Pony first; cart after

Don’t blame over-burdened, under-employed Hillsborough County residents for the lack of infrastructure in downtown Tampa.

The first to benefit would be downtown businesses and land owners; they should be the first to pony up.

They are the private part of public/private partnerships still sitting on the sidelines waiting for the taxpaying public to load the carts for them.

Once the promised high-wage, good-benefit, full-time jobs materialize, the newly employed will shop, eat, play and live downtown.

Their taxes will then also help fund teachers, police, firefighters and public works.

Pony first; cart after.

<IMHO> Fred Jacobsen

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GOP Shakedown

Who exactly, is the “Committee on Arrangements” and why are they shaking down Tampa hotels for up to $100 per room, just for the privilege of booking Republican National Convention guests?

Is this free-market economics or is it an example of vulture capitalism?

I suspect that every downtown Tampa hotel could fully book every hotel room during convention week without the help of The Committee.

After all, isn’t the GOP all about laissez-faire and not about thuggery?

<IMHO> Fred Jacobsen

Related articles

• Shakedown (rkhouse.wordpress.com)
• You: Tampa council earmarks $25 million for convention security (menafn.com)
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• Republican National Convention brings talk of lockdowns in Tampa, beautiful light displays (tampabay.com)
• GOP officials talk convention plans in Tampa (sfgate.com)
• Tampa Mayor Criticizes GOP Campaigns: ‘This Has Been Nothing More Than A Mud Fest’ (mediaite.com)
• GOP not worried about convention protests, weather (tampa.cbslocal.com)
• Hotels For Extra Convention Cops Will Cost $2m (tampa.cbslocal.com)
• Video: With USF GOP debate comes protests, including Occupy and anti-Muslim pastor Terry Jones (digitalbullpen.com)

Tampa Ballpark Funding

There is no “free” money for governments to spend, if that money comes from taxpayers.

It is ludicrous to justify funding a new ballpark with taxes that will no longer be needed to pay off convention center bonds.

If any government doesn’t reduce taxes when it can, it is in effect raising taxes.

Both the City of Tampa and the County of Hillsborough each have run their credit cards up to around one-billion dollars. The City and County spent that money against future tax incomes by borrowing the money, with interest, from bond investors.

The tax dollars needed to pay the interest on those bonds keeps us from spending today’s tax dollars on anything else we really need; like for education, health care and first-responders.

Having a downtown ballpark is not a bad idea.

A few years ago, a new ballpark in downtown San Diego, near both an historic district and a convention center worked wonders to improve neighboring property values and resulted in several new hotels and added tourist taxes.

If a new downtown Tampa ballpark can be funded thorough investments from increased downtown property taxes and increased hotel occupancy taxes, I say “Go for it.”

Otherwise, I say “Keep your tax-collecting hands out of my pocket.”

<IMHO> Fred Jacobsen

Downtown Tampa Grocery?

SP Times Daniel Ruth misses the reason why there are no grocery stores in downtown Tampa.

What do you do about a recalcitrant teen who won’t clean his room? You either clean it for him and dock his allowance or you shut his door so guests won’t be turned off.

What do you do about downtown property owners who won’t clear weeds and trash? Clean it for them, bill them and put a lien on their properties.

You can’t close the door to visitors.

There is a little thing called Google Maps Street View.

According to Google, “Street View in Google Maps lets you explore places through 360-degree street-level imagery, whether you’re looking at locations in your town or across the globe. With Street View, you can check out a restaurant before going there, find beautiful places around the world to visit on your next vacation, or check out neighborhoods when you’re looking to move. “

You can’t locate a food store in a garbage dump.

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