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.)

Earth Dozer

The WayneWho staff hopes that you enjoyed your Earth Day celebrations yesterday and that your eco-guilt level has been reset to zero for another year. While we all believe that protecting our planet is important, we have become very discouraged with the 'Hallmark' holiday feel that Earth Day has taken on. From the national level on down to our local community, Earth Day has become nothing more than an opportunity for sales pitches about half-baked policies and products that amount to little more than good old fashion snake oil. Earth Day, Earth Friendly, Green, and Clean are all new marketing adjectives that amount to little more than eco-guilt pacifying fluff we wrap ourselves in to feel like we are doing something positive, even though we all know we are not doing what we should. While marketing is about exploiting ideas that illicit a reaction to make a purchase, the WayneWho staff thinks this is not the way to help correct the environmental damage that has been done to our planet. Slapping the nomenclature of Eco-Sustainable or Green on something to turn a quick buck will do nothing to help our planet.

With that being said, we received a strange invitation yesterday in the middle of soothing our eco-guilt that screamed of 'Green' marketing gone awry. Our staff was invited to attend an "Earth Day at the Osceola Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida Osceola." We thought to ourselves, a chance to help locally and planetarialy all in one stop? Great, we are on board and we can be home in time to watch Matlock. Then we noticed this event was being billed as "The Community of Destiny and the children of Boys & Girls Club give back to Mother Earth." Wow, that is an eco-guilt trip and a half.

While we noticed that there were going to be some guest speakers, we realized that not one of the speakers was versed in the effects of climate change or, for that matter, the importance of the Boys & Girls Clubs in our community. Basically they were going to have the heads of corporations talking about the pretend world of green building, water taxis, and thousands of magical jobs in compost management that MIGHT be created if the Destiny housing development is allowed to be built. We heard the event was kinda-sort-of cool because Destiny unveiled its environmentally safe Earth-Dozer that they would be using to tear at the flesh of good old Mother Earth. Ripping up sensitive Florida lands would allow them to snap together their clean slate city of tract homes and uppity coffee shops. We heard the Green Earth Dozer was a big hit with the kids when they used it to crush an old 76' Chevy Nova because it was not Earth Friendly. This despite the fact that the Nova used to get 16 mpg before the days of ethanol and was actually better on the environment than may of the vehicles on the road today. Never mind that nonsense, crush it with the Earth Dozer and you will save the planet. We think that old-car crushing will be all the rage at next year's Earth Day celebration.

Capital Budgetmania 2009

Make sure you tune in tonight or set your Tivo up to record a Budget Battle Royal like never before. Tonight on the city's own Pay-Per-Resident channel, legends of the capital budget world will face off in matches the fans never thought possible. Titans of the tax expenditure arena will fight to the death in this once-in-a-lifetime no-holds-barred contest for your tax money. Strap in viewers, it is going to be a long and bloody night.

The night will start with an explosive match between the tag team darlings of the commission, the stealthy Public Information Office and the High Tech Access Osceola combination vs. the Cyclopean Civic Center. The often publicly whipped Civic Center will leave it all out on the mat as they work to crush the high tech funding of the rarely seen TV station team. Tempers will flare as the Civic Center team puts forward the one piece of fact that will make the TV Station team quiver in fear, "How many residents are you actually serving and what kind of revenue do you generate, because we have a computer that tracks every dime and every person that walks through our door?" Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Don't miss it!

Another match that you won't want to miss will be the fledgling city staff team vs. the gargantuan KUA Killers. The KUA team is looking to keep its revenues to dole out more management pay raises and special events' funding instead of providing cost effective power to our local governments and our residents. The KUA Killers have left the carnage of their opponents on the mats at the county and the school board, and now their greedy sights are set on the staff at the City of Kissimmee. Even though the city technically owns KUA, the public-private utility upper management knows the more of the staff they can take out at the city, the bigger their bonus checks will be. Boom Baby! This will be a night you won't soon forget.

As City of Kissimmee Commissioner Art Ortero would say live and on the air, "Let's Get Ready To Rumble!"

Overdue

The Osceola News-Gazette published and editorial titled "Reviewing job titles overdue" this past weekend, which basically states that an independent audit of county positions, job titles, and salaries is overdue. While we are glad that government, as well as the Osceola News-Gazette, is finally leaning towards a fiscally responsible sized government, we think the slowness of government action in the face of this economic crisis demands a much harsher criticism than 'overdue'. It is not like government has neglected to return the book 'Romeo and Juliet' to its local overstaffed library which has lead to an overdue notice being generated. Government has delayed its reaction to this crisis by almost a full year which has cost the taxpayers of our community millions of dollars. The title by the shadow editor should have been 'Delay in reviewing job titles act of nonfeasance' because there was a failure to act even when a clear and ethical duty to act existed.

While we do applaud the Osceola News-Gazette for taking a brave and unpopular stance of pointing out the clear and inappropriate delay in action of our local county government, we would have hoped for a little bit more fervor in their writing that expressed the feelings of their local readership. We would have also hoped that they would have outlined more items of government that are 'overdue' for a discussion. Growth and zoning policies, excessive taxes and user fees, and governments' continued reach into the private sector markets. Drastic cuts to the sacred entitlement programs like the CVB or the Economic Development squad are also long overdue and should be on the table. We have yet to see an accurate report card of the failures or successes of these organizations to date and the taxpayers would like some answers. We have been forced, during these rough economic times, to stand on the sidelines and watch them throw money into the wind, so why not set up a little real Q&A in a real town hall style meeting. Again the WayneWho staff has to say that we think 'Overdue' is an overdue understatement.

Hispanics Hate Cattle?

This past week's City of Kissimmee Commission meeting was an eye-opener to anyone who might have watched it. First we learned that with no votes being cast, the city has converted itself to a strong Mayor form of government. After the majority of the commission had already decided on voting on an ordinance to curb cellphone abuse during commission meetings, Mayor Swan hijacked the process and guided the commission into passing a cream puff policy that will allow the abuses to continue. "The bottom line is after our meeting two weeks ago, I was kind of embarrassed personally and for we as the commission," Swan said Tuesday. "I just hate the thought having to have an ordinance to tell us we ought to act in a professional manner and we ought to take time away from our personal affairs to do the people’s business in the people’s house." That was the whole point Mr. Mayor. Some of the commissioners are less concerned with the people's business and more with what they should say to win re-election. The electronic devices also create a 'transparency' issue that should have been considered more strongly as a matter of policy.

The second eye-opener was a discussion by Commissioner Irizarry about some promotional videos that are available from the city's website. His argument was that the first video that depicts Kissimmee as a place with a "charming atmosphere" complete with bass fishing on the lakes, hospitals, historic neighborhoods, an airport and a close proximity to theme parks ignores what the Hispanic community is looking for in a community to call home. In Commissioner Irizarry's words, "It’s not what I’m looking for."

Commissioner Irizarry went on to say, in an interview with the Osceola News-Gazette that "the video ignored the fact that 53 percent of the city’s population speak a language other than English, arguing that the video portrays Kissimmee as too much of the 'good old boy cow town' it used to be." Commissioner Irizarry stated in the interview, "If I don’t like cows, I’m not going to go there. If I don’t like bass, I’m not going to go there," he said.

The WayneWho staff suggests that Commissioner Irizarry should make sure to put that message on his re-election campaign mailer. "Kissimmee, I'm not going to go there." It has a nice ring and expresses exactly the type of divisive political tactics Commissioner Irizarry has used since the the start of his last election campaign. It's the 'White Good Ole Boy Cow Town' against those of us who are not white. Maybe we should remind Commissioner Irizarry that he was a champion of continuing to dilute the Hispanic vote by fighting to keep from going to districts in Osceola County when the county was in violation of federal law? Or just to break this down more simply, how does talking about cows create a racist environment?

The answer is actually very simple. Commissioner Irizarry knows nothing about government, the city he lives in, or the whole of the people he is supposed to represent. The WayneWho staff would argue that it does not make sense to attack the heritage of our community for some type of political gain. The history of our community should be learned and celebrated by all who call Kissimmee home.

As far as 'good ole boys and their cattle,' lets just have a quick history lesson. In the year 1521, Juan Ponce De Leon brought a small herd of Andalusian cattle and horses with him on his second expedition to the New World. These were the first cattle and horses to ever set foot (or hoof) on what is now the continental United States. The Spanish explorers were forced back to their ship by the Caloosa Indian warriors, and Ponce De Leon received a mortal wound. There is no record of what became of the explorers livestock, so it is imagined that these were the first cattle to ever run wild in Florida. The challenge to conquer Florida went out, and other conquistadors soon followed. These explorers brought cattle, swine, and horses. By 1700 there were over 30 privately owned ranchos in Florida. A census ordered by Spanish tax collectors reported over 20,000 cattle on the ranchos. The horses and cattle played a tremendous role in Florida history.

So the question to Commissioner Irizarry is, who really are the good ole boys who developed the cow town environment in the state of Florida? Wouldn't it actually be nice to once again have a thriving cattle or agricultural industry that provided jobs and stable incomes in an economy like this? We would also like to ask if you would have attacked the video for its content if it was your face on the video?

As for the WayneWho staff, we celebrate the people of all races who worked the lands of Florida and helped build our original economy on the cattle industry. We just hope our next set of commissioners will do a little homework before they speak and be proud of our community and all of its people.

Now Hiring

The WayneWho staff caught an interesting article in the Osceola News Gazette this past week that stated, "With the highest unemployment rate and the lowest average annual wage in Central Florida, Osceola County officials admit there’s work to be done to improve the county’s standings". The article discusses a report done by the quasi-governmental agency Workforce Central Florida where it showed the county’s average annual wage over the last two years had increased from about $30,000 to $33,332, but was still the lowest average out of the five-county region (Osceola, Orange, Lake, Sumter and Seminole counties) the tax-funded agency oversees. We assume that the author of the Gazette's article threw in this information in as a quick 'FYI' because we think that most people who are trying to live in Osceola county are already aware of how bad the situation is.

This report was in the news because it was presented last week to the Osceola County Commission who took the information more like a golf score than they did as an indicator of how critical the community's situation is. As quoted from the Gazette, from the commissioners, "the county still had work to do to help it improve its figures in comparison to the other counties." Basically they said, we don't really care about how bad it is in Osceola County as long as we do not look as bad on paper as the other counties do. To prove this Commission Chairman Quiñones championed the county's back up plan of relying on job creation outside of the county in areas like Lake Nona. Quiñones noted that "We need to do everything that we can to diversify our economy, and not depend on just one or two industries.” This explains why the commission is 100% focused on relying on the 'Lake Nona Medical Strip Mall and Car Wash' as the savior of Osceola County's economy.

The County has decided it can improve its unemployment appearance by having government agencies hire more people itself. The WayneWho staff was e-mailed an interesting link the other day that contained a link to a job posting on Monster.com for a Governmental Affairs Officer. The job listing is described as "The incumbent advocates Osceola County’s position at all jurisdictional levels as instructed by the County Manager," which means the job is basically to agree with everything the County Manager says, and then to go tell everyone else how great the County Manager's ideas are. Even if common sense tells you his ideas are bad, it is your jobs to tell everyone how great the ideas are. The job could pay upwards of $96,000 and has plenty of county benefits. That is good pay for a position that does not benefit the taxpayers in any fashion. The pay seems excessive to the WayneWho staff since we found a "HAND FED 2 YEAR OLD MALE SOLOMON ISLAND ECLECTUS. COMES WITH 2 CAGES ONE NEWER CAGE PLAYSTAND, TOYS ETC. TAME AND TALKS, GREAT BIRD, EASY KEEPER" on CraigsList.com in St. Cloud Florida for $1250.00. This sounds like a much better deal on a pet for the County Manager than $96,000 per year. We guess that depends on how much the public is willing to pay for the crackers.

Like an Old Joke

We miss the grand days when Johnny Carson ruled the Tonight Show and used a bit where he would make a statement about a generic issue, like about how 'hot' the temperature was, and the audience would instantly respond with 'How Hot Is It?' To which Johnny would come up with a funny joke about the heat and we would all laugh. The joke might be something like, "It’s so hot that I swear I just saw two fire hydrants fighting over a dog." Usually the late night host would have come up with something better than our simple attempt at late night comedy, but the WayneWho staff was kinda-sorta in the mood for this style of joke after hearing some of the news coming out of Osceola County over the past couple of weeks.

It seems that Osceola County is in bad financial shape. (This is the point where you, the audience, should be saying to your computer screen "How bad is it?") It is so bad that we saw the income level of the County now qualifies the government to receive food stamps. Wait for it. Still not funny. How about, It is so bad that a long time, high paid county administrator resigned saying the county needs his salary to stay afloat. Wait for it. Yep, not funny just scary.

What we find even more scary about the fiscally prompted resignation is that there has been no response from the elected leadership to tell us whether or not our economic situation hangs on the edge of one salaried employee or if the resignation was based on mutual incompetence? And if things have gotten this bad, why did an audit just say everything was peachy? Very mixed message if you ask us. Maybe someone should start explaining.

One more try. The financial situation of the County is so bad that the new city of Destiny is changing from green construction to cardboard construction to meet the needs of future Osceola County residents. OK. Johnny Carson will always be the king of this late night bit. We will stick to un-news.

Spring Break

Well, the kids are off from school this week and it seems that the Kissimmee City Commission has decided to take the week off as well. We cannot confirm that there is no commission meeting tonight, because it seems that nothing on the city website has been updated. We checked to see if the agenda (script) for any possible meeting for tonight had been posted in advance so citizens would know what issues were going to be discussed, and we found nothing. We tried checking the minutes from last week's meeting, but we had no luck in seeing if the meeting for this week had been canceled because the minutes have not been updated since December of 2008. We would have to assume that the Commission is taking the week off to enjoy some well deserved spring break fun over on the coast. Maybe the Public Information Office can send some of their Access Osceola people over with the commissioners so we can live vicariously through their adventures. Since nobody has time to maintain the public information website, at least we could get some fun shots of commissioners bonging a beer.

We guess that maybe next week we will get a chance to hear some more in depth discussions on cell phone use during meetings, the financial health of KUA that is now draining the public coffers, and the best flavor for Tequila Jello shots. Until then we will kick around some other rocks here in the county and we will see what crawls out.

Osceola County Targeted By Virus

For many around the world this April Fools Day will be no joke at all. Millions of computers will be infected with a computer virus knows as 'Conflicker' that is set to launch some unknown style of attack today. For many computer users, today will be a day filled with anti-virus updates, screaming at Microsoft technical support, and in the most extreme cases, trips to the dumpster with the infected PC's. Not a fun day at all.

The WayneWho staff has uncovered information on an even more insidious Conflicker Worm Variant that set to launch its attacks and focus them on Osceola County Florida. This variant that has been dubbed 'Cowlick.B' and already has the hair on some technology professionals' heads, standing on end. "This is the worst threat that we have seen because it affects more than just your computer and we have no way to tame a Cowlick," noted one security professional buying Norton Anti-Virus and a comb at the local Staples.

One City of Kissimmee Commissioner, Cheryl Grieb, who had been predicting this disaster for the past several years and was thwarted in her efforts to remove 'Cowlick.B' point of origin, was upset by the news. "I knew this would happen. You put a cow on a logo and someone is going to go after you for it. It is too late now. We are all just going to have to come together so we can get through this hair crisis," stated Commissioner Grieb.

For those who are infected with the 'Cowlick.B' virus we caution against radical steps to get rid of the problem. While there is no 'Cowlick.B' removal tool on the Internet at this time, industry professionals strongly urge against using scissors to deal with the threat. The first step you should take is to consult with your stylist. Be aware that some local stylist may already be compromised and prone to 'Cowlick.B' distribution. The WayneWho staff recommends a Crisco topical hair solution to tame the unruly effects of the the 'Cowlick.B'. This old school solution seems to be the only effective method in combating this new age threat.

Be safe and April Fool's.

Finishing School

Discussion Item 'C' on the Kissimmee City Commission meeting agenda for tonight is a waste of time that we agree should happen. Per the request of the commission they are sneaking a discussion item back on the agenda while not trying to raise any 'Red Flags' to the public on how back-ass-wards city policies have become. The item titled 'Robert Rules of Order and Commission Decorum' not only a discussion on the proper way for commissioners to do their jobs, but it is also a discussion on cellphone, texting, and twittering use during commission meetings. We will again repeat the phrase 'DURING commission meetings'. Their arguments much like pimple faced teenagers working the front lines at a Jack-in-the-Box is that if there were an emergency they could be reached. As employers of the commission our suggestion follows the Employee Handbook at Jack-in-the-Box; Cellphone use is not permitted during your shift except at an employees designated break time. Quite simply, if the commission decides to use their cellphones during the meetings then the WayneWho staff believes that any information on those phones becomes a matter of public record and we will duly request all such information. If there is even a remote possibility of sunshine laws being broken during a commission meeting using new technologies, then it is critical for the commission to address the problem and adhere to higher ethical standards.

The second part of the discussion, is whether or not the commission should have a training class on 'Robert's Rules of Order' and professional conduct standards. We believe this is important. Image, etiquette, and communication skills are all critical social components in the job of a commissioner. We believe that adding some social graces to our slate of commissioners would help raise the level of the perception of competence in the minds of the public. We recommend this 'Finishing School' training be acted on and taken seriously. Maybe the etiquette classes could be put on Access Osceola as a way to justify the expense of the city's TV channel and help educate the public on this critical government work. Remember 'Pinkies in the Air'.

Double Digits

If anyone happened to catch the news over the weekend, they would have noticed that Osceola County has broken the 10% unemployment barrier. Even with all of the promises by candidates and elected officials to 'bring jobs' into our area, it seems that the mistakes and mismanagement of the past have forced a new reality. An unemployment level in Osceola county of 10.7%, which, by all accounts, is still rising.

While the WayneWho staff is very aware that the economic crisis we are now in is unfolding on a national stage, we still believe that using smart government strategies could have made this time in Osceola more bearable. We know that the promises of candidates and elected officials to 'create jobs' were convenient election and re-election white lies, but we have to question if the past and current actions are even remotely helping to create or save jobs? If we look back to the beginning of this new commission's reign, we see more housing related projects approved than we do job creation projects. While the commission offers distraction issues on building green and raising gas taxes, that hide the fact that they are continuing down the same course of reckless development, more and more jobs vanish.

The WayneWho staff understands that in difficult times such as these, jobs are going to be lost. Our problem is that the county, and other local governments, have lost any sensibility when it comes to what they should be doing. There is no plan except to spend money on anything that some consultant says is smart, and to let developers have their way with us. This must end.

Today there is an item on the Board of County Commissioners agenda under the 'Department of Economic Development' that is an approval to renew a contract and increase the level of search engine optimization services which will cost the taxpayers an additional $285,600. While even us old folks realize that times are changing and that new advertising arenas must be used, is it smart to spend $585,600 in the face of county staffing cuts and an expanding local homeless population, to be seen on the Internet? Especially at the direction of a 'Department' who owns the current economic disaster in Osceola County? We guess it is also just adding insult to injury that the firm, POP Multimedia Incorporated based out of Seattle Washington does not fit the 'Buy Local' banner elected officials have wrapped themselves in like a child's security blanket. 'Buy Local' hell, we cannot even keep the taxpayers' money in the State of Florida. And what kind of questions will the County Commissioners ask? Will they ask for any documentation that shows the taxpayers who are covering the tab for this Internet adventure have received some benefit of the money spent? How many companies that have decided to relocated to Osceola County because they found us while playing on the Internet? What is the return on the taxpayers investment? How many jobs have been created? What words can we type into a search engine to find the economic development website? Will any of these questions be asked, or will it be the usual, 'Move to Approve'?
Of course the Osceola County Economic Development Department is not alone in their shameful spending. We can always count on the Osceola County School Board to waste money while preparing to lay off teachers. Last week the School Board heard a presentation out of Texas (not located in Osceola County) called Energy Educators who will 'guaranty energy savings at a certain percentage through behavior modification and take 35% of the savings as payment' according to a un-official press release from our good friend School Board Member Jay Wheeler. We missed the meeting, so we are not sure about how much taxpayer money were are talking about giving this company, but we believe this should not be approved in any fashion. Paying any company, especially one that does not fit the new campaign pledge of 'Buy Local', to tell us to make sure we turn the lights off when we are not in a room, is just pure stupidity. Is their pay based on the type of behavior modification techniques they employ? Is the Osceola County School Board sanctioning water-boarding for those who forget to turn their computers off at night? Nonsense.

All of this loony legislating is what we have witnessed while the unemployment rates have surged to 10.7%. We see more money being spent on wasteful items now than we did during the bubble boom over the past several years while the unemployment rate has continued to accelerate. At a time when failure is not an option, it seems the only thing our local governments, and their departments, can do is create a strategy leading us directly into failure. Let's just hope that we don't have to pay to have people find us on the Internet for the term '14.5% unemployment'. That would be tragic.

Banished

The WayneWho staff has been kicking around Osceola County's plan to spend its take of the millions in federal funding to alleviate the foreclosure crisis in the state of Florida and we are a little bit confused on one of the ideas. We were glad to the see the County Commissioners correct the stances on museums and health clinics and focus on foreclosures like the American Taxpayers have trusted us to do, but their is still one element that seems odd. Why would you build low-income housing in the middle of nowhere?

Before the folks down in Poinciana get upset at us, we are not suggesting that Poinciana is nowhere, but rather we are saying that Poinciana is a suburb of the Metro Orlando area where people strive to live the quiet life and commute to jobs that are a good distance away. Like in any other suburb type environment government services, shopping, clinics, and real jobs are at some distance away. So, we have to ask if it is smart to push your low-income residents away from the central hub of services and access to transportation? Would it be more convenient for families that cannot afford a vehicle to live in an outlying area like Poinciana that does not seem to be equipped, as a real city would be, to handle the needs of our low-income citizens? We do not believe the plan makes sense unless a new location that is more central and reduces transportation problems is looked at. Since the City of Kissimmee needs some help getting their Redevelopment project off the ground on Vine Street, maybe the County should discuss building the type of building that city wants, multi-story, parking garage, funky CRA colors with rope lighting, on that corridor instead of banishing low income families to the edge of the county. If the whole idea is to create an environment where people can live, work, and play, then maybe this would be a better plan.

Of course, no city wants more low-income families in its midst and forcing the Poinciana area into taking on the responsibility before it has the chance to become a city is just perfect timing. Poinciana is the forgotten town that Avatar built for years that the county has easily overlooked and it appears nothing has changed with the district's new commissioner Brandon "Valentine" Arrington dutifully nodding his head to whatever the rest of the commission has to say. Maybe "Valentine" should actually crack open the plan and give it a quick read to see if it makes sense. Maybe he should go down and ask some of the community leaders in Poinciana if they are ready to handle the needs of low-income families or at least spend a few minutes explaining why he thinks this is a good idea. It is not like the community leaders down there aren't already scrambling trying to handle one of the worst foreclosure rates in all of Florida, let's throw a little bit more on them. Is this more of the County's "Clean Slate" agenda at work trying to cleanse the area of those it perceives hinder its ability to attract high-tech and bio-medical firms?

The WayneWho staff thinks that spending some of the federal money on low-income housing is a smart idea, but we have to argue against its planned location. Banishing low-income American families will not help them get back on their feet, it just hides them from our line of site. Forgetting about a problem does not make the problem go away.

Bubble Talk

Our article yesterday touched on the idea that many in our area are working diligently to rebuild the development bubble that for a few good years, consumed our entire community. Today, in a good article in the Osceola News Gazette titled "Vine St. worries - Is redevelopment too slow?", we see even more evidence of this growing problem. In the article, the progress of making the zoning changes and an overlay district for the redevelopment of the Vine Street area through Kissimmee is described as moving slow, even though the vision for what the area has become well established. The frustration by some commissioners is that not enough commercial developers have been advertised to in order to get things moving along with the grand Utopian view. The idea of course is to redevelop in an area that has been allowed to fall apart in hopes that the sting of projects will some how gel as the economic epicenter of the City of Kissimmee. There is no real evidence that this will work, but the suggestion by a few of the commissioners was that we need to start building now.

While this all sounds good, we have to wonder if the creation of another construction boom is what we need right now. While we agree that the city needs to move forward with the plans for the redevelopment of the area, we think rushing the process is foolish at best. The belief that by building something you have done a good thing for a community is the exact thought process that has lead this area into the economic collapse we are feeling right now. In a Wall Street Journal article out today titled "Commercial Property Faces Crisis", the delinquency rates of commercial loans are described as going sour at an 'accelerating pace' which is threatening to cause tens of billion dollars in losses. According to the article "The delinquency rate on about $700 billion in securitized loans backed by office buildings, hotels, stores and other investment property has more than doubled since September." So the plan of the City Commission is to jump head first into commercial redevelopment in the middle of one of the worst commercial downturns on record. We can only assume that the plan is to rename 'Vine Street' to 'Toxic Asset Street' in order to get more dollars from the Federal Government.

This debate of course gave the Mayor an opportunity to light the campfire and start telling stories about the good old days of tricking businesses into taxing themselves for the the good of all in the West 192 area of the county. The bard's tale of getting the property owners to 'buy-in' to setting up a special taxing district so government could use the dollars to make the area the center piece for Osceola County tourism echoed through the chambers. The only thoughts we could grasp from another round of story time was that the Mayor's goal is to turn the failed Vine Street Corridor into the failed West 192 Tourism Corridor, and he wants to have the Vine Street property owners pay for it. Just for the heck of it, the WayneWho staff decided to take a quick ride through the 'redeveloped' West 192 ghost town that has had the advantage large amounts of tax dollars being thrown into it, and we were left wondering if this area was the best example of government at work?

The problem that we see with the discussion on all levels of government is that there is no clear acceptance that we are in a new economic era. Economic development actually means something different than it did two years ago. While we hear many whines and gripes about budget deficits, we do not see true efforts to put us on the right path to a community that is not built on the erroneous concept of some taxes being 'special' which magically makes them 'good' and 'good' for those paying them. This, of course, leads government to think that every thing they spend the 'good' taxes on is also 'good'.

Pop goes the bubble.