If You Build It They Will Come

Ruth: Stop Talking And Build A Rail Line
In 1973, I arrived in Tampa to start my career as an ink-stained wretch. I was 23. One of the big issues facing the greater Tampa Bay area was whether to spend the money to begin development of a light-rail system stretching across the Howard Frankland Bridge eventually linking Tampa to St. Petersburg and Clearwater. It was decided by the powers that be there should be extensive discussions on the subject before moving ahead.It is now 2013, 40 years later. I am 63. And everyone is still talking without so much as a single rail spike to have ever been driven into the ground.
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Poll shows public support for publicly financed light rail.
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Folks that want to help.
Vote Transit
Connect Tampa Bay

Tampa's Wise Man

Fred Karl RIP
May 14, 1924 - March 7, 2013
remembering Tampa's wise man...Daniel Ruth
With the voice of reason gone, who do you call?...Sue Carlton
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"Fred Karl was a role model for excellent public service. His lifelong legacy as a public servant draws the conclusion: 'Well done, thy good and faithful servant.' "...Bill Nelson

"Fred Karl was born to be a public servant. He tackled issues with a sense of fairness, respect and honesty, always reflecting his personal and professional high standards. His values and character were shaped in large part by his generation that viewed duty, sacrifice and civic engagement as necessary components of a full and meaningful life."...Pam Iorio

"Fred Karl was a war hero, dutiful public servant and statesman. No matter his role, Fred was always a calming influence on those around him. He believed that fairness should always carry the day, and his love for our community and the people who shaped it, regardless of their color or creed, superseded anything else."...Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn

"He wore many hats. He loved public service. And he made a positive impact on our community. We are a better place because Fred Karl lived and served here."...Jan Platt

Fellow Travelers In The Alternative Consciousness Community

Perhaps a brief review is in order.
Over the space of just a few short weeks, newbie Gov. Rick Scott, R-Lurch, has managed to:

Scuttle Florida's high-speed rail effort that would have meant tens of thousands of jobs by rejecting $2.4 billion in federal funding based on the financial due diligence equivalent of consulting a Wikipedia entry, a matchbook cover and Rush Limbaugh's website.
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Local fellow traveler Chris Ingram is all excited.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

A Case Of Excessive Ego In The First Degree
This just in! Stop the presses! Get me rewrite, baby! Grady Judd has just announced he had Cheerios for breakfast this morning! Grady Judd has also proclaimed he plans to have a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and as for dinner, stand by — a press conference will be forthcoming.
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The Big Daddy Of The Hillsborough County Commission

Jim Norman
Wishes to ascend to the Florida Senate, where he can continue his life's work as a lawn jockey for development interests across the state.
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Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White

The Cyrano de Bergerac of Kennedy Blvd.

Has found himself in a fine kerfuffle of kinkiness in the wake of a federal sexual discrimination lawsuit brought by a former aide who claims no sooner did she go work for the commissioner in 2007 than Kevin White began redefining the term public service...........more