By Jim Bleyer When the so-called “leadership” of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club publicly endorsed Tampa developer Jeff Vinik’s proposed Hillsborough County sales tax scam this week, it “forgot” to consult the membership. No debate. No discussion. No agenda item. The deceitful maneuver reflects the baksheesh tactics employed …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay The billionaires are entitled. They buy off the media. They bankroll a deceptive advertising campaign for a massive tax hike that never mentions the word “tax”. They want to shut down any debate about their $16 Billion rail tax boondoggle in …
By Jim Bleyer State Rep. Janet Cruz is under fire for the same political deception that forced the resignation of her Florida House colleague Daisy Baez one year ago. A week after resigning from office, fellow Democrat Baez pleaded guilty to …
By Jim Bleyer Sure, the legendary Wall Street misanthrope Gordon Gekko is more chiseled and less rumpled than Tampa wheeler dealer Jeff Vinik, but there is no argument the duo share many characteristics. Both are charming, manipulative people whose goal of enhancing …
By Jim Bleyer There is one group in Hillsborough County that Jeff Vinik can’t buy. The Vinik-inspired sales tax referendum came under heavy fire Thursday night when Tampa’s African American community attacked it as vague, promoting unwanted gentrification, and a bailout for development interests at the expense of the working …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay Despite the $2 million and growing advertising campaign for All For Transportation and the 1 cent, 14% sales tax increase proposed as a county charter amendment in Hillsborough County, the plan will increase congestion and not relieve it. The evidence is hidden …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay The Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization is dysfunctional and in need of a big housecleaning: a new Executive Director and new staff. The MPO earlier this year sided with proponents of the proposed one pecent sales tax increase as it began its …
By Tom Rask, Tampa Bay Guardian It was after 3 P.M. in County Center on a hot Friday in September. The previous evening at 6:15 P.M., Hillsborough County Chief Financial Administrator Bonnie Wise had requested that “errors” be corrected in the Transit Tax performance audit report delivered by the auditing firm McConnell & …
By Sharon Calvert, from Eye on Tampa Bay It should come as no surprise that voters and taxpayers are not funding promotion of the grossly misnamed All for Transportation (AFT) 30-year 14% rail tax hike. The Tampa Bay Partnership, leader of the local rail cartel, has been complicit with …
By Tom Rask, Tampa Bay Guardian Yesterday morning, a state agency told the Guardian that they did not have an audit report that was due for delivery to them five days earlier. Yet that same afternoon, the Tampa Bay Times obtained a copy of the report and published an article …
