Comment Corner

Comment to “Records? What Records?”: May 31, 2007 8:35 AM: Anonymous said - Where's your new post? Are you getting behind? I check everyday and I am hoping for a new post.

Response: Like a certain local access channel, due to equipment upgrades, we had less than a full week this week. Sorry about that. At least it didn’t take us a month and a half to upgrade our blog engine.

Comment to "Comment Corner": May 24, 2007 4:26 PM: Anonymous said – i see wayne around gemskie all of the time. i think wayne and gemskie must be working together on this upcoming election. two peas in a pod.

Response: Rumors indicate that they are in negotiations over who will be whose campaign manager.


Comment to "Comment Corner": May 24, 2007 11:14 AM: Anonymous said – Totally unrelated to comment corner, but tonight I saw Steve Burke's interview on Channel 9 and think it's great that he is getting back in the fight. Give it to em. The city has been squandering away our hard earned tax dollars on trips and a birthday party when we're in a budget lockdown. This commission is totally unplugged from reality and it is time to bring em back and Burke is just the one to do it. "Bring Back Burke" -I say. It can't be any worse than what we've got now.

Comment to "Comment Corner": May 24, 2007 11:20 AM: Anonymous said – I was at work and saw
Steve Burke's report on Channel 9.
Regardless of what he has done in the past, forgive and forget.
BRING BACK BURKE!!!
At least he fights for the people.

Comment to "Comment Corner": May 25, 2007 11:35 AM: Anonymous said – did you see that idiot steve burke on the news last night. that guy is just an idiot and you no now he is going to run for office in 08. idiot.

Comment to "Crackers Day in Kissimmee": May 25, 2007 1:14 PM: Anonymous said – I don't like Steve Burke, but I would be tempted to vote for him after watching our current commission screw up every meeting. We need an elected official that is not a "Crackers" but actually fights for the people.

Comment to "Crackers Day in Kissimmee": May 25, 2007 2:35 PM: Anonymous said – Crackers!!! That is too funny... That picture looks just like him!!!

Comment to "Crackers Day in Kissimmee": May 26, 2007 4:18 AM: Wayne Evans said – WHAT BURKE SAID AND THE SARCASTIC WAY HE SAID IT, DISRESPECTS OUR CITY. I CAN'T WAIT FOR HIM TO MOVE AND HE USED TO BE MY FRIEND.

Comment to "Crackers Day in Kissimmee": May 26, 2007 8:27 AM: Anonymous said – Burke was one of the commissioners that create the staffing problems we now have with the police department. I know this because I was on the force during his time in office. Burke and Brooks created havok. They made promises and had the young guys out campaigning for them which create all kinds of problems. The simple truth of all of these guys is to look to see who has supported the police and fire departments by looking who voted to add money to their budgets. The facts are there. Do your own homework.

Thank you to WayneWho for what you do.

Response: This is a cautionary tale to our current commission that even when someone who’s “Crackers” gets on TV, he has a fair amount of support. Who might they vote for in ’08?

Records? What Records?

Well, the county commission auditor's report of the audit of the Convention & Visitors Bureau is out, and from early reports, the situation is worse than those who requested the audit expected.

We just have to ask...did any of the CVB management have any experience working for a business of any size before joining the CVB? Who travels for business, and then doesn't complete an expense report and a trip summary? Maybe that's why so many private-sector businesses have changed to corporate credit cards in the employee's name...the employee has to pay the bill, and doesn't get reimbursed for expenses until the proper documentation has been submitted. Therefore, it's in the employee's best interest to get that paperwork done and submitted so that they can receive their reimbursement check before the bill comes due.

Much as we hate to say it, the visual concept here is "OK, CVB employee, here's a wad of cash, go on a trip. Have a good time. Mention Central Florida if you get the chance." And unfortunately, that's the kind of spending that our good friends up in Tallahassee are pointing at when they talk about cutting local government funds. The CVB is going to be hung up on a stick as an example for a while, and that is how it should be. But anyone found with the same type of lack of oversight of taxpayer funds in the future should not receive any benefit of being just "an example," but should move right to the "unemployed" line.

We Remember

On this Memorial Day, we ask that you not only remember those who have served and those who have fallen, but that you also remember what it is they have fought for. They have fought to guarantee our freedoms. Freedom of speech, the press, right to assemble, right to petition, and the freedom of religion. Don't forget the reason that those who serve have chosen to do so. Thank you to those who defended our freedoms, and to those who have exercised them as proud Americans.

Sunday Funny - Dear God

A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then he decided to write God a letter requesting the $100. When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to God, USA, they decided to send it to President Bush.

The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill. President Bush thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 and sat down to write a thank you note to God, which read:

Dear God,
Thank you very much for sending the money, however, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington D.C. and, as usual, those crooks deducted $95.00.

Economic Diversity

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the city of San Jose, CA, and its efforts to diversify its economic base. This initially struck us as odd, as San Jose is the headquarters city of such well-known technology firms as Cisco Systems, eBay, and Adobe. As it turns out, that concentration on technology jobs didn't work out so well for the San Jose area earlier this decade, when the technology slowdown cut 10% of the jobs in the city, and reduced the city's tax revenues by 27% in one year.

The city decided it wanted to become a core for the "clean tech" sector, which includes alternative energy sources and energy efficiency products. In order to attract businesses in this industry, the city rolled out the typical inducements like expedited business permits, and employee training grants. The city then took it a step further. They launched a fund to invest in local fast-growing tech companies. They hired an economic development staffer dedicated to the clean-tech industry. Finally, they adopted policies to drive local demand for clean-tech products, including a policy requiring new municipal buildings to be built to energy-efficient "green" standards, and a development center to promote vehicles using renewable energy.

Return the focus to Osceola County. Our largest individual employers are government agencies. Our largest employment industry is the service industry, primarily focused on tourism. Could a reduction in tax revenue, an economic recession, or a tourism slowdown lead to a 10% employee reduction in either of those employment groups?

With the recent realignment of the county's Economic Development and Convention and Visitors Bureau under a single manager, are we becoming more economically diverse? What are we, as a community, doing to attract more diverse employers to our area?

"Crackers" Day in Kissimmee

The highly anticipated announcement of the return of "Crackers the City Crime Fighting Chicken" was aired on the local news last night. Steve (Crackers) Burke waited until the City Manager was out of town to make the bold move of attacking our City Government and staff on traveling to California to complete the competition for the All America City award. For any of you who remember the exploits of Crackers while he was a Kissimmee City Commissioner, you will remember some of the other chicken style stunts he has pulled in the past. His point; the City of Kissimmee should not spend $27,000 of the Commission's Discretionary Fund on the trip because that money should be used in the Downtown for more police (well maybe half of an officer for $27,000) . It does not matter that the discretionary fund cannot be used to pay for more police, because he has never been good at telling the whole story, or the truth for that matter, so why would we expect it now. The truth only gets taller as election season approaches and one's need to run again gets bigger.

A couple of questions for Crackers: Where have you been while the rest of the community has been fighting to help the police department? Where have you been while we were fighting the budget crisis? Where have you been while the school board has been trying to steal an important piece of land from our redevelopment district? Where have you been while the discussion of the All America City award has been going on?

Guess it is harder to lay eggs than it once was.

Cause for Concern

Wayne Who received a disturbing e-mail yesterday from someone claiming to be "Wayne". Below is the full message that was contained in the e-mail and you will see why it has raised our concern about the well-being of one of our city's local activists.

*WAYNE IS NOT DOING THAT. WAYNE ACTS "AS THE MESSENGER" TO KSIB.NET AND SOMETIMES OFFER MY OPINIONS ON THEIR THOUGTS. WAYNE IS NOT MOVING. WAYNE HAS TOLD COMMISH GEMSKIE THAT HE WILL RUN AGAINST HIM AS WELL AS ARTURO OTERO AND JAIME MATOS. WE DIFFER IN HOW WE OFFER OUR OPINIONS. IF I AM SHOWN I AM INCORRECT, I ADMIT IT. YOU? REMEMBER THE WORD OF THE DAY ON YOUR SITE SHOULD BE PERCEPTION. THERE IS A PERCEPTION OF TRUTH. THE ONLY CLEAR TRUTH, IN PRINT, IS GOD'S WORD.*

We have had some reported "Wayne" sightings that had put us more at ease, but after receiving this e-mail we have become concerned again. Please, if you have any information on the whereabouts of "Wayne", please let us know. To whoever sent this e-mail, shame on you and stop pretending to be "Wayne".

True Citizen Charter Review

As promised, the Wayne Who "True Citizen Charter Review" has been launched. We have created a new site dedicated solely to our Charter. Each Friday, we will add a new Article from the Charter giving you a full week to review what is there and send in your comments. Click the link below to start reading.

http://kissimmeecharter.blogspot.com/

Comment Corner

Comment to "Taxing Decisions": May 15, 2007 4:33 PM: Anonymous said – The rumor is that Wayne is sending out e-mails with your blog entries and then making comments to those. Guess he figures it is better to let someone else lead for awhile.

Response: Hmm… that’s interesting. If anyone has received these, please feel free to forward them on to wayne.who.cares@gmail.com. Where is he?? Are the rumors true? Has he moved to California? Has he gone into semi-retirement? Was he just being quiet in hopes of getting on the charter review committee? Or… was the competition too much and he finally pooped out? If you see him, please post a comment with where the spotting occurred.

Comment to "Not everyone speeds downtown": May 19, 2007 8:25 AM: Grandma Peach said – I am not sure if this is a "share the wealth" issue as you call it. Isn't the issue why does a group or neighborhood have to scream to get action or results from the city. After hearing the case made by the police chief, it is pretty easy to see that the Police Department is working their tails off to keep this city from going off of the deep end. It also seems that someone at the government level was not paying attention to the problems at the Police Department. The only mention of more police I have seen from the folks downtown has been very positive. They had a nice young man at one of the commission meetings that thanked the commission, and he seemed happy with the results of the Police Department and the City. Maybe you know more of the story than what you have put in your article?

Response: We don’t really have a response to this one. We just thought that the user name “Grandma Peach” was really cool and wanted to republish it.

Comment to "Comment Corner": May 19, 2007 8:35 AM: Anonymous said – Maybe WayneWho and KSIB.net should do the charter review online. The two rumor and humor news sites (at least more news that we get anywhere else) could do weekly postings on the charter, and what their impressions of each section are. At least these two sites could talk about the taboo areas that are not allowed to be mentioned by the average voting public. We could then compare these sites ideas against the cherry pick - I mean, charter review committee. Fair and balanced from internet blogs. It is a new world.

Response: We fully agree! Starting this Friday, we will place a section of the Charter on the blog every week for the true citizen charter review, opening it up for comments from the public.

Topics Revisited

Wayne Who spent some time reminiscing this weekend about topics of the recent past, including:

1. How is the H.O.M.E. project going? Several board members expressed, some in the local press, that construction needed to get underway soon (we seem to remember a "within 30 days" quote at the time that the new executive director was selected). While residential construction has slowed down, there doesn't seem to be much of a slowdown in commercial construction locally. Will this project be completed? Was a new executive enough to restart fundraising, or will the project eventually have to be fully handed over to an established community organization to receive credibility?

2. While wandering around downtown watching traffic enforcement, we have yet to see the happy multitudes of laptop users accessing the Internet via the city's wireless network. Will the applications proposed to be used by the city, KUA, and Toho Water Authority employees provide sufficient efficiencies to justify completing the network, with free public Internet access as a side benefit, or will public use and some sort of revenue model be needed first? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

3. Is the Osceola Republican Party still meeting at City Hall?

Commission or middlemen?

From what we’ve heard, at last night’s county commission meeting, the proposed 8-story hotel to be located on 535 was shot down by a 4/1 vote of our commissioners even though their attorney stated that there were no legal grounds to do so. It is not that we are upset at this decision as we believe that yet another hotel is probably not needed, but we do find it interesting that our commission seemingly cherry picks what developments pass and what developments get shot down based on whether they are in the district of a commissioner up for election. Note that this project is located in District 1 up for election in 2008.

Not that long ago, a proposed development requiring a zoning change was passed due to the commissioners believing that they could not tell someone how to use their property. Well maybe they cannot tell someone how to use their property, but surely they can deny a zoning change request. This development was in District 5 which is a district that at the time was not up for election. Right around the same time though, in District 4, a district that was up for election, the Rinker plant was shot down even though all of the required criteria had seemingly been met. Because of this poor decision, our county is once again going to waste our tax dollars in a courtroom fighting a battle they cannot win.

Now we see the downside of districting. Outsourcing the decision making process to the courts to protect re-election bids. Should we as residents be fearful of what could be in our back yard if we live in a district that is not up for election?

Flip-flops aren't just for walking

With the weekend came the opportunity to hear the local press’ assessment of the Kissimmee charter review committee. The press coverage is, shall we say, enlightening regarding the psyche of our commissioners concerning the committee, as well as the assessment of the committee members.

Or should we say potential committee members? From reading Mark Pino’s column, it appears that not everyone who was appointed to the committee has yet accepted the appointment. Is it possible that some commissioners made appointments without confirming that their appointee was willing to serve?

In describing the backgrounds of the candidates, both papers spoke only of criminal records (or accusations) when discussing former commissioners George Gant and Steve Burke. Well, not exactly, as Pino seemed to suggest that Burke wasn’t interested in serving. In any case, the press will continue to keep the individual members’ backgrounds at the forefront of the discussion, enforcing the public opinion that those in government should be held to a higher standard. We wonder if this commission had given any thought to the shadow that now could be cast over the committee.

Commissioner Carlos Irizarry is quoted by the News-Gazette as saying “They know the rules better than us” when advocating appointing former elected officials to the committee. We find this statement disturbing.

We are still trying to unravel the whole “flip-flopping” that occurred with regard to appointing former elected officials. Apparently, Commissioners Gemskie and Van Meter tried to convince their peers to appoint new faces to the committee, but then appointed former elected officials after they perceived that the other commissioners were doing so. Yet, the only commissioners who appointed former elected officials as their individual appointees were Irizarry, Gemskie, and Van Meter. So, we have to ask, since Commissioner Van Meter was first out of the gate to make an appointment, what persuaded her to change her position? Once Van Meter flip-flopped, Commissioner Irizarry appointed Steve Burke, who we are still not sure will take the position. Then Commissioner Gemskie decided that an “ordinary citizen” wouldn’t have a chance against all these high-powered former officials, so he went into the commission alumni directory and selected Joe Hemphill? We wonder if any of the commission notes which are public record would have revealed the commissioners true choices had they not felt the last minute pressure to appoint former elected officials.

That kind of pressure is pretty amazing, since these were individual appointments, not a case of a commissioner needing to get majority approval to pass a motion. Actions speak louder than words, especially leading up to an election.

Sunday Funny - Who's the Most Fun to Operate On?

Four surgeons were sitting around discussing who they like to operate on.

The first surgeon said, "I like operating on librarians. When you open them up everything is in alphabetical order".

The second surgeon said, "I like operating on accountants. When you open them up everything is in numerical order".

The third surgeon said, "I like operating on electricians. When you open them up everything is color coded.

The fourth surgeon said, "I like operating on politicians."

The other three surgeons looked at each other in disbelief. One of them asked why.

The fourth surgeon replied, "Because they are heartless, gutless, spineless, and their butt and head are interchangeable".

Beware the orange vest

The Orlando Sentinel (Saturday 5/19) reports that the Kissimmee Police Department recently performed a unique research operation... they had a plainclothes police officer break into homes and cars to see if anyone who observed the behavior would call 911. We'll let that operation speak for itself.

We will point out the following: in order to further attract attention to himself, the officer wore a bright orange traffic vest over his clothing while he was attempting the break-ins. Now, we just know that some enterprising criminal mastermind is going to try to adopt that strategy, in the hopes that anyone who notices him or her will say "oh, it's just KPD doing that test again." So be on the lookout for the next few weeks, folks, and call 911 when you see anything unusual...especially burglars in bright orange vests.

Not everyone speeds downtown

Well, good work all around. The downtown community expressed their priority for traffic enforcement downtown...the police department management brought some additional resources on-line and has begun rebuilding the traffic unit...officers are out in the field doing the job...and city staff is working on some plans for Main/Broadway.

Every time we've been downtown in the last couple of weeks, we've seen Kissimmee police officers with speed guns at the side of the road, or patrolling the immediate downtown area in unmarked cars, making traffic stops. And we understand that the city has short-, medium-, and long-term plans/proposals for influencing how drivers use Main/Broadway.

Yet there are still a few voices out there that seemingly will not be satisfied until there are police officers on both sides of the street, all day, every day, writing nothing but traffic tickets...oh, and renaming the unit to the "Downtown Traffic Unit" in the process. It's just not practical, even if the City Commission were to put in place a "Traffic Management Fee" (and NO, commissioners, we didn't just suggest that... slowly move your hands away from the "Aye" button).

Even in the "good old days" of the Traffic Unit, the officers worked an area for a couple of days, then moved on to the next trouble area. The idea that a specialty unit is going to stay in one place all the time is folly. That's why it's important that we address the larger issue, which is coming up with an acceptable plan to make Main/Broadway less of a thoroughfare. That larger design plan, which will be years in the making, needs the continued positive energy from the entire downtown community.

So, yes, traffic enforcement is needed downtown. But those in other parts of the city ask that, as the Traffic Unit gets back up to strength, our downtown neighbors "share the wealth," as there are many other places in the city that will also benefit from their efforts.

Comment Corner

Comment to "California in Kissimmee?": May 17, 2007 7:55 AM: Anonymous said – MAYBE YOUR FRIEND JERRY GEMSKIE WILL FINALLY FIND A TAX HE DOESN'T LOVE? NAHH. AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

Comment to “Disappointment”: May 17, 2007 2:32 PM: Anonymous said – Looks like Wayne posted his Gemskie bashing on your last entry. Maybe your word of the day should be obsession. Not that I don't like good Gemskie bashing because we all know he deserves it, it just seems to me like there is plenty of bashing that can go around on that commission. Wayne could only talk about what Burke wanted anyway, so I guess this charter review committee is going to be a real comedy routine.

Comment to “Disappointment”: May 18, 2007 12:44 PM: Anonymous said – i missed something. 1. "wayne" made a comment on jemsky? where? 2. at least 2 need agitation weekly. van meter and jemsky. maybe swan also.

Response: To the first comment – post to your own blog. Oh wait, you don’t have one anymore. To the second comment – We couldn’t agree more on all points. Please note today’s word of the day. To the final comment in this collection – hopefully now it will make sense to you. BTW… glad to see that you love the blog so much that you will even pull it up on your “Crackberry”.

To our readers – are these three separate individuals or just the multiple personalities of one local activist? So much for retirement…

Disappointment

As part of Tuesday's Kissimmee City Commission meeting, our Commissioners revealed their hand-chosen panel members for the charter review committee.

Should it be a surprise that four of the seven members of the panel are former city commissioners? Steve Burke, George Gant, Linda Goodwin-Nichols, and Joe Hemphill. Apparently, in a city of 60,000 residents, we need look no further than the inner circle when the commissioners need some work done. Perhaps next time the commission could solicit some indications of interest from the general public, or at least consult the list of recent graduates from the School of Government.

As an aside, we've heard speculation that a certain local activist recently dropped off the radar while anticipating a distinguished appointment to the charter review committee. Perhaps a re-emergence from the shadows will occur in the near future.

California in Kissimmee?

By the way the Kissimmee City Commission meeting went last night, we can only assume that our favorite local activist must now be consulting our commissioners. The message: don your tin-foil hat because the public is out to get us and they must be stopped.

Residents of the City are going to finally be able to have a citizen charter review committee, with only one small catch – the committee will not have any power. Yep, the Kissimmee City Commission felt they needed to keep “full control” of the CITIZEN review process and only let the CITIZENS review a few aspects of the charter. Last week, the commission finalized election reform changes to our charter that did not have true public input opportunities, and lastnight at the appointment meeting for the charter review committee, multiple parts of the charter were locked away from possible review. Those tin-foil hats are great empire protectors.

Once the madness of the broken charter review committee passed into the afterlife of political hope, the issues of tax increases were next on the Agenda. First we would like to state for clarification that we do believe in a better mix of revenue generation for our city government. We firmly believe that the Fire Fee is an issue that should have been passed years ago, but was not because too many were afraid of the ax the tax bobbleheads. However, now in a rush to see how much money it can make, the City Commission is taxing its residents and businesses into acquiescence and killing every economic hope our residents are clinging to. The policies of the past several commissions have stiffled smart economic growth and created a situation where the average citizen has to develop an exit strategy in order to survive. This is not good government.

In trying to defend the Fire Fee, a liberal term was thrown out there and should be seen as a sign of trouble for taxpayers. The term “Revenue Neutral” which is favored among liberal tax-and-spend politicians was the defending term used by the commission to justify charging you more money to make sure government stays fat and happy. Of course the taxypayers never get to hear the term “Expense Neutral” to defend them, but liberal ideals don’t ususally protect anyone but government.

The issue of taxes is actually very simple. Is government going to stay-the-course on the way it overspends the hard-earned money of its residents, or is government going to cut back? It is obvious the citizens have elected people to the state offices to cut their taxes. Maybe it is time for local government to do what is right by the people and make sure that they make the necessary cuts to ensure that this happens.

Taxing Decisions

Tonight the Kissimmee City Commission will be working to raise your taxes once again. You will hear the argument from most of the commissioners about what a fee is versus what a tax is, but at the end of the day we all know that taking money from citizens is a tax. Instead of trying to take the focus off of taking more money from the residents by arguing word trivia, just be honest and say, "we are going to take more of your money. "

If we could reach this point of honesty, then we could discuss the merits of the new taxes. First we have the Storm Water fee. This is a fee (tax) that we pay to clean up the storm water run-off into our lakes. This is an important issue to keep our environment healthy and is also something that we must do by state and federal law. The original fee was set too low because the commission at that time wanted to be re-elected and was afraid to raise the tax. So this one needs to be increased. We are doing the work, it needs to be paid for.

The second fee (tax) up for discussion is the Fire Fee, also called the public safety fee. This is a fee that we will all pay that will help generate revenue for the city that might be lost if the state government cuts the property tax rate. What?? So we are not paying this fee to improve public safety? We are just looking to make sure the government has plenty of money? No extra, or better services for the residents to justify the tax, just the same for more money out of our pockets? What if the state does not reduce the property tax, are we doomed to pay the same tax rate and the new fire fee?

It doesn't always take a genius (or a consultant for that matter)

As we were cruising down the MLK Expressway today, a thought struck. It seems that the county has moved virutally all of their operations out of the Beaumont government center site. Why doesn't the School Board approach the county about locating some of their special school programs in those buildings? Everyone wins...

The county gets a tenant to defray operating costs of the site while they continue to decide whether to make the site available for development.

The school district gets a school site in a location that is appropriate for a school. How do we know? Because...wait for it...it used to be a school.

The city gets a school on the site, and the potential for a neighborhood elementary school in the future.

We bet if the school district and the county got together this month, they could be up and operating at this site by the time fall classes start.

Sunday Funny - Thinkers Anonymous

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunch time so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it \hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking ..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors... They didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground, clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.

Life just seemed ... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me. Today, I registered to vote.

The school district is in a hurry now?

The School Board is asking for the City to hurry up and make a decision on changing the zoning for the Sports Authority property. Of course these discussions are moving forward with no real public input and from what we can tell, no real thought.

The City of Kissimmee commissioned an outside consultant to develop a redevelopment plan for the 192 corridor. Residents, business leaders, and government officials met with the planners over several months to give input on how they would like to see the corridor come back to life, primarily through higher density and a mixed use of commercial and residential units.

Now, before the plan has even been finalized and implemented, the City Commission appears to be ready to admit defeat. The redevelopment of a large section of the city will take time, and commissioners seem to believe that they should allow undesired uses to creep into the corridor while the redevlopment goes on. Property owners in the area realize that "big box" retail is not going to locate in the 192 corridor when there is new retail development and energy along Osceola Parkway. But the solution to this occupancy issue is to move efficiently through the planning and zoning process, not to give interim approval to less desirable uses in the interim. We ask the commission: after you approve this zoning for the school, if a car dealer comes to you and asks for zoning approval for a dealership in the vacant parcel between the Sports Authority and K-Mart, will you approve it until redevelopment is complete?

As to the idea that the Sports Authority building will be a special needs educational facility for 5 years, and then magically become a traditional K-5 school, we simply don’t believe it. The school district builds different types of buildings for different uses, and we simply don’t see a retail building converted to a special use center ever being appropriate for a K-5 school. Where is the space for playgrounds or a gymnasium? A traditional school cafeteria? Space for the inevitable portables to expand the school? If the project goes forward and is surrounded by 3-5 story mixed use buildings five years from now, are we to believe that the school district will say: "yes, we spent all the money to build out this facility, but we got 5 good years from it, so we’ll tear it down and build a new building more in keeping with the newly redeveloped corridor"? Now is the time for the City Commission to show that rezoning is not a stop-gap measure to fix short-term problems faced by the building owner (needing occupancy) and the school district (needing a building, apparently any building) and move forward with the redevelopment plan for the corridor.

Comment Corner

We have had many great comments to our postings over the past few weeks, and we would like to take a moment to answer and share some of the posts with you. This blog is only possible because of the input of so many of you, and because of comments from readers who are looking for alternative news information.

First, we have had many comments on the proposed election reforms by the City of Kissimmee and our readers are not happy.

Comment to "Me Too, Me Too": May 10, 2007 9:59 AM: Anonymous said - Only one commissioner, Irizarry, realized that it was stupid to make these changes now when we were looking at putting a charter review committee together. Of course in response to this was Jeanne Van Meter with - "We’ve been doing this for quite some time," Commissioner Jeanne Van Meter said. "This is what we want on the ballot, no matter what." In other words, forget the people. The commissioners are in charge and we, as citizens, are not smart enough to make smart decisions. I would almost say that is correct, by looking at those we have elected.

Response: To this point, we could not agree more. The commission is increasingly ignoring input from the citizens. Citizens who challenge the power of the commission are chastised and sent packing. The fact that there was no citizen input on any of these proposed changes tells us where the public ranks in the eyes of the elected. We firmly believe that you will need to do your homework on these issues and vote accordingly. The simple solution when they come up on the ballot is to vote no on all of them.

Comment to "We interrupt this commission meeting,": May 8, 2007 5:15 PM: Anonymous said - I am not sure if these commissioners are all together there. I am not sure they really know what they are doing.

Response: We are getting this input a lot. Our neighbors and friends, who live in this community, seem to spend most meeting times with their mouths wide open in shock. This commission will work better with your input. They may ignore it to start with, but when enough people say the same thing to them, it becomes harder to ignore. We believe that most of the commissioners want to to what is best, but need input from you. Do your job as a citizen and tell them what you think. (Unless it is a mysterious rambling story that has gone on for years and your initials are L. C. J. Then we ask you to either get to the point, or stop talking about it.)

Comment to "No news is... no news?": May 6, 2007 1:43 PM: danny sexton said - As a local business owner who uses the local free paper to advertise I can tell you its effectiveness is in decline greatly....When I mention this to the paper staff they just laugh.

Response: Over the past several years we have been disappointed at what our local media has tried to pass for news. If it comes out of the mouth of the county or the cities, the information gets printed as fact. No fact checking, no other points of view, and no real journalism at all. Re-printing the points from government press releases does not always illustrate the full story.

We continue to question how the local media will be relevant. All of these blogs and newsletters wouldn’t be needed if newspaper readers felt that they were getting the inside scoop on local politics.

As for all the questions concerning the whereabouts of some of our local activists, we will pass along any information that we hear. We are not sure of their whereabouts or their fading interest in our community. We will keep you posted.

Saving 192 retail, one light at a time

A recent drive down 192 reveals a new traffic light being installed between Target and Home Depot. This should make it easier for eastbound traffic to get to the stores, rather than having to "gun it" between breaks in traffic.

We applaud the use of actual steel arms for the lights, rather than the old method of having light fixtures dangling from wires over the street. And we hope that this move isn't in vain, and that some of our national retailers will continue to call 192/Vine St. home...otherwise it'll be easy to make a left turn into a big empty
parking lot.

Or is this just another attempt to make traffic access easier for the Sports Authority School project?

Me Too, Me Too

It is always interesting to watch politicians who are getting ready to run for re-election. Not only do they make sure they try to shift the rules to favor their campaign, but they make every attempt to get on every high profile junket that will spread their name without actually having to be around the voters.

Last night we were able to witness a wonderful display of self-service as one of the commissioners quickly questioned who would be on the list for going to California for the All American City presentation. It was obvious she was not included. From what our sources say, she was never involved with the All American City effort because the city’s 125th birthday celebration duties have taken up all of her "Commissioner Time", so she pointedly tried to take control of who was going to be on the list.

Good steward of the taxpayers’ money or campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime?

We interrupt this commission meeting for some real issues

At tonight's Kissimmee City Commission meeting we will see some elected officials continue to attempt to protect the voters from themselves. Of course, we're talking about the proposed election modifications (we hesitate to say "reforms"). After most of the candidates in the 2006 election said that they supported a city charter review, we have learned that these five items are what they really had in mind. And what the commission heard last week, from those who cared to express an opinion, were that the changes weren't needed, didn't make a difference, or were the opposite of what the city residents wanted.

Unfortunately, sometimes elected bodies spend way too much time on issues of little importance to the community at large, while looking like they are in the midst of a heart-stopping political drama.

What have been the big issues before the commission this year?

• Who will be the vice mayor?
• Can the commissioners have their own offices?
• And now, election modifications.

While we watch government continue to fight the battles of government, we wonder when someone will finally start working on a siren warning system to help protect the residents of Osceola County. After watching the destruction throughout Florida earlier this year, and now the destruction in the mid-west, can we not look at something that is actually important for our residents? Article after article on the storms that just demolished an entire town in Kansas reported that the early warnings and the warning sirens were the leading life saving factor during the disasters. Nothing about reverse 911 systems or other high-tech options, just good old-fashioned warning sirens. Hurricane season is less than a month away.

And what has happened to all of our "planning for the future" efforts? Will 192 receive a new life through new zoning/land use rules? How about the lakefront and the old KUA plant? Is the intermodal transportation center only viable if commuter rail comes to Kissimmee, or is it enough to be the major Lynx/Amtrak/Greyhound hub for the county? How about the parking structure for downtown that everyone wants?

We now return you to our scheduled programming..."Who wants to be the lottery-selected vice mayor candidate?"

A Moment of...Silence?

Well, one of the local activist blogs disappeared again this weekend, returning a "Page Not Found" error. Was it a technical glitch (seems unlikely, as this blog is hosted by the same company)? A conspiracy planned and executed by others in the community? Did the author get someone to sponsor the trip to California? Perhaps a relaunch as "Imtherealwayne.blogspot.com"?

We may never know.

Sunday Funny - The Bathtub Test

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started. During a visit to the mental asylum, a candidate for local office asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a politician should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the politician and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the candidate. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

No news is...no news?

As involved members of our community, we look to most of the local news outlets for events we might have missed, as well as in-depth coverage of the major goings-on in the area. So after joining the ranks of local residents who no longer seem to receive delivery of the twice-weekly local paper (and from talking to people in the community, we hardly seem to be alone), we started looking online for their content, oftentimes only to find that the website isn't updated until hours or days after the print newspaper is delivered to the select few.

But anyway, we heard this morning from one of the chosen who did receive the paper that there were all of about 3 pages of local news content today, sandwiched in between plenty of ads.

Is there that little local news happening in Osceola County? We think not, but maybe we're wrong.

Are local newspapers viable anymore? If your business model is advertising-based, and yet readers aren't being exposed to the ads (either because the content doesn't get delivered to the reader, or there is so little content as to have little value to the reader), how long do your advertising revenues hold up?

We are waiting for the other shoe to drop... what happens to local coverage from the Orlando Sentinel after their newsroom realignment next month?

Where do you get your local news?

Some people just don't get it...

Sometimes it is fun to poke a little fun at the goings-on in our community, and use a little satire to "lighten up" a story. So we have to laugh when we occasionally get in-depth factual analyses correcting what we thought was a funny bit.

We can virtually guarantee that after we recently opened our 2007 "The Onion" daily desk calendar and found a headline saying "Elf Finger Found In Box Of Keebler Cookies" that no one wrote a rebuttal article to The Onion (or Keebler for that matter), saying that Keebler Elves don't really exist and/or make cookies.

So it's Friday...thanks for reading, and occasionally laughing.

Affordable Housing

Food for thought...

Developer Fernando Pages Ruiz (author of Building an Affordable House) writes in Fine Homebuilding magazine:

Taxpayer-funded subsidies are a sloppy solution to the housing crisis. Throw enough free money at a house, and a mansion becomes affordable. But we're not a nation rich enough to do this at a level that would make a tangible difference. Public funds for subsidized home ownership are chronically short, and handouts aren't valued as much as achievements won through hard work.

I advocate a free-market method of delivering affordable housing, a method I have practiced for nearly 20 years: I look for undesirable land at a low cost; I spend as much time as it takes to make my plans cost-effective; and I struggle with municipalities to obtain the highest density possible. Only then do I turn to government dollars to help buyers qualify at a mortgage rate they can afford.

Question: Is the school board moving in the right direction?

And the secret word is...

DUN DUN DUN... "Corruption"

Ding ding ding - confetti falling confetti falling - ding ding ding

CONGRATULATIONS
MR. CORTES

You have guessed today's secret word on Access Osceola's hit game show, "How will our Commissioners respond now?"

Today's package totaling an earful of reprimand and 2 finger waggings is yours to keep. Thank you for playing!

Who will be the next winner on "How will our Commissioners respond now?" You will have to tune in next Tuesday to find out!

Stop the madness - 2 points of view

My Purple Finger:

Most believe that one of the best days of the Iraq war was the day that Iraqi citizens gave us the purple finger. Here we are several years later, and it seems our own voting circumstances are looking more like Tikrit every day. The special election that just passed is a sad reminder of how the pursuit of power has become a corrupt and disgusting business instead of a chance to serve the interest of the public.

Bomb threats during an election are not something we as Americans are used to. The sad part of this is that Armando Ramirez, John Cortes, and the rest of the group fighting for their own personal slice of the power pie believe in putting more energy into the fact that some voters may have been scared at the polls because of bomb threats instead of the fact that bomb threats are something our children, and our parents, have to deal with on a seemingly regular basis.

Nine bomb threats in a two week period. Domestic terror has hit the home front and all these individuals care about is how they can take a seat of political power. You get elected to serve the public, not yourself. We understand that the example set by most of our local elected officials is just as power hungry as your own ambitions, but this is not what the process is about. The process is about more than you seem to be able to understand. If you are only going to fight for your own personal agendas, then you have become what you have tried to defeat. You are now part of the problem. To you, and those already sitting in power and working to protect their own seats, we salute you with our purple fingers.

Bombs or no bombs, we will vote.

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A threat is a threat:

Nine bomb threats in a two-week period. Bomb threats are hardly new as a method for disrupting society, but the local elections, end of the school year, and the "copycat" potential of the Virginia Tech tragedy have brought all of the schemers out of the woodwork. At the same time, we must realize that a large portion of the world has lived under daily threat of violence for decades, and yet they continue to function as a society, attending school, voting, shopping, and going on with their daily lives. As we used to say after the September 11th attacks, "if we stop doing (fill in the blank), then the terrorists win."

We share the frustration of local law enforcement, whose resources are stretched ever thinner by cowards who phone in threats for their own gain, or simply for their own amusement. Hopefully, our various government bodies are working not only on additional funding for public safety, but structures for our public programs so that an anonymous bomb threat becomes less of a threat to our daily routine. In the case of voting, it would seem that some sort of absentee/advance/remote voting goes a long way towards reducing the threat, and voters may self-select this option in the future.

At the same time, we are disappointed by the group who appears to be using the bomb threats at two polls during last week's special election as an attempt to have the election results thrown out. Several have suggested, based on the final voter tally, that it was virtually impossible for the vote outcome to be impacted by the 35 minutes that those two polls were closed, especially since all of the polls were held open for an additional 60 minutes of voting. But we fear that these protests have less to do with election procedures, and more to do with the belief that "their candidate should have won." In this great country of ours, those protests will receive their judicial review. But a threat of a lawsuit is still a threat, just one on paper.

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***Special secret message to Armando: We have no idea who the name was that you placed in your email to us lastnight, nor did we understand the rest of the email (our secret decoder rings are still on special order). Have a nice day :) ***