Live Chat Today, Noon - 1 P.M.

I hope you can stop by from noon to 1 p.m. today for this week's live chat here on TroxBlog. I'll be taking comments and questions about current events in Florida and here in the Tampa Bay area.

To take part in the chat, come back at noon and look for a new announcement here with the headline, "The July 17 Chat Is Open." Click on the "Comments" link to see what others are saying or to add your own question or comment.

If you can't be here live, feel free to "pre-post" a question or remark in the "Comments" option of this announcement. As always, you can come back later to check out a transcript of the chat.

Comments

[Salvatore Reale]

Howard,

Congressman Ellison's despicable remark that compared President Bush with Hitler has not been reported in the Times, yet The Telegraph (London, UK) has. I have notified the Times through a letter to the editor, that also has not been published. I've previously spoken with Galley about why they don't publish any of my letters. His comment was I'm too strident. Aren't Dowd, Rich, Krugman, the Times editorial board, and others strident? Yet their columns are printed. Why don't you as an elite member of The Times investigate their policy of Liberal and Unbalanced?

[Alison]

I am sure I am just being naive, but with record property value increases and tax collections these past several years, I don't understand why there is a panic among government bodies about the money now. Aren't there surplus funds somewhere? It would seem like things could be scaled back to where they were several years ago and then some funds could be added for cost of living adjustment from the surplus funds collected. I don't get it.

[Michael Bagby]

Thanks for writing about the county axing Access Pinellas.

[Gary]

When watching Pinellas 18 BCC meeting, it was mentioned the budget for Pinellas 18 was $4.2 million. The budget for Access $349,000. The director was asked why the buget had increased from $2.3 million in 2002 to the current $4.2. She said a department from this building with 10 employees was put into her budget.
But the truth of this situation is big business is shutting down Access channels all over the country in an effort to save money on broadcasting and eliminating the franchise fee that go with it. In Pinellas, they rolled the franchise fees into the "communication service tax" so they will continue to get the funds. Shutting down Access will NOT decrease your taxes.
In the past few years, they also funneled the fees into the general fund so the funds could be used for other purposes instead of for their original purpose: public access TV. Kinda like our Social Security money. Read between the lines you'll see this plan of eliminating the Access Channel has been going on for years and is being promoted under the guise of budget cuts. Lets face it. The county's budget income has gone up over 100% in the past few years because of the property value tax increases. It just proves the government will spend every cent you give them and more. Also remember that once they get your vote it goes from "We the People" to "Me the People."