Making it Worse

The WayneWho staff must admit that the coverage by the Osceola News-Gazette over the past couple of weeks has shown definite improvement. Instead of the usual 'go-along' press release reproduction journalism we have seen in the past, the Gazette has been pushing their envelope on covering governmental issues that affect us all. While we have heard some complaining that the Gazette has not pushed hard enough on issues such as the proposal review committee fiasco, we think they have. The job of the media is to dig and ask the hard questions in order to bring the facts on an issue to light. It is the job of the public to demand accountability of their government when the facts presented show a pattern of problems. While the media should be following the facts on issues that may show a history of abuse and corruption with the procurement process, it is not their job to suggest changes. This is the job of the public.

As so often happens in Osceola County politics, this procurement fiasco issue is over. People have screamed about it, the media has covered it, and the politicians who put the processes in place act as if their are disgusted about what has happened. Except for some chirping from the sidelines, there will be no more coverage on this issue because in the minds of the public, the issue is being dealt with. Some policies will change in a manner that will give better political cover the next time a small group decides to hijack the process of dividing up the tax money plunder amongst their friends, but no more. Those in the bubble will be protected.

At least, as members of the public, we can hope that if true justice will not prevail, that this usual 'cover-up and continue' pattern is the worst case scenario. The problem that we see is that the situation could be made much worse. County Commissioner Fred 'Trigger' Hawkins Jr. has recklessly brought forward an idea to strip transparency from the procurement process. His idea that the procurement review committees "should not meet as a group to discuss proposals but rather rate firms individually," opens the door even more to the influences of special interests. Individual lobbying will further corrupt a process that even the the usually government friendly News Gazette suggests is tainted. The WayneWho staff suggests that the letter of the procurement code should be followed, much more strict guidelines be put in place, and the review committee meetings should be broadcast over the Internet. Instead of hiding the process in the darkest corners where corruption waits, let the sun shine in on it.

As a final note we hope that there is a 'next' article on this issue in the Osceola New-Gazette. The 'Ahh-Shucks' routine from the County Manager and a sitting State Representative, Mike Horner, does not fly and should be questioned. While it is not hard to believe the claims of ignorance from them, it should not be an acceptable argument from those who are in the positions they are because of their claims of 'experience.' For those on the staff level who could not handle the basic processes of government procurement, replacements should be found. This includes the county manager. For those who were elected, who have been caught in this web, investigations should be launched. If the questions are not answered and the truth is not know, the situation will be made worse. It is time for the public to act on the facts that have been presented.

Getting Bit

The WayneWho must admit that it is confused on one of the items on the consent agenda for tonight's City of Kissimmee Commission meeting. Item '7A' is a request to approve a contract renewal with BrightHouse Networks for Internet Services, which the city has already been using for the past three years. It is not the fact that they use BrightHouse as their provider that seems confusing to us, but it is the fact that the city owns KUA which has a side business of Internet Services and Internet Access that is not even even being considered. We took a quick look at the website at KUA.NET and we found a page that states "KUA.net offers High Speed Access plans to fit your needs." If this is true, we have to wonder why KUA.NET cannot meet the city's needs, and why the city would continue to pay to operate a service that they do not want to use? Or is it that the city's utility, KUA, is so greedy that it will not even cut itself a good deal because it refuses to bring its spending under control? The WayneWho staff thinks that the city, just like KUA's other rate payers, is tired of being bitten by the sneaky asterisks at KUA but we will wait for the commission to give our community some intelligent answers on this issue at their meeting this evening.*

*Length of meeting due to 'intelligent answer' criteria cannot be determined at this time and it is recommended that those attending the meeting pack a snack.

The Contest

Finding new ways to sell a home, housing development, or strip mall center in Osceola County has become more of contest than it has urban planning. To this end, the Destiny Housing Project has upped its gamesmanship by bringing in Dominion Development Partners to sell the idea of a Alternative Energy Water Industrial Park to justify building more homes than our county could every support. The developers are anxious to let the "Contest" begin because they want to find out who is truly the master of our domain.

While the most trusted source of honest information in our county, Ex-State Representative Randy Johnson who is leading the charge for the Destiny housing project, has been out touting the development as the 'First Eco-Sustainable' community, he has been concentrating hard to keep his rhetoric under control so his claims are not proven to be premature. These claims depend on decisions from the State of Florida and Osceola County Commissioners. Mr. Johnson understands that to be the master of our domain, he must outlast his supporters as well as his detractors.

Most of the project supporters have already slapped their money on the counter and declared they were not only out of the contest, but would gladly lose again if they had to. Some nice ego stroking by pitchmen like Mr. Johnson can set the heart a flutter and make the very idea of an unemployment rate of 15% sound agreeable. History has shown that, County Commissioners have never been known for their ability to say no to a huge development and do not want to be the masters of their domain, even when the residents of their community want them to be. For them, the urges to develop are much to strong, and it is to easy to declare, "I'm Out."

The plan now is to tempt the detractors of the project into giving in to their need to release their stronghold on the development community. The promise of a dominating partner who will create an "Alternative Energy Industrial Park" might be just what it takes to attract those with alternative tastes. While the park is still just a late night fantasy, it seems that the promise of a technology incubator in a secluded area of Osceola County might be just what it takes to generate the groundswell of support from those who know better. Anticipation, after all, is exciting.

Since the WayneWho staff has no plans to leave behind the community we love for the promise of the County's new "Clean Slate Society," our excitement level for the project hasn't really changed. It could also be that now that all of our staff have had to go back to work, or seek a second source of income, our excitement level for the pitchmen, and pitch-women, who helped to create this economic nightmare remains low. We should also note that our feelings on the Destiny Housing Project reflect the sentiment of many of those who are working to survive in Osceola. This might explain why the Destiny Developers are being forced to clean up a PR mess that they have been losing since the start of the project. While those who aspire to be "green collar" workers might be easily seduced, most of us old "blue collar" types have heard these promises before. We know what losing this contest really means.

Out of Gas

There are times when the ignorance of elected officials sends a shiver down the collective spine of the communities they are supposed to represent. Even though it would feel good to just point at them and call them stupid, you can't really do that when you know that our elected officials are not properly educated on the issues at hand. Sure they talk to their select circle of counterparts that help to convince them that their plans are good ones, but this only leads them to believe that the merits of their self-researched plans are warranted no matter what their constituents say. It is easy to seal yourself in a bubble and insulate yourself from criticism when everyone in the bubble shares the same ideas. It is a rare politician that can step out of that bubble and talk to those who will most directly be affected by an issue like raising a gas tax, to find out the positive and/or negative components the issue might create. Rare indeed.

Before we continue, we would like to point out that we supported an increase in the gas tax if it were to be automatically sunset after a specific amount of time, and if other taxes and fees from local governments were not increased. This has not happened. Local governments have set out to find every way to expand their revenue empires without attempting logical cuts in areas that would not affect services to residents. While some have reduced staffing, most have only reduced payroll expenses by a small margin because they have only rotate positions based on connections and time in service as opposed to benefits to the taxpayers. High qualifications for government jobs mean little when those possessing the qualification would rather spend their time sipping coffee and gossiping... But we digress. Stories of government employee inefficiency are for another un-news article. This one is about the merits of increasing revenue streams into local governmental that are clueless at how to spend the money in ways that will benefit their residents. We were for a short term increase in the gas tax only because it would create the ability to rebuild our roadway infrastructure in a way that would finally allow goods and services to be moved efficiently. This would provide for long term economic opportunities that we do not currently have in front of us because companies look at our transportation grid and laugh. Building a smart road network is the only real shot we have in Osceola County to create sustainable economic development.

Of course ignorant Council Members like the Mayor of St. Cloud Donna Hart, County Commissioner Brandon Arrington, and the entire cast of characters on the Kissimmee City Commission believe that increasing the gas tax will create construction jobs and our community will instantly be saved. Everything will just go back to the way it was and elected officials can go about their daily business of long meaningfully lunches with developers. In an Osceola News Gazette article, that again does not address resident concerns, Mayor Hart states that "If people are put back to work because we can build more roads, it will be a blessing for them," Hart said. "Most of the people out of work are in construction." This quote denotes the limited scope of understanding that not only Mayor Hart has about economics, but her local community as well. First, not everyone in construction has anything to do with road construction. Second, the veiled thoughts that if we build more roads the housing industry will boom again is just wrong and presents a plan for recovery that will fail quickly. Short term fixes will make the problems in our community worse.

We will lay out, again, the feedback we have heard through out the community that should be viewed as some guidance as to what will happen if this tax is passed along with all the other tax and fee increases that have been approved, or are going to be approved. The few jobs created by building roads for homes that will never be built will be drastically offset by the shuttering of businesses that depend on gas based vehicle transportation to move goods and services through our community. Flower shops, produce vendors, on-location service and repair companies, and other delivery modeled businesses will be forced to cut costs by reducing staff or closing all together. For the 100 jobs that might be created over a one year period, thousands more stand to be lost. Not only will more jobs be lost, but the overall revenue into the government stash will shrink because these businesses will no longer be filling up and paying the taxes. Most of these types of companies have already been pushed to the brink because of other increased taxes and fees on top of a bad economy. For the many in government circles who receive healthy taxpayer funded paychecks and benefits think that businesses like this aren't worth saving anyways, and scoff at the notion of 'Good Businesses' going under, we suggest taxpayers change their pay system to one based on performance. Or maybe, in an effort to educate our elected officials, we should set up a thirty-day class where they either have to survive off of the minimum wages their constituents make in a given month, or they are forced to run a small business with government nipping at their profits. Maybe then they would get the "Big" picture and realize that 'unpopular' tax increases are unpopular for a reason. Education of course, is the key.

Until the next article, we would like to note that we hope County Commissioner Brandon Arrington had a Happy Valentines Day and we hope he is having fun planning for next years.

Chit -n- Chat

In the spirit of the launch of the new Access Osceola production known as 'Chit -n- Chat with Commissioners' which is being modeled after the ABC's ratings draw, the 'View', the City of Kissimmee Commission meeting tonight will feature fun discussion items for the whole family to enjoy. The new gossip style talk show is being used to help commissioners look smart by cherry picking questions that commissioners are given a week to prepare answers for. But tonight, the Chit -n- Chat crew will perform live, for the few dozen people who still watch the public access channel.

The first item up for some gooey gossip is the Local Vendor Preference topic. While commissioner hearts will be all a flutter about the greatness of local companies, staff has already made sure to put in place the ability for the city to chose outside vendors based on their criteria of qualifications. While we have seen this policy already fail in some of Osceola's other local governments, it is a perfect topic for Chit -n- Chat. Commissioners will be able to rattle on without providing any honest information as to how effective a local vendor policy will be for the business community. This should be fun and topical.

Next we have an issue brought up by Commissioner Art Otero, who seems to be the Elizabeth Hasselbeck of the group, about changing the City's logo by adding the phrase 'In God We Trust' on it. While we support the Commissioners 'Religulous' use of staff time and taxpayers dollars in bringing up this discussion in the middle of a budget shortfall, we have to wonder if it is necessary. The official motto of the United States of America and the State of Florida is already 'In God We Trust' so do we need to spend the money right now to make this change locally. Maybe we need the change because we feel that the luster of our last title 'All American City' has worn off. Must be time to move on to something else. We are sure the commissioners will give a heated exchange over some herbal tea on this topic.

The last topic, which if not for the arena would be a serious issue, is on whether the City Commission should disband the Community Redevelopment Agency's Board of Commissioners and take over the role themselves. While the WayneWho staff has long championed getting rid of the CRA, we do not see any advantage in trading one board for another. While we understand the City Commission is running out of things to 'Chat' about, we feel they need to stay focused on a much larger set of issues facing our community. While the CRA Commissioners have done little to help our area, most in the downtown view them as harmless. If the City Commissioners were to take over we could end up with the Downtown looking like Vine Street, and then where would we go to Chit -n- Chat.

We hope that this live version of Chit -n- Chat is a big hit and look forward to watching it week after week. Till then, save some tea for us.

Lost in the Bubble

Is it possible for the Osceola News-Gazette to not be a cheerleader for zany taxing schemes by local governments and at least include some citizen input into their 'reporting'? In an article titled '5-cent county gas tax still a question' the writer explores the government driven propaganda and false choices as laid out by government staff and the elected officials they control. A simple example of this is in the very first paragraph where the 'reporter' uses a statement of possible outcome as fact for the rest of the article. The ambiguous statement "gas tax hike could help the county pay for road projects that are fund-deficient, county officials said," is used to build an article that leads the reader to believe that a five cent gas tax hike would lead to better roads in our community. No evidence, facts, or studies are presented or referenced as possible proof of this supposition, just the ramblings of those who have left our entire community in a 'fund-deficient' state and who are still pointing to housing growth as our financial saving grace. The only study that is loosely referenced is one by the county that the increase to the full $.11 gas tax would only cost families with two cars $75.00 per year. Again, no fact check or alternate sources are referenced to prove or disprove the given numbers.

We can only assume that the Osceola News-Gazette staff thinks this was a well rounded article because they provided a 'kinda-sorta' voice of opposition by including comments from the St. Cloud City Manager, Tom Hurt. His loose opposition to the tax comes from the point of "I don’t see what we are getting out of this." This means he is for the gas tax increase if the St. Cloud government can get a bigger slice of the pie. Again it comes down to government protecting government instead of government protecting the people it is supposed to serve. This also points to a shift of 'free market' ideals because local leaders now think they need to put a bureaucrat between you and the gas pump to help decide what a 'fair price' really is.

To conclude this article we have to ask if it is really that hard to find a resident of this community that is not tied to the inside development crowd who is against tax increases? We are betting that if a reporter worth their pay would actually walk out the office door and up to Broadway, they could find one actual citizen who thought a tax increase might be a bad idea. Of course this would require some work from those who claim they are "Around Osceola."

Railroaded

It appears that when SunRail finally got its vote, the vote was ‘no.’ And why not? Those who vowed to fight again after last year’s defeat were barely heard after the list of issues facing the legislature this session, with the exception of the editorial coverage in the Sentinel.

Now that it appears to be over, what do we think the fallout will be for Kissimmee and the surrounding area?

Nothing.

Nothing will change in Kissimmee as a result of not having a commuter rail line.

No new traffic (ie potential customers) will be generated downtown as a result of employees heading to and from a commuter rail station every day. Discuss that with the businesses who would love to have a new group of people passing by their doors twice a day, while going to and from making money.

No new demand for residential properties will be generated by Orlando-based professionals who would have had an easy commute from their small-town/lakefront homes. Doesn’t look so good for the city’s future mixed-use project on the old KUA site.

No new Lynx hub will be developed in the city. We forecast that without close proximity to commuter rail, Lynx will find other needs for their limited funding. A cheaper hub deal will be renegotiated with Osceola Square Mall, or further north along Osceola Parkway. Guess “those people” who ride Lynx will be pushed further to the edge of our community.

Median income of city residents will not increase, again because those commuting professionals won’t be relocating here. Employers will continue to follow the money into the southern part of Orange County.

New interest in properties around the commuter rail station will not appear, because there won’t be a commuter rail station. The pool of potential buyers stays the same...small.

Again, nothing will change. And we’re all enjoying the status quo, right?

If you supported commuter rail, right about now you need to be asking your elected representatives why they couldn’t get it done.

Didn’t support commuter rail, for whatever reason? That’s OK too. After all, if it was such a good deal, the state would have had a much more straightforward story of its operations and benefits, right? Can anyone truthfully say they understood whether the state would really own the tracks after the deal? Or would they just be leasing them from CSX?

What we need to ask our elected officials now is, what’s next? Transportation is off the table to stimulate the local economy. What else do they have up their sleeve?

In the meantime, wave to us during your I-4 commute.

Sick Piggy

Fear of the Swine Flu has affected many in the blogging world. At first, we had no concerns about contracting the heinous virus because even though we do not wear surgical masks, we do wear paper bags over our heads and felt this would keep us safe. But then, a report on the national news revealed that the one thing a blogger needs to blog could be more dangerous and filled with more germs than a toilet boil... the keyboard. Uggh! More germs than a toilet boil?

As you can imagine, there is not much money in anonymous blogging which means that the entire staff has only one communal keyboard to operate from. With the cost of paper bags going up, we did not know if we could afford to buy hand sanitizer too. Hence, the week has passed and the keyboard has sat lonely.

After a staff meeting, where we did NOT hold hands and sing "It's a small world" as we usually would, at last, a solution! One blogger cries, "where is the lady with the pot-bellied pigs? We can invite her to bring her precious swine over and they will draw the virus from the air." At that point we all all chuckled and realized that maybe we were getting just a little too caught up in it all.

*Please note that the swine flu is a serious virus and all precautions should be taken to avoid contracting it. But also remember that those precautions should always be taken and don't let the media scare you into not living (or in our case, not blogging.)