Corporate Con Artist Jeff Vinik Gets Tax Break Intended for Poor

When Congress approved the creation of “opportunity zones” as part of Donald Trump’s 2017 tax code overhaul, it didn’t have half-billionaire Jeff Vinik in mind as the legislation’s sole beneficiary in downtown Tampa.

But a cabal of enablers—Senator Rick Scott, former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, and current Mayor Jane Castor—has dumped millions of diverted dollars in Vinik’s lap and itches to give 
him even more.
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-Jim Bleyer

Deflecting Tampa's Attention

A Hillsborough transit tax activist and noted conspiracy theorist has filed an ethics complaint against Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White in a transparent attempt to deflect public attention from just how misguided the special interest levy is and how it was sold to a misinformed public. 

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HERE

Fraudulent Transit Plan Skewered at Tampa NAACP Meeting: They Will Vote ‘No’

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 poor.

Vinik’s three stooges—Rena Frazier, Brian Willis, and Michael Stephens—were envisioned by their boss as glib emissaries.  At the end of the evening, the trio were tongue-tied and nonplused by incisive questioning and criticism over Vinik’s hidden agenda.

Tampa Bay Beat has learned from two independent sources that certain people close to the NAACP were offered cash to wheedle an endorsement of what amounts to a multi-billion dollar taxpayer swindle. 

Tyler Hudson, Vinik’s point man in the grossly misnamed All For Transportation (AFT) effort, sat grim faced in the audience as criticism from Tampa’s black community rained down on the plan.  Cristina Barker, Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s former protegé on loan to Vinik, sat frowning and scribbling notes. Kevin Thurman, the fourth stooge and relegated to the audience, ineptly tried to explain the glaring flaws in the $15 billion, 30-year developer bailout which would make Hillsborough County the Florida county with the highest sales tax.

No local media were in apparent attendance.
By Jim Bleyer

Hillsborough Tax Hike To Fund Transit Is Looking Shaky

The petition itself violates state law, and the overall effort is sloppy in matters large 

and small.

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By  Tom Rask Tampa Bay Guardian

Water Street Tampa Underwater

Vinik Downtown Project in Deep Trouble!

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The Boston Globe said Vinik “reinvented” himself but Tampans have discovered that only applies superficially.

Water Street Tampa, the highly-touted $3 billion “vision” of local businessman and Tampa Bay Times investor Jeff Vinik, is in deep trouble and may be taken over and/or liquidated by Cascade Investment, the Bill Gates-owned equity firm that provided financing.

Several highly-placed sources within the Tampa Bay business community confirmed that information 
to Tampa Bay Beat.

One termed Vinik’s situation as “desperate.”

Another asserted Strategic Property Partners, Vinik’s development company, will take an “all or nothing gamble” to save the project.

A third mused that he would never trade places with the beleaguered former hedge fund manager.

All agreed that Millennials, the heart and soul of innovation and high-tech, lack motivation to relocate here. National headlines emanating from Tampa over the past several years make the city uninviting to innovative, progressive companies as well as established ones with conservative pedigrees.

Promised: a Fortune 500 company, a health-oriented grocery store, a bevy of health and medical research companies and organizations.  The only firm commitment so far was built on campaign contributions, aka bribery, and involves a move from the University of South Florida campus to downtown.

A wash for the local economy, a loss for Temple Terrace, and, presumably, a gain for Tampa. Zero sum.

Vinik’s project has long lagged behind his original schedule.  The size and nature of the project has been ephemeral as specific benchmarks have 
failed to materialize.

If Water Street Tampa goes down the tubes, a couple of hundred million dollars in public funding will circle the drain as well.  Then there is the collateral Vinik put up for the loan.  Let’s take an educated guess:

—-The Tampa Bay Lightning, a franchise valued at $390 million by Forbes magazine.  A new owner may lead the Stanley Cup parade. Maybe the festivities will include a grand jury instead of a Grand Marshall.

—-Amalie Arena.  Best guestimate: $600 million.

—-Share of Tampa Bay Times property that “collateralized” Vinik’s $1.5 million “investment” into the failing news entity. Peanuts. $4 million tops.

—-Vinik’s Sarasota monstrous estate just off St. Armands Circle in Sarasota.  Built for approximately $30 million including land, it more resembles a museum or mental ward and probably cannot be liquidated 
for quite that much.
By Jim Bleyer - Tampa Bay Beat

Florida INC. CEO Rick Scott

It’s unmistakable who Gov. Rick Scott’s biggest fans are if you look at his political fundraising over the 
last two years.

Associated Industries of Florida

 The Florida Chamber of Commerce

Walt Disney World Parks and Resorts

U.S. Sugar Corporation

Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik

here