Vacation Catch-up

The WayneWho staff decided we would take a cue from the Kissimmee City Commission and take a week off because there was nothing really "critical" going on in the community, and it was great. Some great fishing around Horseshoe Bend on the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks is a great way to reset the normality meter and bring our local issues back into focus. Or so we thought.

On our return we discovered that in our time off, we had been innondated with e-mails on what we thought of the debates that had recently been held for the City of Kissimmee, and Osceola County District 3 races. It seems that our input was being sought on an issue that we are not very well versed on, candidates. As our long time readers know, we focus on government policy, process, and the elected officials who week in and week out provide endless amounts of entertainment as they attempt to make decisions on policies and processes they only understand when given the "back-up" that explains how they should vote. We do not normally address candidates unless their policy views or comprimised pasts deserve some type of discussion. We also believe that as an "un-news" source, it would be absurd to offer endorsements, even if we could offer more reasoned thoughts than our local media counterparts. But we thought we would try to get a copy of the debates of Access Osceola and give it a try.

We watched the debates and we only have a couple of thoughts. Our first thought is that we are all doomed. The level of knowledge of the majority of candidates, including incumbants, is almost non-existant. Not that the questions asked by our local media really tested that knowledge, but most of the candidates stumbled on tough questions like "Would you consider organizational changes in city government?" and on the county side "How will your Democratic values effect your judgement on the commission?" Glad our media friends put some thought into their questions. Maybe someone should ask a question like "Do you understand what purgury means Mr. Ferentinos?" or "Do you actually plan on passing an ordinance that states 'We have gotta do something' Mr. Miranda? While we understand it is difficult for someone who has not served in an elected seat to formulate policy, some of those running have been doing so for so long that they should be considered incumbants themselves.

To be fair we would have to say that there were a few moments that stood out to us as great moments, like John Bykowski's call for a citizens review panel for the city budget, Jeane Van Meter's call for log in sheets to track special interest groups and lobbiest who frequent commissioners offices at the county, and Tony Ferentinos' declaration that the county budget has no accountablility (which the rest of the candidates in one way or another agreed with), these moments were exceptions to the rule. These moments at least gave us hope that this year's elections would give us candidates that might start to understand the basics of their job titles. But then comments like "It takes three votes to get anything done" from Jeanne Van Meter reminds us what happens once a candidate gets elected.

We will save any knods and/or winner declerations to our other blogging coutner parts. We will stick with our own brand of un-news and poltical satire.

Candidate Signs and Vacant Buildings

Now that the local silly season is in full effect, candidates are pulling out all the stops to get their message (“Hey, here’s my name...vote for me!”) out to the local citizenry.

A loyal WayneWho reader sent us an essay on some of the sites which have been accumulating candidate signs, along with some photos. Since this is a mostly PG-rated blog, we can’t reprint the essay, but we think we can pass along the message.

While local businesses are certainly members of the community, and often have locations with high traffic counts, we wonder about the decision of some local candidates to post their campaign signs on vacant and undermaintained commercial properties in the area. Perhaps some of these thoughts appear in the mind of those involved in the transaction:

> From the candidate - “This property owner is my friend, and they want to show support for my campaign.” “This is a great location, and I need to have a sign here, even if the property looks awful.” “By the time they stop by to visit the property, the election will be over anyway.”

> From the property owner - “I need this candidate to be elected so that I can realize my goals for this property.” “The more candidate signs I have out front, the less attention Code Enforcement will pay to my property.” “What? There are candidate signs on my property?”

With all the rhetoric in the campaigns about revitalizing the community, perhaps candidates could take this first small step. Reconsider whether your campaign really needs the publicity of posting your name on an undermaintained vacant commercial property.

Political Circus

Most people love the circus. They love dancing bears and will at least say they like clowns even when they are terrified of them. Most people have the same reaction to politicians. They make us laugh and cry, and we are scared to death of what they will do to our wallets if they are left alone with us for even a few minutes. When it comes to local candidates and campaigns most of us love the political circus of the silly season.

The WayneWho staff has decided to start a "Political Circus" article that we will run a few times to help catch our readers up on the behind-the-scenes silliness. This will make it easier than dedicating entire articles to gaffs and missteps along the way.

To start off this edition of "Political Circus" we would like to point out a very interesting comment in El Nuevo Dia on Thursday. Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan attacks his opponents John Cortes and Jorge Miranda for making irresponsible campaign promises. He then goes on to state that "in 14 years of public services I have never lied to my community." In essence he is calling his opponents liars for what their campaigns are promising. Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!

According to El Nuevo Dia and our remote blogging friend, the Farquharson Brief is not complete. The lawsuit over discarded petition cards continues on and is being fought by Mercedes León. Will the elections office end up in another constitutional battle? Has Beulah finally found her calling?

Another tidbit from our remote blogging friend is a re-printed e-mail from Judy Robertson in response to an article from the blogger Carl Cricket at http://ksib.net/ that our remote blogger friend re-sent to his e-mail list (with all the proper credits given this time). The original article was in reference to signs placed by Mrs. Robertson's campaign without the permission of property owners. "I personally asked Mr. Schoolfield about locations that he would allow me to put my signs. He told me 'anywhere there is a Schoolfield sign'. I then thanked him and said I realized that was a lot of locations and that if I put one in a place he objected, to please let me know and I would remove it. So far, he hasn’t called. Any person who has a sign on their property that is not wanted can remove it and you know it. Check out who is using the rights-of-way and who is not." was her response. In another line she points out that County Commissioner Bill Lane has become the Sign Czar of District 5 and has personally taken it upon himself to do the job of code enforcement. "I did receive a complaint from Mr. Bill Lane about the zealousness of my sign people because of my signs on Schoolfield’s property. I assured him of the permission I received, but I guess he can’t accept that I was given that permission so now he is crying to you guys." reported Mrs. Robertson. This is not the first report we have heard of Mr. Lane crying about campaigns that have offended him by running against him. It seems that Mr. Lane's campaign is not doing that well even with all of the special interest money, so he is resorted to bullying tricks from the political past.

Another great point from Mrs. Robertson's e-mail reprinted by our California-Kissimmee insider is about a stalled debate that was being put together by the Fred Hawkins campaign that excluded most of the candidates and was basically a meet and greet for Mr. Hawkins. It seems that even the other republicans in the race don't want to be associated with the Hawkins campaign. All we can say is bring out the clowns.

Do What I Say

Hypocrisy is part of politics. Politicians are well versed at preaching their beliefs on residents even though they themselves do not practice what they preach. Candidates themselves normally avoid this faux pas by making sure they do everything they are promising with the hope they can get voters to notice them and hopefully flip the lever in their favor. Some candidates are willing to say anything just to get elected, but who those candidates are is up to the voters to decide.

With gas prices at some of their all time highs and other forms of power on the rise, it was inevitable that the conversations on "Green" technologies would start to crop up. We believe that these conversations are long overdue which tends to make the WayneWho staff question the timing of the discussions. As we have been keeping up with some of the local publications where the candidates have been priming their platform, we have read a great deal about the promise of going "Green" from a couple of candidates. Byron Hennecy and Judy Roberston have both gone to great lengths to explain the benefits of going "Green" and how much better life would be if everyone drove a hybrid car.

Their answer it seems to our community's problems is that everyone should go out and go deeper into debt to buy a hybrid car. If the gas prices continue to rise by at least another dollar, then all of our residents might actually start to see some saving versus the expense of the actually hybrid vehicle itself. At the same time our county would have to raise taxes to offset the loss in gas tax revenue they are supposed to be using to fix our roads since people would be buying less gas. So any savings on gas would be made up for in taxes. Cause and effect. It is the one concept every politician should understand.

How much do these candidates believe in their own platforms? What kind of hybrid vehicles do they drive? How many carbon offsets have they purchased to show us the error of our ways? Well, Mr. Hennecy's campaign vehicle that he drives to work at the county everyday is a Chevy Suburban which on good day gets about 15 mpg. We have not been able to confirm Mrs. Robertson's vehicle, but we have received several e-mails that it is another SUV. There are no records of their campaigns buying carbon offsets or them buying them on their own. Practice what you preach.

We would like to point out that we are excited about the "Green" conversations now taking place. But these conversations are ones that must be taken seriously and not just cut-and-past off of some "Green" activists website and then used as a platform to win an election. The impact to our community of going "Green" has both positive and negative impacts that politicians must understand long before we try to force the citizens to pay for the changes. While going "Green" might make the government some "Green" we need to remember whose "Green" it is we are actually taking. (You try writing a line like that.)

Lessons Not Learned

In the midst of one of the worst housing and mortgage crisis we have seen in this country since the great depression, a group with real estate ties are finding ways to use other people's money to help their own industry. In an article presented by the Osceola News Gazette they explain of an "effort to revive St. Cloud's struggling real estate market. A stimulus plan is in the works to attract more residents and bring jobs back to the area." To further add insult to injury, the plan that was presented by Council member Micky Hopper and the city's Economic Development Director was actually called "The St. Cloud Real Estate Economic Stimulus Plan." For those of you in the real estate industry, let us take a minute to explain to you what just about every other American knows or has learned from watching the county convulse under the extreme greed of those involved in the housing and mortgage markets, real estate and economic development are two separate things.

The Gazette's article points out that 37 percent of the city's businesses are real estate related, and that those businesses provide an estimated 21 percent of the jobs in the city. This means that almost a quarter of the jobs in St. Cloud were based on selling a finite amount of property unless the city was going to continue to grow by adding more property to the inventory. While we are glad that government did not step in to regulate the growth of a particular industry, even though they did continue to annex property to keep this industry going, we do not believe that it is appropriate for government or the taxpayers to bail out the real estate industry. The local real estate industry has failed because of bad planning and the greed of the industry itself and what we are witnessing is a free market correction that is reining the segment back in. The housing markets have failed because everyone involved focused on the easy money of developing and not on the infrastructure and creating the real jobs needed to support the housing market. Hence the term bubble, as in housing bubble, that we hear on a daily basis.

Our real problem with Ms. Hoppers "Real Estate Economic Stimulus Plan" is her group's short and narrow sighted view of the economy. "We need to get people back working," Hopper said. "Once people get back to work, we can get back to our regular lifestyle." The key phrase in this statement is "get back to our regular lifestyle." While the rest of the citizens of St. Cloud struggle, we should pump money into a specific market so those involved can keep the lifestyle the have grown accustom to? This is the kind of statement that only makes sense to government officials and presidents of local chambers of commerce.

The plan itself is basically an advertising plan that has the additional "Tour Bus" option to shuttle interested buyers around the community to show available property. The "Tour Bus" option is a critical component of the plan because of how long it takes to show people where they are going to have to find work if they plan to be able to pay their mortgage on a St. Cloud purchase. With most decent paying jobs close to 40 minutes away by design, interested buyers will need to factor fuel costs into their equation. What we do find most humorous is that Steven's Plantation which was once billed as a brilliant economic development effort by St. Cloud government, and the local media, has failed to the point that now you have to bus people to it in hopes they might be interested. Again, economic development based on a housing model leads to failure. This is a lesson that should have been learned by now and it is wrong to invest more tax money into a failing plan once again.

While we do believe that Ms. Hopper's plan is a bad one and a waste of taxpayers money, we do applaud her efforts. Council Member Hopper is the first to put some type of plan on the table to even be discussed. We also applaud the fact that for her plan to work, those involved in the real estate industry must get involved by either providing time or money to the plan. In essence, Ms. Hopper has worked very hard to eliminate the free ride aspect of the plan. The WayneWho staff is impressed by this. Our arguments against Ms. Hopper's plan is that it focuses efforts in the wrong area. The plan also creates a bubble within a bubble by selling homes in a market where there are no jobs for people to pay for those homes. The whole plan relies on the rest of Osceola County to be smart enough to create the job base for those who live in St. Cloud, and as we have seen over the past 10 years, they don't know how.

Ms. Hopper, expand your plan. Do not give up on your efforts, but realize that to save the real estate market means that you must put your efforts into areas other than the real estate market. The real estate market feeds off of the success of other markets such as manufacturing and distribution, but these markets do not directly feed off of real estate. We wish you luck.

We would like to finish this article article by asking a couple of simple questions of our award winning local newspaper, the Osceola News Gazette. Did you get that journalism award out of a box of cereal? What is it about doing interviews that you do not understand? Would it have been prudent to ask an average St. Cloud resident what they thought of the plan instead of getting nothing but positive spin out of people who directly rely on the real estate markets? The talk at "The Other Place" the day this article hit was not the happy chatter of a bunch of cheerleaders who just got new uniforms, the basic comments that morning went something like "How 'blanking' stupid are these people?" and "Get rid of them all and put some people up there that will not give away the farm." Maybe it was just the four tables around us and everyone else in the City is happy, but why not at least try to do a little research before you go to print?

Honor Thy Cow

After last years close call with the City of Kissimmee almost losing its iconic cow head from the city logo, the WayneWho staff believes that we need to take some time on this national holiday to pay homage to those who grazed the way for us. The few head of cattle that are still considered residents of our community (that is not some veiled swipe at our local elections) deserve some honor and remembrance today, National Cow Appreciation Day.

July 11, 2008 is set aside as a day for all in our nation, but especially Osceola County, to remember the members of the bovine community who against all odds, and sometimes jeering moos, fought to help settle this land. Cows, you see, were the cattle-ist that set man in search of more fertile lands and the promise of a better tomorrow. Cows and man worked together to push back the mongrel chicken hoards that at one time controlled and ravaged our great country. Central Florida was home to unique bovine and poultry wars as the "Cow-hunters" did everything they could to protect the herd from the wings and sharpened beaks of the animal that was once know as the "Winged Brush Rat", the chicken. This is why the cow is remembered in our city's logo and why there is no image of a chicken in its place.

To help us honor this Cow Appreciation Day, chicken harvester, Chick-fil-A is providing free meals and/or entrées to those who visit their stores dressed as a cow hero of their choice. The WayneWho staff has spent a good deal of time this week interviewing many bovine impersonators and have found them to take their role very serious. Some may just try to stick black construction paper on their white t-shirts, but the true honorees of the day will go much farther. Today is a day you don't want to try to rent a last minute cow suit, that is for sure.

Chick-fil-A is providing more information at their home website http://www.chick-fil-a.com/ or at their day specific website http://cowappreciationday.com/. The WayneWho staff would like to remind you to be safe and we hope you enjoy celebrating on this Cow Appreciation Day.

Your payment is OK with us

KUA recently announced that their customers can now pay their monthly utility bills at local Amscot locations.

Experienced readers of this blog have already mentally leapt ahead, looking for an Amscot punchline. Stay with us.

Because today we write not to criticize KUA or Amscot, but to congratulate them.

KUA is in the power generation and delivery business, not the staffing a payment counter business. Amscot, on the other hand, is in the staffing a financial storefront 24 hours a day business. Thus, rather than guessing when customers might want to come in to pay their utility bill, and trying to have staff available to accommodate most of them, it makes sense for KUA to have Amscot locations accept those payments, as they are open already.

In a time when governments and businesses alike are trying to reduce costs and become more efficient, doesn't it make sense to actually offer longer in-person payment hours without having to increase staff?

We also noted that KUA is picking up the $1 fee that Amscot charges for this service. We hope that this is also an indication of things to come, where government and quasi-government agencies realize that the savings gained through more rapid payment (anyone noticed how long it takes a check to clear these days?) and lack of staff processing time needed overcome the merchant service charge on credit/debit payments, and that those agencies stop exploiting a loophole in their merchant service agreement that allows them to charge a "convenience fee" by using a 3rd party processor.

Public Input

An interesting thing happened at the Kissimmee City Commission Meeting last night. (It is almost like a punchline on its own.) In the middle of a serious debate on how our community was going to fund some of our most critical social services programs with a reduced amount of funds from last years perspective, all public comment was blocked by the commission. The public was kept from voicing opinions, concerns, or even support because Mayor Swan and the rest of the commission firmly believe that the money in city coffers is theirs to do with as they please. As citizens, we are not allowed to give our input on where "our" tax money is spent, at least not under the current administration.

The issue of whether or not to allow public input, it seems, depends on where items are placed on the agenda that commissioners use to approve staff recommendations. This item was listed under the section called "Discussion Items" (a deceptive title indeed) which this commission believes means that it may or may not accept public input when it falls on this part of their checklist. The rules are different from week to week, and it depends on if you are one the people who are commission friendly as to whether you are going to be allowed to speak or not. Last night, this critical item happened to fall out of the realm of public input.

If the public were allowed to express what they would like to see done with their money, or what goals they would like achieved with it, there might have been less fighting between the commissioners. It was a sad spectacle to watch. The public at least might have backed up Commissioner Irizzary's argument that the H.O.M.E project, which serves the most limited number of citizens of the city of any program that was reviewed, should not continue to receive money to pay for its administrative staff that was only supposed to be funded for one year. That was the agreement made during the budget workshops last year when the H.O.M.E project received funding it should not have. That deal went out the window at the meeting last night, and of course the public could not comment on it. The public might have also asked what the money would be used for, and for reports to be given on any success or failures in relationship to the funding. The public may have also asked for documentation on the services the commission was looking at funding to verify that, in these changing times, were still relevant. Of course, as the Mayor explained, that was the old way of doing business, and we are not doing it that way anymore.

An interesting side note to this is that the Fire Fee Rate was set last night under a discussion item. Presumably this is because of the new ordinance that was passed last night that expedites the fee creation process. Again last night the commission spoke of how the public would still have input on the issues of fees, but if they are going to be put under discussion items, then, as we pointed out, the public can and will be cut out of the discussion. If it can be done on how the commission spends our money, then it can be done on how they tax the community as well.

The "Social Service Funding" item ended with Commissioner Irizarry and Commissioner Gemskie back-talking each other like a couple of kids who just lost their recess privileges. Commissioner Gemskie who gave very little input on how public funds were going to be spent was quick to attack Commissioner Irizarry when he argued against funding for the H.O.M.E project of which Mr. Gemskie has represented in the past. At least this point in the meeting gave us an insight into the upcoming cage match that will be Pay-Per-Viewed on Access Osceola this summer, but as far as establishing faith in our leadership, nothing has changed.

Pots of Money

We have caught wind that WayneWho has become a syndicated un-news source spanning from coast to coast of our great country. We just have to say thank you to all of our readers and those remote bloggers who enjoy reformatting and rediting our articles for their own mass email markets. The WayneWho Staff would like to say hello to all those Simi Valley readers who are now reading our material under a snappy pen name of the person who puts the "tin-foil" in our beanie of collective knowledge. (You can edit that part out for your next e-mail.) Hello to our new readers on the West Coast.

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In an attempt to help spread misinformation and un-news we are going to discuss a couple of items on the City of Kissimmee Commission Meeting agenda for tonight. First we have the second and final reading of the ordinance to expidite the process of creating and raising fees by establishing a catch all ordinace that simplifies the drafting of such fees. (Call that misinformation all you want, but that is the whole point of this ordinance.) As our sydicated column was attacked last week for spreading "misinformation" about the removal of the public from the process of drafting the new fees the city is after, we just have to note one glaring problem with the City's argument. If there is really no difference in the processes, then why are we making this change? The way the process is now, there is a large amount of leg work and public record on the movement and discussions on new fee ordinances. Much like a bill in congress, a new fee ordinance has to pass many hurdles even before the public has a chance to weigh in on the subject. This public information can then be requested by concerened citizens who wish to speak out for or against the fee. The new process provides less documentation for citizens' review making the arguments for new fees a he-said, she-said battle. We know, we know, we are supposed to trust government because they have shown so much honesty and integrity in the past. There have been no such episodes of going behind the back of the public to cyphon off money from the local electric company, sticking the citizes with increased rates so government could once again skip out on its responsibility of reducing its size. Things like that don't happen, right?

Of course all of this discussion of simplified fee making has not slowed down the expenditures of the IT department. The consent agenda contains the approvals for a new HP BladeSystem and VMWare for a sum of more than $93,000.00 and a Cisco Switch/Router for more than $70,000. Anyone want to wager a Granola Bar on if any questions are asked of the IT department as to what this is for and why it is needed? And even if the questions are asked, will any real explanation be given to the Commission? Just approve that $163,000 dollars to upgrade the speed at which staff can play fantasy football and track their weight on "Biggest Loser", the public won't mind.

The end of the meeting promises to be quite exciting with discussions on both the Social Service funding that the commission failed to properly monitor and account for when they removed the United Way from the funding process, and the setting of the Fire Fee under the new expidited system. It is fun to tally the expenditures as we listen to the cries of limited funding. Too bad the public cannot find a way to expidite new revenue for themselves as easily as government does. Wal-mart and the local attractions have slowed their summer hiring, so that second job will be a little hard to get this year.

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City of Kissimmee Candidate Social

Today is the first candidate social put on by the Kissimmee Chamber of Commerce. Today's gathering will focus on the City of Kissimmee candidates who will be asked a series of media driven questions from our local celebrity media personalities on what they believe are important issues to the community. Our recommendation is to skip the event and catch this one on your favorite government access channel, Access Osceola. What you will save on the cost of admission and the roll of Tums you will need after eating another rubber chicken dinner will justify the expense of the converter box to get channel 199. That is of course if you have not already wisely cut your cable package. If you have cut your cable package, then we recommend you still save your money and don't waste time on this social event.

The real problem with this event is that the "questions" asked by the celebrity interviewers are typically open ended generic "questions" that have nothing to do with the struggles our citizens face every day. The "questions" rarely give insight into the true knowledge and depth of a candidate. The "questions" also drive an agenda that is many times at odds with what the community has in mind. Questions on economic development are almost always asked as if there was some magic pot of money in which to draw from. And when candidates give the same old tired answer of "I think we should revitalize downtown and it would be nice if their was some night life down there," the celebrity interviewers nod their collective heads without ever asking the follow up of "Why?", "How do you intend to pay for it?", or the question that should be asked, "What are you going to cut to pay for this?" Incumbent candidates will tout their experience and the people that they know as reasons for the citizens to re-elect them and again the celebrity interviewer will not make them expand on these answers. "Is a round-about fountain paid for with gas tax money a wise decision when the city commission keeps cutting funding for public transportation?", "Is it wise to make commissioner backed changes to the City Charter with limited public input, and then table changes made by the actual charter review committee?", and "Since we now have a strong Mayor form of government, do we still need to employ the city manager?" Local governments have not had a great track record over the past couple of years, but this will not factor into the questioning because it is not proper to discuss failure at a social event.

Our advice to the voters is to call the candidates and talk to them yourself. Ask them about the questions that are important to you. If they blow off your questions then, you know what they are going to do if they are elected. Social events, like these forums, are not designed for the public, but one on one you will get a better idea of what a candidate is all about.

Special Assessment

At tonight's City of Kissimmee Commission meeting there is an item on the agenda that we have heard very little about even though we believe that this ordinance establishes more bad policy. "Item 4A" is an ordinance creating a Special Assessment Chapter in the Code Book that would authorize Special Assessments to fund Capital Improvements or Essential Services by the vote on a simple resolution instead of creating a new special proposed ordinance for each assessment. As written in tonight's agenda, "this ordinance would be the enabling ordinance..." and "This process would streamline this (assessment creating) procedure."

The WayneWho staff is not sure what is more scary, the fact that government believes it should be easier for it to charge fees (taxes), or that there is going to be a big push in the near future on creating new fees (taxes) that makes this new ordinance needed. The idea of removing public debate from the creation on new fees is just bad democracy and should not be supported. The process for creating new fees and/or taxes should be difficult for government to do. This should not be a streamlined process that allows for government to change their prices at whim. The public has a say in what they pay, and in what that money gets spent on. We have noticed a scary trend with local governments working hard to remove the public from processes it believes it should not be questioned on, and this must stop. The public is not an obstacle.

We would hope that others will take time to read this ordinance and question their commissioners on what the heck they are thinking.

Big Wheel

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

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

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

Motivational Speaking

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

Hey Kids!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why do people volunteer? Why do you volunteer?

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

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

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

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

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

See you in two weeks.


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

Art of Distraction

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

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

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

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

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

Gimme A Break

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

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

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

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

The WayneWho staff say thanks.

Good Job!

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

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

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

The Stage Is Set

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

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

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

Policy by Chance?

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

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

Homeless Impact Fee

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

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

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

Yet another fee idea

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

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

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

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

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