Pay It Forward

Tonights City of Commission Workshop should be broadcast so those of us working the late shifts could catch the spectacle that is about to unfold. The evening will begin with what we assume will be a powerpoint-less presentation from the city's own public information officer that will show many pretty pictures the commissioners will coo over with mindless delight. The public information office which is the backbone of the city's own TV station known as Access Osceola will be showing off the 'branding' efforts underway through the graphic design projects taxpayers have been paying for. This was the same department, that by our estimation should be ground zero for the looming budget cuts, that wanted to run with the idea of removing the cow from the City of Kissimmee's logo. The question that should be asked of the PIO tonight is, "Do you believe that the money you have spent on 'creating collateral materials' that reflect a cohesive design scheme to help brand the identity of the City of Kissimmee, just in case people are not sure where they live, is more important than fixing our pothole ladened streets?"

While this discussion would be most entertaining one to watch, it is not one of the discussions that will be of most importance to how this political year will unfold. The last two items on the workshop agenda by Commissioner Irizarry are very blatant attempts to secure support for his re-election campaign. The first item being the discussion on the "Expansion of Bus Bench Agreement" that is allowed with 20/20 Media. While the WayneWho staff was glad to see an item on the agenda about 20/20 Media because, as we witness while driving around town yesterday, it means that the bus stops will actually be cleaned, it is a self serving issue for Commissioner Irizarry because of the "In-Kind Advertising" 20/20 media likes to give politicians. We assume that this is his attempt to pay-it-forward to secure some easy ad space and support. While we are sure that everything will be written off appropriately, we think this discussion touches on some curious ethical issues that make city government look more like county government. On this issue, if Commissioner Irizarry wants to show the community why he should be re-elected, he should ask the question of why the City of Kissimmee has not received a revenue sharing payment from 20/20 Media since August of 2007?

The other item for discussion is one on zoning for the Downtown Commercial District. While this discussion should be one of the most important discussions the City has on steps it is going to take to improve the retail, restaurant, and entertainment corridor, this does not appear to be the reason the item has been brought up. Many local political hopefuls feel that support from the downtown equates to wins during an election. While this may or not be true, our problems is that the discussion will be empty and hollow and offer little insight into the direction that should be taken to improve the economic stability of the B-1 District. While several failed mortgage, title, and real estate establishments have helped property owners pay their mortgages short-term, they have done little to improve the retail foot traffic required to keep retail shop doors open. The addition of several restaurants has helped to create more traffic in the downtown, but it seems the increase in traffic have not translated into sales for the retail merchants who continue to close their doors. So what is the answer? While the WayneWho staff has kicked around a few ideas, what we are sure of is that you will know that this is a self serving topic for Commissioner Irizarry based on the questions and ideas he puts forward. Again Commissioner, this is a golden opportunity to show this community what you are made of and some good questions from you would help. Our suggested question for the evening would be simple. Why is a successful retail business that brings people into the downtown being forced out of downtown so a non-profit organization can take its place? Is the new goal of the city to have tax-subsidized organizations incubated in the downtown or is this a long term plan to keep Kissimmee Main Street as a tenant? The e-mails we have received suggest that this should not be the case, but we will let Commissioner Irizarry show the community his 'Republican' values on the subjects of government intervention and commerce. All we know is that we hope that Breck's Cookies can relocate some where close because our grandkids love their cookies and will cry like the Dickens if we aren't able to get them some.

FunkyTown

It seems that in these dire economic times, the Kissimmee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has adopted new lighting guidelines to help alleviate the problems created by its restrictive design standards policies. The WayneWho staff was out in the jaywalking infested Broadway area over the weekend when we noticed the addition of historic 'rope lighting' to some of the structures in the downtown. Nothing says 'class' like rope lights.

While we do not fault any business trying to find ways to operate in the strangle-hold of regulations in the CRA controlled areas of downtown, we would have hoped for something that did not make the downtown look like an 80's roller skating rink. While we know that the goal of the CRA is to recreate the metaphorical place described by the band Lipps Inc. in their hit song "FunkyTown" as a place that keeps "me movin', keeps me groovin' with some energy," we doubt that rope lighting is the answer. Of course none of the WayneWho staff has to deal with over-zealous and harassing code enforcement 'officers' who have taken on the roll of CRA toadies, so we find it hard to call foul on those who have figured out a way to 'funk up' downtown in an effort to bring some business through their doors. We are surprised that CRA toadies have not forced the businesses to take down the lights as of yet, but we assume that they, like their school board counterparts, miss the days of lighted-floor dance-offs and whisper to themselves ever so quietly, "Won't you take me to --- FunkyTown."

While the WayneWho staff thinks the new look for downtown is somewhat tacky, we have to salute the businesses who continue to struggle against a bad economy and the efforts of local government to shut down the whole area. We just hope they are not burning the rope lights at both ends.

"Dog Don't Hunt"

Today's "editorial" in the Osceola News Gazette shows that the periodical has once again slipped into a state of nonsensical babel surrounded by advertising. In today's Gazette editorial called "Reform needed for state taxes," they express dismay that the talk of raising taxes in the state during tough economic times is considered heresy. They believe, just like many of our local politicians believe, that raising taxes should be on the agenda for legislators this year. "Our legislators and local elected officials – as well as their constituents – have to be open-minded on the issue of raising more revenue," championed the editorial staff. Well, as some of those "constituents", the WayneWho staff thinks "Dog Don't Hunt."

First lets start off with the most simple of discussions so that the Gazette's editorial staff can keep up. If state officials have learned anything over the past year it is that tax revenue is not necessarily stable. While you might selectively raise taxes on some items and services this year, there is no guarantee that the income will be the same or increase the next. The taxes paid on gasoline are supposed to go toward fixing roads, but in a year where we have seen gas tax collections at their highest and lowest, the extra cash to fix the roads is non-existent. Why? Because as tax collections rose because the the price of gas went up, so did the cost to actually fix the roads and run the equipment fueled on 'gas' that are required to make the repairs. This past year has taught economist lessons on the inter-connectivity of economies. Or in the most simple terms, that we would be happy to chart in Crayon for our friends at the Gazette, economies are based on a zero sum gain. Even more simply, there is only a certain amount of cash and for the state to have more means that the people have less. It is a simple idea of balancing an equation. If you raise taxes on Internet sales or packs of cigarettes, you are taking money that people and business would use for a purchase on something else and giving it to the politicians. While many will easily point a finger at raising taxes on cigarettes as a way to increase revenue, how many convenience store workers will you put out of work because people will either stop buying cigarettes or the impulse buys that they once had the cash for. It is these incidentals that keep the convenience store industry moving forward. And for those politicians, and periodical editors, who say, "they won't stop buying cigarettes," aren't you the same people who told us the housing boom was going to go on forever? And the idea of raising taxes on Internet sales by targeting the hospitality industry is just moronic. While companies such as Expedia are probably making good money by not paying as much in Internet sales tax as a brick and mortar location, they are doing the one thing that billions of dollars lost in Visitor Bureaus around the state has not been able to do, they are bringing people to Florida and they are helping to keep the hospitality industry alive.

Which leads us to our final lesson for those who view raising taxes as something mandatory in a depressionary economy. Why should we give government more money? What grand thing has government done that is so wonderful that they deserve a raise? Between state and local governments we are not even sure who to point the finger at as far as who has screwed up the worst. Failing schools, failing roads, local businesses closing up leaving long stretches of strip malls vacant and millions unemployed, and the Gazette and local elected officials think that government deserves even more money. That is like giving a mechanic who you just paid to replace your spark plugs more money because he mistakenly replaced all of your tires. That dog don't hunt.

And for all of the scare tactics about cutting critical services coming from sources like the Gazette because some politician e-mailed them the information, knock it off. How can threats like this get put into print when we have the politicians pushing for spending our money on a project like the "Smog Line" heavy rail system that is supposed to move people to jobs that don't exist? Critical services are the basic function of government. This is their sole purpose. Critical services are not convention centers, sports arenas or even jello and coleslaw wrestling venues dotting the abandoned vine street corridor. Tax us for the services that you are supposed to provide and scrap everything else. That sounds like a great title for the Gazette's next editorial, and if nothing else, it is a dog that will hunt.

He doesn't always get it right, but this time he did...

Last night, School Board Member Jay Wheeler sent out a supplement to his usual update ramblings. Typically we find it difficult to make it through his entire email, but this time our collective eyes did not move until reading it through (some paragraphs twice). With that being said, we felt a need to reprint it below:

This is not an official message from the Osceola County School Board or the Osceola County School District. I am solely responsible for all content. Feel free to forward this to any interested party. All feedback is encouraged.

Tonight the Osceola School Board had a meeting at 5:00 PM. While I am not going to recap the entire meeting. This Board named 4 schools slated to open 8/09. To that end a young lady who was in her Girl Scout uniform got up to speak in support of naming a school for newly inaugurated President Barack Obama. No one else besides me supported this name for one of our schools. The Board had a healthy debate on it.

Upon getting home from the Board meeting I called this young lady to tell her what a great job she did, and that while we did not name a school for President Obama she should be proud of how well she did & the courage she displayed. After speaking with this bright young lady, I asked her if her parents were home & her dad came on to the phone. I thought it was important to share with this young lady's parents how well she did. While the dad appreciated the call, he shared with me that there were attendees sitting behind him making fun of her, commenting that we should name a school after Robert E. Lee while she was speaking.

I am a Republican, and served for nine years on the Osceola County Republican Executive Committee. I did not vote for, support, or campaign for Barack Obama. I did publicly endorse and campaign for John McCain. With that said I am disgusted that anyone would make fun of a middle school student while presenting to the school board, and worse make a clear reference to a man who was the military leader of a confederacy that supported slavery. This may upset some who think I am wrong or right, those who think I'm wrong can call me at 407-973-4141 or 407-390-0505.

Today we have sworn in our first black US President and all of us need to pull together as Americans. Obviously right here in Osceola County we still have a long way to go. When this dad shared this with me, first I felt bad for this student. On further reflection I am outraged at the disrespect, arrogance, and ignorance. Some people still yearn for the good old days, I do not. Staying silent would be just as bad as having said something similar. We all must be vigilant against divisiveness, and shame on anyone who would turn a blind eye to this or something like this.

Sincerely,

Jay Wheeler

Osceola County School Board

District One

SmokeRail

The WayneWho staff enjoys watching the false branding of eco-righteous terminology to taxpayer blackhole projects fall apart as the lawyers of a project are peeled back to reveal the truth. The latest casualty of the eco-smoke-and-mirror routine is the beloved SunRail system that was billed as a tomorrow land fairy-tale transportation that was good for people and the environment. That was until the Colorado builder of the "eco-friendly" trains went out of business. They were the company that was going to build the "eco-friendly" engines that were going to help move people in fast and pollution free manner. So now the taxpayers get to enjoy one of the most famous of government tactics, the bait and switch.

It seems that those who were pushing the SunRail "eco-friendly" transportation system have decided that the old method of a basic pollutant belching locomotives is good enough as long as we get our new toy train system. Department of Transportation officials say the project is on track and that using traditional locomotives will work out just fine. Nice for them to consult with the public who is paying for all of this and voted for the "eco-friendly" system.

With all of this going on, the WayneWho staff has decided that we should run a new logo and naming contest for this new train set. Some of our ideas were "Amtrak II", "SmokeRail", and the "Orlando Smog Line". We can't wait to see your ideas and your designs. We will leave the competition open until such time as the local governments figure out how to explain to the taxpayers that we are now paying for two train systems that will run in Florida. We hope when they figure it out they throw another social get together with those little cocktail weenies. We mean the food, not the politicians.

All in the Family

The family of Florida Governments have seemed to learn very little from the crisis that has hit real Florida families square in the jaw. While many attribute 2008 as the year the economy collapsed, the recessionary problems where hurting families long before 2008. Many Florida families had been feeling the pain even before 2007 to the extent that many had started to cry out to lawmakers and local elected officials that the ever increasing taxes were too much. The problem is that most families did not contend with cutting their expenses and creating a bigger savings accounts, early enough, instead of robbing their savings to keep the lifestyle they had developed when times were better. While we have heard many politicians attempt to blame the exploding amount of foreclosures and bankruptcies on irresponsible acts of individuals, the WayneWho staff has to wonder if more people would have curtailed their spending if every government official and economic hack weren't running around saying things like 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong.' Why would people think we were headed into a housing downturn when governments were approving development after development saying things like 'growth is coming'? There were even quasi-government social clubs like MetroPlan Orlando that hosted little parties where the public could come in and stick down little stickers on where they thought all this growth should go. With all of these high-end professionals thinking things were going to still boom, why wouldn't the average Florida family think the same thing? Why wouldn't they invest some of their savings into a such a booming housing industry?

It is obvious now that many wish they had not robbed their savings based on the uneducated wisdom of elected officials and quasi-governmental employees who are better at keeping themselves employed than they are dealing with the problems in our communities. Of course now we have these same uneducated leaders hacking and slashing our state budget with the precision of inmates stamping license plates. And, you might ask, what are their big ideas to fix the $2.3 billion budget shortfall? They are going to rob the state trust, emergency, and reserve funds, which are basically like savings accounts for the state, and they are going to borrow more money.

Just let that little gem shine for a second.

Our message to state lawmakers: Listen meathead. Robbing your savings and going deeper in debt will not fix the problem. This scenario has been played out millions of times by American families all across our nation with the results only being worse than where they started. We suggest that you download the Suze Orman custom expense worksheet and look at the reality of your problems. There is not one financial guru that would give the state a thumbs up on a plan based on making things worse and going deeper in debt.

Of course by taking the easy way out, lawmakers don't have to work so hard or show that they have don't have any clue as to what they are doing. As the great Arhcie Bunker once said about a co-worker, "In fifty years, he never worked a day. To him, nine to five was odds on a horse." The same is true for politicians. It is easier to play the odds and hope that some one else will cover the losses.

Hold Your Horses

It was with complete shock that WayneWho staff read an editorial piece in the Orlando Sentinel this morning that not only made sense, but we agreed with as well. In an editorial titled "We think: State employees shouldn't be exempted from reductions," the Sentinel builds the case that during these tough budget conditions, reducing the state payroll by reducing salaries, temporary layoffs, and the even more drastic idea of cutting of positions should be examined. Basically, the state should reduce the size of its workforce to deal with the budget shortfall just like every other business in America. They go on to say, "Politicians -- especially Republicans -- love to demand that government behave like a business. When businesses face hard times, they sometimes have to lay off employees. It hurts, but businesses do it to avoid passing along cost increases to customers. They do it to survive." We could not agree more and wish that local governments would learn the same lessons.

Just as the Sentinel noted, "No one is disputing the value of their (government workers) service, as few would dispute the value of teachers who have lost their jobs," and that the disputed wisdom of our local and state governments is that of refusing to become more efficient. While downsizing is not the most popular of ideas, especially when it comes to those who have become used to the warmth and comfort of the governments employment embrace, business is business. Raising taxes and fees or creating new ones is not the answer to the financial problems our local governments have put themselves in. It is time to cut government back to the size it should have been all along instead of the bloated government politicians wanted.

We commend the Sentinel for this editorial. We are sure that within a couple of days they will again be derailed from the tracks of mentally competent and demand that in the middle of this budget crisis we should slash jobs to make sure we have money to give to the homeless (shelter challenged), but for now we give them their due credit.

As we end this article we would also like to thank Art Otero for trying to watch out for the citizens of this community. Your attempt to re-address the Fire Fee is appreciated, but next time be careful not to get caught in the technicality wars. The real issue is that the Fire Fee was just a bad idea that has continued to hurt the business community in the City of Kissimmee who we are now relying on to pull our collective fat out of the fire. The commissioners during the Fire Fee fiasco should have been more aggressive in cutting overhead instead of trying to find ways to skirt the will of the voters of the State of Florida. We hope that Commissioner Otero will continue looking into these issues and will continue to speak out for the citizens of our community.

PS. WayneWho is always "Ready to Rumble!" Just give us some warm up time and a couple of Geritols and we are ready to go.

Beginning of the End

With a new year comes the hope of something better ahead for those of us in Osceola County. This of course depends on one's perspective of what is right or wrong with our community, and on which side of the political spectrum one sits. If one were on the side of special interest developers then one would feel they found a safe haven in one of the last areas that believes housing growth is the answer to all our problems. If one were on the side that believes being a government official automatically means you have special rights to hand out favors and tax money to contributors or those who might want to hire you after your time as an elected official, it may have felt more like the beginning of the end. For those who believe that government can be good if it is properly watched and attended to, you probably felt like nothing, at all, had changed.

Last year during the New Year's holiday, the WayneWho staff put together a list of predictions for the coming year of 2008. This year will only offer one prediction. 2009 will be much harder than 2008 for many people. For those who were hit hard in 2008, 2009 may not offer anything worse, but it probably won't feel much better. This will be a tough year for everyone, especially governments.

This is why the WayneWho staff will not bring forward any other predictions because everything will depend on the actions taken by local governments as to how well our community will rebound. While much of the rebound will come from influences outside of the control or our local officials, local conditions will determine how well our community responds. Except for the school board, there is a sense inside local governments that a tide has shifted and open and transparent government is finally taking shape and that the needs of the citizens are starting to be addressed. We have noticed that while some of the ideas that are being brought forth (like security taxes) sound crazy at first, government has done a good job of narrowing down to a plausible solution. If this pattern continues, then 2009 may have a completely different outcome than 2008.

Another important tool to make sure 2009 is better than 2008 is the media. This past year has been a sad one for honest local coverage. The WayneWho staff firmly believes that the Osceola News Gazette and the Orlando Sentinel are important vehicles for getting our community to a better destination, but not with the same press release-ism reporting we have witnessed over the past year. Tame reporting making sure not to bite the hand that feeds you is not a good tenet of democracy. A free press is critical and in great demand. We believe it is great to do positive pieces on government, but to gloss over corruption issues because the TDC might not advertise with you anymore does not smell of journalistic integrity. This community needs you to do your jobs. Investigate and report.

While we see some positive signs in our local community, we see many other things that we believe are cause for concern. While we believe 2009 is going to be tough for everyone, we also see it as a year that can stand out as one of the best our community has every seen. This could be a year written about for generations because government, and the community around it, made the right moves. While we hope that this year is the beginning of the end for the doing things the wrong way in Osceola county, we would caution our readers that now is not the time to sit back and relax or we could face a beginning that none of us would like to see.