Big Wheel

Sources close to someone that may have once worked in Osceola County have confirmed that because of the recent successful economic development projects with the joint efforts of the Economic Development Department and the Osceola County CVB, the two will again join forces for a new project code named "Wheel." WayneWho investigative reporters have learned that Project Wheel is really a large spinning wheel that should become the icon for Osceola County tourism and is an attempt by Osceola County government to stay competitive with surrounding counties. "Orange County is getting one of them," noted one tourism/economic development staffer. "Soon we will have our own expo center that will be much smaller and so it only makes sense for us to get our own big smaller ferris wheel thing."

When asked if any research had be done on how many visitors might be attracted into the area or how this might impact the local economy, Economic Visitor Development Bureau staffers responded that they had done the research, but that common citizens were not allowed to see it. They also noted that there was a slight possibility that a local dog may have eaten the research. Another source close to the staffer noted that the new mega-department was not concerned about the numbers or if the project was really successful at all because, "these local papers pretty much print whatever they give them, so they can say anything they want." This source also pointed to the trend of local media not only using press releases as articles, but then writing editorials defending the unchecked claims and data. The WayneWho staff checked the past several months of editorials to find a striking trend of wistful entries with no reference to supportive data or logical reasoning. A simple example of this can be seen from Saturday's editorial where the claims of a great boom in our local economy from a 100-lane bowling ally echoed passed the history of such endeavors. It seems the same claims were made about installing a freezing floor at Heritage Park and what a great boom for the economy that would be. Or for that matter, Heritage Park itself which has yet to operate out of deficit spending. All of these were touted as great and wonderful achievements based on research done from press releases that later turned out to be less than what was expected.

The WayneWho staff hopes that new top secret projects will receive more scrutiny from local journalists. We at least hope that the papers will all take the same advice they are giving to local candidates, that they should lose the rhetoric and provide real ideas and solutions. Or, at least, some research into the topics they write about.

Motivational Speaking

Rich DiGirolamo is a keynote/motivational/professional development speaker who writes a biweekly e-mail message known as "Are You Done Whining." A recent issue caught our attention, and we reprint it here. Hopefully Rich won't take offense, and as a plug for him, his website is http://www.richdigirolamo.com/

Hey Kids!

In the past I have mentioned that I live on a small lake in central Connecticut. It is actually two lakes; a causeway separates the two. And that seems to be the problem.

The causeway has created a mentality ­ the North Lake versus the South Lake. The board is North Lake heavy. I live on the South Lake. My South Lake neighbors seem to feel that all the decisions are being made to benefit the North Lake.

Friday night I treated three of my neighbors and their wives to dinner; it was the least I could do after they helped repair my dock which had twisted, bent, and fallen into the lake as a result of ice heaves this winter. Little did I know that dinner was going to be four hours of drinking and whining!

Four hours later I had heard how lake monies are being spent to help fix one person's property. I heard about how one person is encroaching on state land. I listened to accusations about how certain board members are trying to change the number of watercraft allowed per lakefront property. I heard how the board is in bed with the highway superintendent ­ (one of the wives mentioned she wouldn't mind being in bed with him). I listened to complaints about people who have not obtained their vessel stickers yet (I am one of those people). I listened to grumblings about the lake safety committee not being respected. I listened to how the water quality on the North Lake is so much better than the water quality of the South Lake. Yes, I listened. One of the wives even commented how I tend to listen and not talk. I do tend to listen; especially when liquor has been tossed into the equation.

So the consensus at the table was that "we" - the South Lake - need to take control of the board. "We" need to get our opinions heard. I was told they need me to join their cause.

Okay, here I thought I was going to dinner and now I'm being recruited for the army. I could see six fingers pointing at me. Above the heads I could see the words...The South Lake Wants You!

It's too bad they want me to volunteer and get involved for all the wrong reasons.

Why do people volunteer? Why do you volunteer?

For the fun of it?
To get involved?
To make a difference?
To make an organization bigger and/or better?
For self-serving reasons?

If you've ever sat on a committee or a board you probably know and are familiar with one thing...most people are there for self-serving reasons. Yes, they are looking for fun, to get involved, make something better, and to make a difference. But if you don't think that the majority of people have their own agenda, this is your wake up call. People are looking to network; they're looking to make contacts, they're looking find jobs, get a promotion, be more visible to upper management, or perhaps they are trying to use their role on that committee or board to better or improve their own life circumstances. It's that simple. I am not at all saying this is a bad thing, I am saying what is fact. But I truly believe that you can accomplish all five of the points above if your heart and your head are in the right place.

I understand the frustrations of my neighbors. I even love their passion about something that is so important to them. But is the answer to take control of a board in order to get YOUR agenda through; to stick it up the you know what of the people you're about to oust? That is not why you serve. You're serving a community; not a select few. If you truly want to leave your mark make decisions that benefit everyone; north and south. The mentality of "it is now the south's turn" will just further divide the community.

This is the time of year when a lot of organizations are installing new board members. I have had the opportunity to facilitate several board retreats during this period and here is what I observe a good board or committee member knows that he or she is there to serve their community; whatever that community is. A good member puts service first. A good member votes on and passes an agenda that seems to make the most sense for all, not a select few, and especially not with his or her own interests at the forefront. A good board member knows the difference between service and self-serving.

So I'm thinking long and hard as to whether or not to attend the next meeting. I'm thinking about going to listen to the arguments of the other side. I'm thinking as to how and if I should get involved. But I do believe I have an immediate simple solution to this whole North-South mess...Blow up the causeway!

See you in two weeks.


(WayneWho again... If you'd like to sign up for Rich's mailing list, or perhaps book him for a future event, visit his website at http://www.richdigirolamo.com/ )

Art of Distraction

At tonight's City of St. Cloud Council meeting, the council is set to decide on the conditional-use permit for a residential recovery center on Fifth Street next to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School. The justification for the facility in a residential area is that it's a facility for Homeless Veterans. If this were not a blatant lie, then there would probably be little argument about the facility, and even if the current location were not found acceptable, other space in the community would probably appear quickly to serve the need of our veterans. The problem is that this is a Transition House drug rehab facility that the City of St. Cloud has had to deal with before. Excessive police calls some of which were to respond to violent and sexual offenders are just part of the checkered past of the Transition House facilities. Is this the fault of the Transition House staff such as Councilman Tom Griffin? No, it is not. The facilities have helped several individuals get past their addictions and return to being productive citizens and the Transition House board deserves credit for their efforts. The location of this proposed facility cannot be debated against the success stories of the organization, but against the worst.

One item at the last school board meeting was school security and working to keep our community's children safe at school. The difficult task of keeping school children safe is one that the school board and school staff have devoted a large amount of resources to and it seems absurd to add to this burden in any way. Although St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School may be private and not under the control of our local school board, the same safety concerns should be taken seriously by all concerned governing parties. Any council member who was not absorbed in projects of self interest would make much more of an effort to protect children. We hope the the entire council has the foresight to deny this location, or to at least put a conditional use on the property that would disallow drug rehab functions on its premises.

What the WayneWho staff finds interesting during the debate on this issue are the other distractions that have appeared before this vote. Investigations into the City Manager, arguments on how to fill out review paperwork, and a list of other departmental battles have all popped up and created a very divisive environment right before a critical debate on the safety of our community's children. While everyone is focused on how they can protect their backside from political attacks, very little investigation has gone into finding out what the community and the parents of the children attending the school think about the proposal.

We also find it interesting that the cast of characters helping to fuel the issues of distraction have stepped forward, and those who were perceived to be worried about the community's best interest have disappeared. Tom Griffin who is the CEO of the Transition House and stands to gain from this decision along with other supporters such as Chris Falkowski, editor for St. Cloud in the News who, from what we hear on the street, worked closely with Tom Griffin during his council campaign, have taken the lead on defending the facility. While we acknowledge and applaud Ms. Falkowski's activism when it comes to Veterans issues, we do have to question ties and if her position as the editor of a newspaper offered support to get personal items accomplished? "Is it news or is it spin" was the title for one of Ms. Falkowski's editorials, so we have to wonder if that was foreshadowing for the distractions we now see. We also find it interesting that the Landlords Association has disappeared from any of these arguments. When the "Preserve Project" was a hot topic, the Landlords cried they were trying to protect the community. Here we have a drug rehab facility being located in an area that will negatively impact the community, and we hear nothing? Distractions indeed.

The community just needs to do the research and watch its own back.

Gimme A Break

An article in the the Osceola County section of the Orlando Sentinel today by staff writer Mary Shanklin is probably one of the best investigative reports on Osceola County the WayneWho staff has seen from any of the local media in some time. The article titled "Lawmaker: I didn't try to shave tax bill on my land" details the actions of Rep. Frank Attkisson and his possible attempt to save on his tax bill by creating legislation that removed minimum size requirements on agricultural tax breaks. Apparently after Mr. Attkisson's wife was turned down for the agricultural tax break for their hobby farm on the outside of St. Cloud, he quickly worked to introduce legislation, and then drive it through, that prohibits property appraisers from considering size for farm tax breaks. Of course now that Mr. Attkission has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he has promised not to partake in the exemption himself. The one thing that most residents know about politicians is that promises made are promises rarely kept if they are no longer convenient to do so.

On the flip side of this argument is the claim by Rep. Attkission that this legislation was to help small farm owners navigate a patchwork of "county" policies that govern who qualifies for agricultural exemptions. His idea is that this new legislation will help to slow growth and development by lowering taxes on agricultural lands so ranchers have less financial pressures to sell to developers (and their political partners).

So let us get this straight, Rep. Attkission has found a legal way to help control growth in the county even though we have been told for years that this was not possible. He also notes in the article that it is problems with county policies that, again, the state has had to step in and fix to help our local community. Amazing.

We will let our readers draw their own conclusions on the ethical standing of Rep. Attkission. It appears that possibly by accident, a piece of legislation has passed that is actually for the people. We are excited that Ms. Shanklin's article brought honest thought to all of the issues and we ask that Ms. Shanklin give lessons to the rest of the writers and editorial board on how to properly put together an article. We would also hope that our other local periodicals, St. Cloud In The News and The Osceola News-Gazette would take a look at this article to see what being a journalist is all about.

The WayneWho staff say thanks.

Good Job!

It was announced yesterday that Celebration based Channel Intelligence, Inc. was going to expand and create 420 Osceola County jobs. The average annual wage for these jobs will be around $55,400 which is 200% higher than the county's average annual wage. This announcement came from the Osceola County Economic Development Department as this was a project - Project Link - that they had been working on for some time. All we can really say is congratulations to all involved and send out a thank you to Channel Intelligence, Inc. for their investment in our community.

As posted on another blog this morning, and requested many times in our own articles, we would request a release of the public information on 'Project Link' besides the press release that was put out. It is said that you do not want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but what if all the gift horse is giving you is your own wallet back shy 20 bucks? It is great to hear that we have finally started to reverse the job loss trend in Osceola County, but without being able to preview the proper documentation on this project, how will anyone know whether the community's investment was worth while? Right now we do not even know if the County has made an investment in this project, such as tax incentives or elimination of impact fees, to know what our cost on this project is? A request for the public records documenting 'Project Link' needs to be filed and the information needs to be released so at least the un-news resources can disect the information to determine the benefits to our community. The WayneWho staff believes that this project is great and all kudos should be given, but having a department that is allowed to operate without the benefit of transparency is wrong and does not benefit the community.

The real problem with the secrecy in the Economic Development Department is that it hides the facts on why a company such as Channel Intelligence, Inc. decided to expand in Celebration. Is it that Celebration has the needed infrastructure to accomidate the jobs, or are there other factors that can be used as lessons to create economic growth in the entire county and not just in those areas that are up for re-election every few years. This information could act as a blueprint for the direction we need to be taking for the sake of our county and to protect it from the ravages of uncontrolled growth policies. With the information stored in a secret vault, it will be hard to add to this success and actually make up the jobs' deficit our county is now enduring. The answers rest in the information that has not been released and we would hope that making the information public will become a priority to everyone involved.

The Stage Is Set

Besides another pesky lawsuit by the cast of usual characters, the 2008 political stage has been set. Those who are running have qualified, and we can expect the next couple of months to start to sound very silly. It will sound silly because current elected officials who are not running for office this year, candidates who are, and the media will all jocky for position on issues that the average resident could care less about. Some community groups will hold candidate meet-and-greets in an attempt to introduce candidates to their residents, but for the most part most residents will have to rely on our local news outlets and the Chamber of Commerce question and answer session that plays on Access Osceola to base their decision on. The questions asked will be from the same media outlets who already have a hard time asking real questions week to week in their traditional publications so the public will again lose out on a true vetting process. While we have witnessed some improvements in the journalistic integrity of some of our local media over the past year, there is still a great divide between the views of the average resident and the politician friendly media.

What the community needs is a new forum in which to inspect the candidates they will be voting on. In a community built on the buying and selling of commodities such as cattle and citrus, we are sure that the concept of "inspecting the goods" is not a foreign one. What we need is some type of candidate 'Rodeo' where the public gets a chance to ask questions in an open and honest format so they actually get to try out candidates before they are stuck with them for four years. No censorship. No time limits. No membership and $20.00 required. In this true spirit of American politics we should also allow the candidates to trade questions amongst themselves in spirit of a real debate. In America, we do not do well when politicians are elected in a vacuum void of honest debate. Sterilized and sanitized question and answer sessions are not the day to day business that face elected officials, so why would we trust in that format to elect them? We should not.

Let's open the doors to the community facility at Heritage Park and invite the public to the facility that they own to ask the questions of candidates they want to ask. Instead of protecting the incumbents and those who have been handpicked by a few monied donors, lets throw them in the stadium and see who is left politically standing. Let's give the public a chance to ask the questions that should be asked and return our system of government back to one that our fore-fathers would be proud of. Maybe if we give the public a chance to see the politicians in action we can avoid electing more rodeo clowns that duck in a barrel when the public comes charging at them. Let them debate.

Policy by Chance?

Today the City of Kissimmee will determine the order of qualified candidates on the ballot for the elections that are set for the end of August. Placing names on the ballot in an order determined by a random lottery was the brainchild of Commissioner Jerry Gemskie during the last round of charter change discussions. Many of our readers will remember that these charter changes were the ones decided on by the commissioners that a charter review committee was not allowed to discuss. Commissioner Gemskie still suffering from his youthful scars of being alphabetically average, passionately spoke about the need for fairness in the electoral process. We would have to agree with Mr. Gemskie that the community's luck with competent elected officials has been about as good as winning a round of bingo. Just look at how far forward our current commission has brought our community and most residents would take their chances with the blind odds of fate any day. By the end of today, our fates will be sealed by happenstance of a few colorful balls.

One important note on this entry is the coverage that Mark Pino, blogger extrodinare, from the Orlando Sentinel gave this topic. The headline was "Osceola will use luck of the draw to set ballot order." We have noted on many past articles that it would be nice if the media could actually figure out the difference between Osceola and Kissimmee. We know that Mr. Pino's journalistic skills have probably been dampend by his current blogging assignments, but simple geography is not that difficult. Now we are going to have a few voters (assuming there are still a few that read the Sentinel) in Osceola County who think that races that effect them are going to be affected by this same bingo based ballot business. Next time please look at a map.

Homeless Impact Fee

In government's great quest for additional revenue sources, the WayneWho staff believes that local governments, with the help of the media, are working to find ways to circumvent the forced budget tightening created by Amendment 1. One way it seems is to turn their tax hungry appetites away from the citizens, and to turn their sights on a growing population that, for the most part, have gone untaxed. Sources close to somebody that might have once known one of the commissioners have reported to the WayneWho staff that because of the incessant liberal nagging of the Orlando Sentinel about creating a better and more welcoming atmosphere for the homeless, that some sort of Homeless Impact Fee is being explored. "The homeless cost us money," noted one low level official. The basic argument of many local governments over the past several years has been that growth needs to pay for itself, and since the homeless population is growing, many in government think even this growth should pay for itself. "Not only do we have to provide funding for some commissioners' homeless pet-projects, but now we have some regional group that wants us to build a Wal-Mart like facility for them. The taxpayers just cannot afford paying for more social care facilities like this." When asked about push from the regional homeless panel on these issues, the same source replied, "The money has to come from somewhere cause the region will get the money it wants out of a community one way or another."

The references on special needs facilities for the regions growing homeless population were based on a report put out in the Orlando Sentinel this past week on the need for local communities to spend $2 million on one-stop catch all facilities for the homeless along with spending $50 million a year on services related to the homeless. As bureaucrats quickly looked for ways to lay claim to some of this money, they became excited as they realized that since the homeless population would continue to grow under the Sentinel's "attract-them-if-you-can-plan" to "combat" homelessness, the Homeless Impact fee would provide a never ending source of revenue. They also soon realized that even if you cannot attract the homeless from other areas who will pay the fee, that by adjusting tax, storm water, and fire fee structures, governments could create their own stream of homeless from their own currently dwelled residents. These realizations helped to quickly end a debate that was brewing on which Florida city was the most attractive to the homeless. Local Homeless and Undwelled Visitors Bureaus (HUVB's) quickly attacked this position stating that local governments still needed to continue to advertise to the homeless outside of our area to create a stable homeless economy and to make sure that this growth paid for itself.

The WayneWho staff is glad to see the governments are looking at other ways to fund the expensive socialistic ideas of the Orlando Sentinel crack editorial team. While we believe that the homeless who want help to get back on their feet should be helped, our communities and taxpayers should not be forced into funding fancy dwelling challenged processing centers of the type that bureaucrats love to build. Maybe the Sentinel should offer its excess profits if it believes these type of regional plans are what is needed.

Yet another fee idea

There's another new government services fee idea floating around out there, and WayneWho staff is kind of surprised that we haven't heard about it locally...yet. The new fee idea for local governments is a fuel surcharge. Almost every airline and transportation carrier has implemented something similar already, so we were not surprised to see some governments trying it out.

The City of Holly Springs, an Atlanta suburb, is considering levying a $12 fuel surcharge to tickets issued by their police department as well as city ordinance violation notices. The city's police chief estimated that the surcharge would generate $35,000 - $45,000 annually.

Is this something that local governments might put on the table as a way to offset rising fuel costs in any department that justifiably uses a government vehicle? Building Inspectors, Code Enforcement, Public Safety, and other departments that require travel as part of their operation may eventually look at incorporating a fee such as this to target those using the service instead of spreading the burden over the entire tax base.

The real question that needs to be asked would be if a fee like this is really needed? If local governments and the departments within them can prove they have cut back to the bare minimums in operational costs, then a fee like this might gain support in the community. The problem we see with establishing a fuel surcharge is that we still see too many single occupant city and county vehicles in line at the Wendy's drive through for lunch. Additional fees are not needed if every attempt to cut expenses has not been implemented. It is also hard to justify new fees when local governments think it is their responsibility to divert tax money from citizens to non-profit organizations that taxpayers may or may not want to support and can support on their own if they choose to.

Watch out... we are sure that it won't be long before this fee idea will be coming to a commission chamber near you.

Property Taxes Going Up

Here is some news we know will be welcomed by the residents of Osceola County. Our property tax bills will probably be going up this coming year. The WayneWho staff has been doing some research on this information for some time to determine whether or not residents would see any savings because of the passage of Amendment 1, and it appears for most property owners, you will pay more even with the savings. The trick is in the "Homestead Exemption" that allows your property tax assessment to rise by a maximum of 3% every year. While property owners home values have tumbled, most have not dropped enough to slip under this magic 3% number. For many the tax credits from Amendment 1 will not be enough to offset this 3% increase, so in essence, most will see an increase in their property tax bills and local governments will see more revenues on this alone. Let's now add in the additional fees and fee increases governments have established to offset their "reduced" revenues and residents property tax savings are going to be all but gone. Commercial property owners will again take the biggest hit in the increases they are going to pay, but hey, it costs a lot of money to develop secret code names for economic development bowling allies. Maybe we should call this property tax season "Project Light Wallet," or better yet, "Project Rolling Coin."

Regardless of the outcome of this year's property tax increases, governments are going to blame the voters for this whole thing. It is the voters fault that they did not listen to the dire warnings of what would happen if they were not allowed to spend with no limits. It is the voters fault that the this area has taken one of the worst hits in the housing crisis because of bad growth policies that rewarded special interests over residents. It is all your fault.

With all of these arguments getting ready to explode over the next few weeks, we figured we would take a few days this week and explore some alternative fees and/or taxes that may or may not be introduced by local governments. The "How Shall We Tax?" series will begin tomorrow and explore ideas many are already talking about, and some fee/tax ideas that are straight from the un-news minds of the WayneWho staff. We hope you will will enjoy this smart tax synopsis.

Bowling For Dollars

The top secret economic development project "Rolling Rock" has been approved and the local elected officials and talking heads of the media are chattering about this successful deal like drivers finding a gas station that hasn't had a chance to up its prices by a nickel that day. The County Commission recently inked a deal between the county and the United States Bowling Congress to hold 13 bowling championships events in the area with the "expectation" they would generate almost $750 million dollars in local economic activity. These events would be held in a new 100 lane bowling facility located on Disney property located in Osceola county. The county's investment is $1 million every time an event is held which means the county is really spending $13 million of tourist tax dollars (funny money) to secure the events. Not a bad deal even by the standards of the WayneWho staff.

Over the weekend, the comedic editorial blogger, Mark Pino, of the Orlando Sentinel wrote an entry singing the high praises of Project Rolling Rock and how it will be a win-win for the county. Well, that is win-win if all you care about is how much tax money can be generated by local government to be squandered on everything but things to improve the quality of life of our residents. What Mr. Pino, and the rest of the local government cheerleading squad seem to forget is the horrible track record of local governments to spend these windfall tax revenues wisely. Excess profits lead to excess spending and very little of it can be traced back to improvements for residents. There is always some new toy or gadget that some department has to have to do its job more efficiently, but rarely does that translate to better services. Of course who would think about anything like this after an intoxicating romp with an American classic like Rolling Rock? And who would even know about mismanaged and misspent funds when local media spends its time rallying support for government instead of asking for accountability?

The issue Mr. Pino is not how much money will this project generate for government, the issue is how will it benefit the residents of our community? What type and how many jobs? Are they more service level pay jobs with no benefits? Has any number been given so from year to year we can track the employment and pay figures to gage any direct economic impact? Remember the great promise of jobs at the Lowes Distribution center? Were the tax breaks worth it on that project? And as far as spillover into the hotels located on the west end of Osceola County, what measurement will be used to make sure that the objectives promised now are ever really reached? Higher occupancy, higher revenues, or maybe the ability for many of these properties to actually pay their taxes? We have seen only a limited promise of follow-up on any of these questions from Commissioner Shipley whose time on the commission is almost over. Who will pick up the torch of accountability on a department steeped in secrecy? Will anyone provide year to year studies to the public, or can we expect another gutter ball on follow through?

Maybe we should just do like our local media suggests, forget all that numbers talk cause this big bowling ally is gonna be like you're on a gravy train with biscuit wheels. Eat hearty residents.

Greener green lights

One of our local commuters contacted the WayneWho research institute with an observation. According to their report, the traffic light at Mabbette and Thacker has an interesting bias towards turning green immediately for any traffic approaching from the west side of the intersection, which just happens to be where the city vehicle maintenance facility lives.

The WayneWho investigative unit has tried to keep an unscientific survey of this intersection whenever we're in the area, and it does seem that, even if there are multiple cars heading north and south on Thacker, as soon as a vehicle heading east on Mabbette approaches the intersection, it more often than not gets the green light.

We are left to assume that this is a new "green" measure being undertaken by the traffic control division. With all of the city vehicles heading out through this intersection every day, the savings in fuel by not having them idle at this intersection must be significant. Perhaps, if the results are quantifiable, we could expand the program, and city vehicles would always receive priority at any intersection in the city. Think of the savings!

City Commission - Candy Factory Episode

There are times when the Kissimmee City Commission meeting turns from an episode of an ordinary local government at work, into an absurd attempt by the script writers at Access Osceola to get a cheap laugh. Even though the WayneWho staff is basically immune to the feable quick laugh tactics put forth by the over staffed public information office (a.k.a. Access Osceola) for the City of Kissimmee, even we chuckled at this week's episode.

The WayneWho staff held tough during the power pointless presentation of the thrills of the high stakes competition and victory of the All America City award. The ability to pick a soundtrack and mix it with semi-action shots to make the application judging seem on par with the Super Bowl almost made us crack a smile, but in the end the ludicrous nature of the moment snapped us back into the reality of our surroundings.

During the next act, though, even our grumpy old staff could not hold back the laughter. The scene started with staff explaining that they needed direction from the commission (wait, it gets even funnier) on how the commission was going to decide funding for social services, if indeed they were going to fund them at all. The initial reaction of the commission was that the recommendation from staff looked good to them and that they would like to approve staffs plan.

After a couple of rounds of staff explaining that what they had put in the back-up was not a plan that should be voted on, the commission seemed to slip into an almost coma like state of confusion. Then the commissioners showed their true talents in the acting trade by debating on what criteria they would base the funding on, since they had already removed any mechanism for finding out the needs of the programs by getting rid of the United Way funding process and by not creating some type of application process in the interim. Those decisions had left the commission with no way to find out what programs were requesting what funding, or what services the citizens of our community might need in the coming year. (This is now the climax of the humorous skit as devised by Access Osceola to keep you watching.) To bypass the logical step of creating an application process, many of the commissioners decided to say out loud that they thought it would be best to base the future needs of our community on the needs from last year. Wow. The punchline hidden in the skit being that gas was only around $2.45 last year and that with an oil, housing, credit, job, economy, and overall life crisis facing our nation today, last year's plans should do the trick on any funding decisions. Hysterical!

What was even more funny was the juxtaposition of the presentation of the All America Pageant award, followed by the "I Love Lucy-esque" discussion of the serious matter of social service funding. As one WayneWho staffer called it, "Pure Comedic Genius." Most of our staff has been holding out for the Pay-Per-View cage match between Commissioner Irizarry and Commissioner Gemskie, but the social services workshop might prove to be worth its weight in popcorn (Tums if you are one of the social service programs, or might be in need of one of them).

All we can say is that if this type of brilliant script writing does not fix Access Osceola's little ratings problem, nothing will. (Maybe Access Osceola should run the tapes of Commissioner Irizarry trash talking churches and explaining how churches need to be charged like businesses because basically they are businesses, and that they should be shut down if they don't comply. That should keep the viewers tuned in for sure!)

Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do.
...Ricky Ricardo

Running Scared

Is anyone else already tired of the campaign lawn signs, which somehow have managed to outnumber the "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs around town?

We know, it's a mind game for the candidates. More signs = more signs. But we think sometimes the game goes too far.

One local incumbent should know better. The Kissimmee political sign ordinance reads, in part:

"Non-residential properties are allowed one political sign per candidate or ballot issue. Each sign may not exceed sixteen (16) square feet in size. Signs may be double sided, each side not to exceed sixteen (16) square feet. No illumination is allowed."

This week, we noticed that said candidate has either two signs at the former cancer center building on Oak Street, or two signs on the bank property at the corner of Oak & John Young (depending on where the lot line is). The same candidate has two signs (one big sign, one yard sign) attached to the fence on the two sides of the plumbing property immediately adjacent to the round-a-fountain on MLK Blvd. Never mind that this same candidate also has signs on immediately adjacent properties in both cases.

Games are fun, but elected officials shouldn't be playing "trick code enforcement" with their campaign signs. We deserve better.

No longer a bridesmaid

The National Civic League announced over the weekend that Kissimmee won one of the 10 All-America City awards for 2008.

We offer congratulations to those who managed the city's application. If we had been judging, we would have paid a lot of attention to the fact that the expenses for the application and presentation competition were paid by individual and corporate donations, rather than from taxpayer funds. We believe that wise and frugal uses of tax dollars are a true "All-American" trait. We think this is also a good learning case...you don't need to field a team of 100 players at tremendous cost to get something done. Bigger is not always better.

We know that many of the commissioners worked hard to ensure that Kissimmee would be able compete for this title again. Many of them have openly stated that winning this title would serve as a rallying point to help bring our community together. As divided as our community has become, we hope this is true. We have also heard in several debates on the issue that winning this competition would help secure economic development. We hope that this win will be used by our commissioners to do more than fill space on their own campaign flyers. While some commissioners may deserve credit for the work they put in on entering our community into the competition, the work is not over. As a matter of fact, the hard work is just beginning.

The award is for one year. Kissimmee must use the publicity from this award to bring attention, and frankly, new businesses to the city. Simply putting the logo on city letterhead, a few signs on popular streets, and in various election campaign mailers, will not be enough. As elected officials, and leaders, commissioners now have the job of raising community pride and rallying and uniting our community around this accomplishment. This may prove to be an even more difficult task than winning the competition because the judges from the NCL don't visit the communities they judge, whereas our residents see the true state of our community every day.

Interestingly, when we were visiting the National Civic League's website on Friday, looking for news on the competition, we learned that the NCL has a whole "other side" that focuses on "helping communities confront and resolve their most pressing and urgent challenges."

Among other items NCL offers is a "Model City Charter" for municipal governments using the council-manager form of government. And there are some articles by Derek Okubo, Vice President of NCL, that would be of any interest to Wayne Who readers. Check them out at http://ncl.org/cs/articles.html. We hope our elected officials and candidates will.

Senator Dockery on Defense

We would have thought that Senator Paula Dockery would have been living the high life...the state trial lawyers are her best friends, she's running unopposed for re-election, and she can tell the citizens of Lakeland that she single-handedly saved them from a lifetime of increasing frequency of train whistles.

But judging from the number of op-ed articles Sen. Dockery has written lately, explaining her crusade against the Central Florida commuter rail project, it seems that perhaps some of her constituents (perhaps the ones from Osceola County?) think she has some fences to mend.

To believe the articles, the negotiations between Florida DOT and CSX Transportation were so secret, it's a wonder that our elected officials even knew that they might have to approve something related to commuter rail. Which is funny, since it seems that many of us have been following, and debating, the commuter rail project for years now. Apparently, elected officials are sequestered from the news sources provided to the commoners, and only are alerted to issues when staff jumps out and yells "boo! time to vote!"

We do give Senator Dockery a little bit of credit, in that she has at least attempted to provide an alternative solution when she opposes the plan she has been presented. We contrast that to the behavior of many elected officials, who wait for a single option to be presented by staff, and then say "no, I don't like that idea. Someone needs to come up with a different plan."

Senator Dockery's alternative proposal revolves around her belief that Amtrak already controls enough rail schedule, and has enough existing liability insurance, that the state can simply sign a contract with Amtrak to provide commuter rail service and make an end-run around CSX Transportation.

We think this concept will fall short, because it ignores the axiom that "he who owns the tracks controls the schedule." As long as CSX owns the tracks, freight trains will always have priority over passenger trains, and any commuter rail line that has to pull off to a siding to let a freight train go by will be doomed to failure. Ask the fine folks in South Florida. TriRail had many issues early on when dispatching was handled by the rail company, rather than by the state.

Further, Amtrak does not seem to share a common set of expectations with Senator Dockery's plan. When an Amtrak representative was interviewed during the legislative session regarding this proposal, he seemed to indicate that Amtrak's level of interest was in providing the staff to operate the state's trains.

If such a plan was viable, we would imagine that Amtrak would be producing good revenue right now, building and operating commuter rail systems all over the country.

In any case, Senator Dockery has made a proposal. We would expect that an elected official who rallied the troops in such an overt manner to put the brakes on the commuter rail plan will have no issue with being as aggressive in determining whether her Amtrak proposal is viable. If it turns out to be viable, we would expect that the citizens of Central Florida will owe her a great debt of gratitude. On the other hand, she owes it to her constituents to determine the plan's viability long before the next legislative session, so that if it turns out to not be a viable solution, it does not muddy the waters when the Legislature re-convenes to discuss commuter rail in 2009.

Sentinel Endorses Ramirez

Just kidding...maybe.

What other explanation can there be for Mr. Ramirez's frequent appearances in the Orlando Sentinel of late. First there was the "puff piece" a couple weeks ago, including the big portrait picture. In the Thursday edition, Armando was the only non-school board member who had a reaction printed to the selection of the new schools superintendent.

Has everyone else turned off their cell phones (due to the economic downturn), such that the Sentinel can only reach Armando? Does the Sentinel think that by identifying Mr. Ramirez as a "community activist" and not as a "candidate" that other candidates aren't going to quickly tire of this game? We know that City Commissioner Irizarry has many in the media angry, but there has to be others you can contact for a comment or two.

The other reaction comment, from school board member David Stone, is perhaps more challenging. He says "You know, folks...we don't need more lawyers...we do need plumbers, and we do need pipe fitters, and we do need concrete guys and masons." We would agree that skilled trades jobs were routinely overlooked for years, as students looked for the "big money" technology jobs. But as of late, it doesn¹t seem like there is as much of a need for skilled tradespeople either. Does this comment suggest that Mr. Stone believes that the school district should move away from college prep type training towards industrial arts training? How does that reconcile with the region's desire for advanced education to bring technical employers and higher-paying jobs into the area? Maybe Mr. Stone has just given up on the abilities of Osceola County students and believes they can not learn anything more advanced? We guess we will just have to ask him.

Location, Location, Location...

People planning projects in St. Cloud seem to keep picking locations that are just not suitable for the project they want passed. First we had the government subsidized housing project that special interest developers and non-profits tried to force onto residents on Michigan Avenue. Using state and local money, one developer and a host of financially supported elected officials (Mayor Hart, County Commissioner Ken Smith), elected official wanna-be's (Fred Hawkins Jr. and Wade Davis), and those who just generally support governments roll in development (School Board Member Tom Greer, School Board Member Jay Wheeler) have been working hard to get "The Preserve" passed. County Commissioner Bill Lane also originally supported the project and giving county taxpayer money to the project until he realized that the "location" that the developer and the Education Foundation (also know as the Umbrella Corporation by County Commissioner Smith) had picked was upsetting just about the entire community. He then changed his mind, like many others, noting that the location of the project was going to be a problem.

We all know that this cast of characters has not given up on the project and they are now trying to find a way to move the facility's location near the turnpike. This despite the fact the School Board and the Education Foundation's original baseless claim was that they needed to house all the teachers they were going to hire, is no longer an issue because now they are in the process of reducing the number of teachers they have instead of hiring more. Sounds like the magical math of public-private partnerships to the WayneWho staff.

Now, a whole new "location" issue has taken center stage in the fight between government and the residents of St. Cloud. The Transition House, of which Councilman Tom Griffin is the CEO, is now trying to put a drug rehab center next to a school because (wait for it) a "grant has become available" to pay for an 80 bed facility. The facility is also meant to serve (again wait for it) "primarily" homeless veterans. Weren't these the same arguments used for the subsidized housing project formerly known as "The Preserve." We have to do it because if we don't we will lose the money, and we need it to house teachers even though we cannot really control who lives there. "Primarily homeless veterans," sounds very much like we will take anyone if we can get the state dollars for saying we treated them. So now we have community leaders who are willing to risk the safety of our children just because a grant has become available. Sounds like a great resume builder.

After talking with many people throughout the county, the WayneWho staff believes it has figured out what the real push is to get a new Transition House facility in our county. Election season is upon us and the developer friendly candidates need walkers and people that will hold signs for them. The Transition House residents are used every election year to do the campaigning work of candidates that cannot get real support from community members, and with so many on the ballot this time, we need to bring in more forced help to get them elected. Candidates such as Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan, Former Mayor of St. Cloud Glenn Sanjiovani, and of course Councilman Tom Griffin himself have all made use of the state tax funded, forced support of those who are trying to put their lives back together. We have often wondered why the state has not investigated these abuses of not only its funding, but the care its funding is supposed to be providing, but hey, winning an election takes supporters whether they want to support or not. Maybe all the candidates who are going to be loaned human workhorses during this election season should just use one of the conveniently located Transition Houses as their campaign headquarters. Our only question is if the State of Florida should be listed as a campaign contributor on the financial statements of those who receive this state paid help? Just call us curious.

If the St. Cloud Council chooses incorrectly to allow the drug-rehab center next to school children, we might be able to create a positive Public Service Announcement for the children. Don't use drugs because it is bad for you and you will end up as free labor to some candidate that is really only supported by seedy special interests groups. Let's put Access Osceola on that project!

Knowing is Half The Battle

The lay-off numbers for the county are in and the City of Kissimmee is still in the process of making its reductions. Our heart-felt hopes go out to those who now, or will, find themselves in on the job market like this. Maybe the Economic Development Department can explain how to find all of those "secret" jobs that they have been working so hard to bring in to our community so your time on the unemployment line will be short.

Now that the positions have been cut, government has stepped up it's campaign to blame the residents for voting for a tax cut. It is the people's fault, of course, that government went through the same uncontrolled growth spurt that housing development in our area has gone through over the past several years. A couple of years ago government was rolling in the ever increasing tax revenues it was collecting and lacked the foresight to control the expansion of its own employment base. This mismanagement allowed government to get much larger than it could afford to be. Now government is being forced to reduce its staffing back to affordable levels. Government officials argue that this is the fault of the residents and they are doing every thing they can to protect government. We supposed that falling property values, delinquent tax bills that can not even be auctioned off, and the rising gas prices are also the fault of our residents? We think not.

While all of this is going on, new furniture is being moved into the county building, convention centers are being discussed, and more housing developments, that are what got us into this mess, are being approved. In the city of course we have All American City pageants to attend, pigs to outlaw, and fountains to be built. St. Cloud's big issue is whether (or not) to put a drug-rehab facility next to a school that young children attend. All impressive governmental issues, but none that seem to bring relief to the citizens at large. Most of the issues will impact the residents negatively, which implies that government is suffering from a true disconnect from not only the people, but the jobs they have been elected to do.

Maybe it is time that local elected officials are required to take an educational course to brush up on the responsibilities of government instead of the weekend seminar they now take on "How to be an elected official." Knowing and understanding the job of government would help go along way in preventing the mess the local governments, and the residents, now find themselves in. As A Real American Hero G.I. Joe would say, "Knowing is Half The Battle" and at some point, elected officials have to learn their respective jobs and how to prioritized the needs of the community instead of prioritizing what they want done personally.

A simple example of this would be to look at the All America City pageant the City of Kissimmee is trying out for today. The city worked hard to raise over $12,000 dollars to fund the junket instead of using tax dollars. Great, but what else could that money have been used for? Did the City just dip into the limited amount of money that companies have on hand that is intended to be given back to the community? Did the city just take money away from programs like "Meals-On-Wheels" so they could attend this competition? Maybe the contributors who donated their money to the pageant never intended to give this money to other programs, but maybe the commission should have put more thought into the priorities of those they are elected to represent. We guess that depends or your definition of what "All American" means. Again, knowledge is power.

A second quick example is the drug-rehab facility that was approved by the planning board in St. Cloud last night that they are trying put in a residential area near a school. The non-profit that will run the facility is the Transition House who chief executive officer is Councilman Tom Griffin. The project is moving right along even though many have express their concerns about the danger it may pose to the school children nearby. No outcry for the project, plenty against, and government thinks it is a good idea. It will be good for Mr. Griffin, but we are not sure it will be good for the community when you look at the results of the facility in the City of Kissimmee. Again, "Knowing is Half the Battle."

Maybe elected officials just need to understand that the priorities the are supposed to fight for are the priorities of the residents? We still think they need to take the class.

Economic Development...Let's Start With Getting the Locations Right

Last week, the Sentinel ran a story on how gas prices were negatively impacting business along 192 in Kissimmee. Two thoughts immediately sprang to mind...

1) Gas prices did it? 192 in Kissimmee has been in decline for years, at least since the hurricanes in 2004.

2) Oh, the Sentinel meant West 192, which is not in Kissimmee. Guess they've been believing all that "Kissimmee means Tourism, Osceola County means Business" silliness being spewed out of certain county offices. Note to Kissimmee commissioners: if this is true, you should start annexing all of those tourism locations that you hold the brand for and resolve the city's tax income problem.

We went back to the Sentinel's online forum later in the week to check in on things, and found a couple of interesting entries (from the same user account) on the issue:

There's more going on here than just high gas prices. Just look at the 192 strip-it's trashy! The only hotels in Kissimmee are low budget dives that are not particularly a "family atmosphere" but rather look more like a "criminal atmosphere". There's an abundance of pawn shops, check cashing businesses (not that they look bad) and closed up businesses. Many businesses are relocating to Osceola Parkway and the Loop area because it's nicer and more vibrant and partially because the City of Kissimmee's process for putting in new businesses is so cumbersome and difficult that it's not worth the trouble. The City of Kissimmee offers no incentives to attract new businesses and quality lodging that would in turn attract people to patronize other local businesses.

...and...

There needs to be a balance between the big box stores like Walmart and the smaller businesses that have quality items-there is a market for both. It all goes back to attracting businesses. I work for the City of Kissimmee and know 1st hand how difficult it is to get a business/project approved. The department I work in has had some small projects that required permitting.

It took any where from 3-9 months to jump through all the hoops for permits-and that's for another City department! I can only imagine how difficult it is for an individual or business to get off the ground with all the red tape. Don't get me wrong, I understand the need for approvals because of code compliance, etc. but Kissimmee gets out of hand!

Now, we all know that you just can't trust those online blogs, so we'd like to see some evidence of the 3-9 month permitting process. But imagine for a second that it's true. This seems like a quick fix that can be done Right Now (caps intended). Each department could include in their department goals (which are under review right now by a commission that has probably never read them) "complete needed business permit work within x days per application" and yes, that's days, not weeks, not months.

If someone wants to open a business in our community, provide jobs, pay taxes, and occupy an otherwise vacant building, don't we owe it to them to make the yes/no question on permits as streamlined a process as possible? Or maybe it is more important to give them secret code names instead of improving the process?

Making the process more simplified and less restrictive is Economic Development 101, folks. Feel free to come up with a catchy slogan (or a secret code name) if you really need one.

Control

"All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it."
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville

The current debates that we have seen in all local governments that our un-news site normally funnels into posts by our local Kissimmee City Commission and their decisions, show the decaying orbit government now finds itself in. Over the past thirty years, government has increasingly expanded its ambition and its control over the residents and the land that they have been tasked to govern. This experiment in increasing the responsibilities of government has proven to be an embarrassing failure over the long term and we are now seeing citizens demand government reduce its role, and expenses, or risk the wrath by voters at every opportunity. This has made vengeful government figures angry and we are now seeing signs that government intends to seek revenge on those who it believes have caused it to lose the control it once had. There will be no better example of this than at Tuesday night's commission meeting when the "White Whale" know as Mrs. Piggy will be rode into the deep by a commission bent on seeking revenge against all those who have defied its percieved omnipotent level of control. This while the ship of our local community sinks to the same depths as wreckage because its captain(s) have left the helm in pursuit of their own agendas that have less to do with the common good and more with the exercise of power.

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee."
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville

The WayneWho staff would like its readers to understand that this is not a post about the fate of Pot-bellied pigs in our community. This is a post about the loss of focus and purpose all local governments have enjoyed during the past many years, like our community was a Whopper that government could choose to have any way it wishes. Now that voters have stated their clear intentions to limit the selections of toppings to reduce the cost of governmental feasting, governments are being asked to deal with real issues instead of topics of distraction. However, Tuesday's Pot-bellied pig ordinance is a distraction issue. Limiting a single class of domestic pets to only one animal is one based on revenge and not practical government. Mrs. Piggy is not the evil that will cause the destruction of our community, but she is the detraction that will allow other issues that could lead to the destruction of our city slip by with no discourse.

There are other issues on the agenda for the City Commission on Tuesday night that should receive much more discussion than they will. Zoning changes for property along the Vine Street corridor that will be approved and set the tone for the possible redevelopment of the city's core. There will be no discussion on how continuing to increase the commercial and possible residential inventories on a strip that is already receiving a failing grade of 'D' when it comes to its transportation level of service will impact our community. As the amount of available commercial space increases does it make sense to build more? Does it also make sense to build more in an area that is difficult for people to reach because the proper transportation infrastructure has not been built, and is only a design concept meant to appease the public instead of being a true solution? All of these discussions that will be trumped by the importance of controlling the rampant spread of Pot-bellied pigs.

Kissimmee is not the only government to suffer by the distraction of topical issues. A school board that is trying to enter the housing business in the middle of a housing crisis, a county government working on a expo-center when they cannot break even on the small convention space they have already built, school uniforms, rearranging office space through out county government, city manager evaluations, and the list goes on. While we understand that governing is not always about the big issues, at some point the big issues need to be addressed without manufacturing other small issues to stall for time. The time for good government is now.

Call us Ishmael, or WayneWho if you like.