election. We don't like the message in September of "hey, are you voting in the election today?" "no, it's just the primary" "well, it's the state primary, but it's the city general election". We agree with the letter submitted by Wade Davis in Saturday's Gazette, calling for St. Cloud election dates to mirror State and National dates. Let's get the maximum number of voters to vote by holding one election, in November (the traditional national election date), and the winner takes all... if seven candidates are running for one seat, and most get 10% and one gets 20%, the 20% candidate is the winner.

Sunday Funny - The Pope Visits America

The Pope just finished a tour of the East Coast and was taking a limousine to the airport. Since he'd never driven a limo, he asked the chauffeur if he could drive for a while. The reluctant chauffeur pulled over along the roadside, climbed into the back of the limo, and the Pope took the wheel. The Pope then merged onto the highway and accelerated to over 90 mph to see what the limo could do.

Suddenly, the Pope noticed the blue light of the State Patrol in his side mirror, so he pulled over. The trooper approached the limo, peered in through the windows, then said, "Just a moment please, I need to call in."

The trooper called in and explained to the chief that he had a very important person pulled over for speeding. "How do I handle this, chief?" asked the trooper. "Is it the Governor?" questioned the chief. "No! This guy is even more important!"

"Is it the President?" asked the chief.

"No! Even more important!"

"Well, who the heck is it?" screamed the chief.

"I don't know, sir," replied the trooper, "but he's got the Pope as his chauffeur."

Blogging for a Job

The Wall Street Journal recently published a piece that should be both an encouragement and a warning to blog writers. It seems that many corporate recruiters have added "blog surfing" to their bag of tools when assessing potential new hires. Companies like Wal*Mart review blogs not only for a candidate's knowledge and writing skills, but to determine how well-rounded they are and whether the blogger shows any character issues. The Journal's suggestions for making a blog recruiter-friendly include: Show you're current on hot topics, omit personal information unless it's relevant to the job you want, and keep it polished with regular updates to show you're committed.

Luckily, if you are a retired local activist none of this matters.

Gambling in Osceola

Who would have ever thought that our elected officials would be the first ones to introduce gambling into our county? The simple truth is that our “leaders” are making speculative land buys and gambling away your tax dollars. Gambling your tax dollars away on a “maybe it’ll fly” mentality. I/we can’t help but wonder if they’d be interested in some land that I/we own in South Florida.

Here are the results of their most recent speculation addictions:

“The Sports Authority Speculation”
The School Board went forward with a project plan to locate a non-traditional school in the old Sports Authority retail building, spending tens of thousands of your tax dollars for project planning. They did this prior to any zoning approvals, only to have it shot down by the Kissimmee City Commission. What of the children now? (0 for 1)

“The Cement Plant Speculation”
The CRA purchased land (again your tax dollars) to relocate Rinker only to have the Osceola County Commission decide that the relocation was not an appropriate use of that land. US antitrust regulators this week cleared a plan by Cemex, the third-largest cement producer in the world, to acquire Rinker Group. Bloomberg News reports that as part of the deal, Cemex has agreed to sell 39 operations in Florida and Arizona to preserve price competition. Since it appears that the Rinker plant in the Kissimmee CRA district will shortly have a new owner (Cemex or otherwise), how might this impact the ongoing attempts to relocate it elsewhere in the county? What of the workers now? (0 for 2)

“The School Board Speculation”
Osceola Landlords this week gathered at a public information session for “The Projects”, a workforce housing proposal. The Osceola News Gazette reports that affordable housing is already available and that several landlords offered to lower their rents for a designated group of workers and waive their rental application fees. St. Cloud Mayor Donna Hart questioned whether the housing is necessary now, given the weak housing market. Since it appears that the School Board’s plans for “The Projects” might not pass zoning changes, how might this impact their ability to proceed? What of the teachers now? (0 for 3)

As you can tell by our elected officials’ odds of losing, gambling with tax dollars is not best when left to the “leaders”. Our elected officials and their staff need to be held accountable for not just gambling away our tax dollars, but also gambling away our future. They need to be held accountable for this speculation addiction that they have.

As citizens, we need to hold them accountable. Land purchase policies need to be instituted requiring that all of the homework is done and approvals have been given prior to spending millions of your hard earned tax dollars.

Perhaps what they need is a good ‘ole fashion election intervention.

It could be a long storm (warning) season

We were fortunate to be watching the late local news on Wednesday evening as a fast-moving line of thunderstorms crossed most of Central Florida. A few minutes into the newscast, the weather anchor announced that a severe thunderstorm warning had just been issued for Osceola County. "Hmmm," we thought, "why hasn't the weather radio sounded an alarm?" You know, the weather radios that all of the local experts have told us are the best means for notifying people that severe weather is coming. In our case, a fancy weather radio, the big brother to the one WFTV has been selling at Publix, that shows that it is receiving the weekly test tone and such. It's sounded alarms for us in the past, but nothing this time. Which leads us to wonder:

1) Did the TV station overstate the severe weather warning (seems unlikely),
2) Did the nature of the storm prevent the radio from receiving the alert signal (that's not good), or
3) Since the storm happened late at night, was the weather service office understaffed and someone forgot to hit the button or hit the wrong button (again, not good, night storms are when people need more warning). So needless to say, right now our faith in the weather radio system is a little shaken, and for those who have suggested subsidizing or giving out weather radios to the entire population, we wonder if giving out free/discounted basic cable might be a more effective means of warning.

A "Capital of Crash"

Men's Health magazine recently ranked 100 cities for driving habits (1 = best, 100 = worst).
The Orlando, FL area came in 94th, with a grade of "F". Their data included rate of fatal accidents, deaths caused specifically by speeding, accident frequency, statewide data on speeding, and data on seatbelt use.

Interestingly, East Coast areas that typically have been "feeders" for the Orlando population were in the top 10 (safest), including: Jersey City, NJ (#2), New York, NY (#3), Yonkers, NY (#4), and Buffalo, NY (#8).

Be safe out there.

County in Crisis

We were very happy to see 10-year County Commissioner Ken Smith admit to the fact that Osceola County is a community in crisis. This admission came in an article in the Osceola County New Gazette on April 7th, which was the fourth part of a series of candidate profiles for the upcoming elections on April 24th. In the article Smith admitted that, "We've got a crisis on our hands." We believe that Mr. Smith has shown a great deal of courage in finally admitting to what many of our residents have known for some time. We believe that this admission is what should secure his re-election bid over his opponent who has only pointed to the problems that our county faces. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting that you have a problem, and that is what Mr. Smith has done by speaking the truth about the state of our community.

Other issues that he admits are problems for our community are rising juvenile crime, a steady stream of expulsions for misbehaving students, low graduation rates, traffic, and the need to revitalize our educational system. As he said in the article, "I wish we (county commissioners) had tried to figure out a better way of doing this earlier." Of course Mr. Smith was quick to blame the residents for not wanting to raise taxes to help pay for the needed roads that the county has to struggle to keep up with, but we realize that telling the truth and providing straight talk to residents is a 12 step process that 10-year politicians must confront gradually.

Candidate Smith has also offered solutions to some of the problems that we now face. First, to control growth, he wants to oversee more growth in the way of the six Developments of REGIONAL IMPACT better known as DRI's. As far as the traffic problems that have become so much worse during his time on the Commission, nothing. He believes that "we have solutions on the table now." Another solution, to the crisis we face with the children of our community, is spending more money on developing the umbrella corporation to coordinate the county's failing efforts with various children and youth programs.

Umbrella Corporation?? That sounds like the best plan we have heard yet. It worked great in a community called Raccoon City, so it should work great here. Thank you, Mr. Smith, for your courage and dedication to your vision of our community.

“Appear” correct...or get sued?

The agitation drumbeat gets louder...Kissimmee City Commissioners must have their own offices, or the city will be sued for Sunshine Law violations and lose...so the agitators say. The Associated Press did the research for us...a list of every violation since 1977 of the Sunshine Law that has resulted in criminal or civil penalties can be found here... http://www.fsne.org/sunshine2005/news/history/index.shtml. We did a full-text search of that page, and amazingly, the word “office” does not appear. Not even once. So we’re still waiting for that groundbreaking case where two elected officials had a common office, were found guilty of a Sunshine Law violation, and the outcome was to force that elected body to have individual offices.

“But it’s all about appearances” the protestors say. It just doesn’t look right, to them, that two elected officials would have common office space. Need we list the number of projects that the city could spend “appearance money” on, if that was the goal? Certainly if city commissioners were given individual offices, appearances would come into play, as the self-appointed keepers of the Sunshine Law would scream “Sunshine Law violation!!!!” if one city commissioner were to even set foot into another commissioner’s office.

Where would you have your city’s money spent? If part-time city commissioners need to have meetings, couldn’t they sign out a conference room? And wouldn’t creating some additional conference rooms, rather than offices, benefit the entire city? (This is, of course, based on the assumption that there is some free space at City Hall that is just waiting for a purpose.) A separate office doesn’t prevent Sunshine Law violations from those who would have intent to commit the violation. It does, however, make a great place to have “official meetings” and decorate with all kinds of personal mementos, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Sunday Funny - Cows & Politics Explained

A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.

A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

AN AMERICAN REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what?

AN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous.

A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk.

A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage.

DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. They are mad. They die. Pass the shepherd's pie, please.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them.

A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship both of them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported on them.

AN ISRAELI CORPORATION: There are these two Jewish cows, right? They open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So, who needs people?

AN ARKANSAS CORPORATION: You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute.

Tumbleweeds with your grande latte?

While driving on 192/Vine Street, one would have to notice that all of the Perkins signs have been removed from their local restaurant, replaced only with "closed" on the message board. Perkins becomes the latest national chain to withdraw from the 192/Vine Street corridor in the city. Doesn't virtually every "town" in the country have a Perkins?

At the same time, the first Starbucks location in the city, and the first (I/we believe) freestanding Starbucks in Osceola County (the other location is in Super Target), is set to open soon just blocks away. Starbucks' rapid expansion plans were recently profiled in The Wall Street Journal, including a description of one location where there are Starbucks locations on three corners of the same intersection.

So.... is the 192/Vine Street corridor "up and coming," attracting a premium coffee vendor, or on the flip side, is it on the downturn, unable to support chain restaurants?

Sweeps Week on Access Osceola?

In an ongoing ratings battle, a live broadcast of the Kissimmee City Commission meeting added a new attention grabbing weapon to its arsenal. Sound Effects. As the commission was discussing raising impact fees and other possible ways to charge the citizens more money, the sound of a flushing toilet echoed through the TV. Was this an effort to add humor to the meeting to get more residents watching, or was this a warning to the residents of what was about to happen to their hard earned money? I guess we will have to tune in next week to see what new sound effects have been downloaded from the Internet.

Some local activists and elected officials believe that the highest priority facing our city is redecorating City Hall and making sure our elected officials are rewarded with nicer cribs. That might make for a cool new series on Access Osceola, Cribs of the Elected or Pimp My City Hall, but it probably does not make for better government. (FLUSH)

Conspiracy Theory? You might need the hat...

On the Internet, you know you've arrived when the conspiracy theories and rambling manifestos start showing up in the Comments section. Our blog is a "benevolent dictatorship" when it comes to comments... we'll post the good and the bad, but not the rambling and pointless. Dear blog reader, we value your time too much to post rambling musings that set off that "I've heard this somewhere before" signal in the back of our head. Think someone has been repressing you for years, or want to talk about a non-event in the past? You can find instructions on starting your own blog at www.blogger.com.

In the meantime, if you feel the black helicopters are still hovering over your house (we were assured that they were cut from the budget this year), you may want to consider protecting yourself with appropriate headgear... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin-foil_hat

Just a coat of paint...

There is a lot of development going on downtown. New buildings, new facades, new businesses. Let's call on our local telephone company, Embarq, to help out with the battleship gray monster that greets people driving into downtown.

With the buildings on the other corners of that intersection recently remodeled, and rumors that the neighboring "Bicycle Station" and "Spies" buildings set for upgrades soon, Embarq could certainly help out the downtown revitalization with a couple coats of paint, maybe in their new corporate colors of green and tan?

We hope that the recent removal of the Sprint sign signals an opportunity for more than just placing an Embarq sign out front. And, hey, the Kissimmee CRA even offers some grants for commercial facade revitalization. How about it?

Anonymity

Many things can be said about anonymity. A blog writer referred to it as slithering in the shadows. Interestingly, that same blog continually references and praises another local ANONYMOUS opinion column. Oh the hypocrisy...remember that Crickets don’t chirp in the sunshine.

Here’s what I/we think about it: The words speak for themselves.

No judgment based on reputation.
No “hey, you should check out my blog.”
No “hey, watch out for her/him/them...they have that blog.”

There is no reputation boost from anonymity, and my/our ego(s) are OK with that. All that you can be sure of is that we are not you.

Those who live in glass houses

On another blog, a local activist takes School Board member Jay Wheeler to task for a comment he made in his newsletter about a relationship between Armando Ramirez and Doug Guetzloe. Mr. Wheeler is a big boy and can defend his comments if he chooses to do so. We would note, however, that 10 days prior, the same activist, in the same blog, wrote “Armando? Oh my God! The weakly skilled office holder wannabe, made it. Scary. Instead of a viable, intelligent candidate, we decide it will be a man that falls asleep in church and cannot fathom a budget of 700 million + dollars.”

Apparently, in today’s world, being reported as sitting at the same table with Doug Guetzloe is a worse offense than having your intelligence questioned by people who monitor your churchgoing activities.

What Is Politics?

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is politics?"

Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me capitalism. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the people. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Now, think about that and see if that makes sense."

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what dad had said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper. So the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed. The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."

The father says, "Good son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about." The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored and the Future is in deep poo."