Revenge of the live chat, noon Tuesday!

I hope you'll consider stopping by TroxBlog from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday for our weekly live chat on current events. I'll be here live, taking questions and comments about goings-on in the Tampa Bay area and beyond. Feel free to jump in, or just to hang out and see what other folks have to say.

To observe or take part in the chat: Come back to TroxBlog at noon and look for a new announcement with the headline, "The April 1 Chat is OPEN." Click on the "Comments" link of that item and you'll be taken to a page with everything that's been said so far, and a space for you to add your own comment or question.

Can't be here live Tuesday? You can always "pre-file" a question or comment to the comments link of THIS item, just a few lines below. I'll work it in during the live chat. And you can always come back after the fact to read a transcript of what was said.

I hope to see you at noon Tuesday.

Comments

[get-smart]

I love all the Trop re-development proposals establishing the road grid between the north and south side. These developers don't realize that they will have to fence in and barricade the new project. But then again the developers will consider this an unforeseen expense and the city (taxpayers) will be paying for high levels of security to protect the site from metal vandals and the like. If you think BayWalk is a zoo, wait until this opens.

I also loved how the developers danced around the labor force question at the council meeting. A council member ask if they (the developers) will be bring in out-of-state laborers. The developers, spitting-out a bunch of acronyms and how they conform with the laws, would not answer the question. In other words, the American labor force is the minority labor force.

I guess the secret agenda is to increase land values on the south side so developers will buy up city blocks wholesale and re-develop and gentrify the south side with gated estate homes. So those of you with the speculative money and you know who you are, get ready if this deal goes through.

[Larry]

Didn't you just love Joel Glazer this morning falling all over himself justifying the ticket price hikes for this year. We're somewhere in the middle and we have to do it to stay competitive. The Buc's, competitive? We like the direction we are going? Sure they do, right to the bank. Or maybe he meant competitive in his 8,360 sf housing accommodations on Harbor Isle, near Bubba Bryan.

[wake-up]

get-smart,

Good stuff! Pie-in-the-sky promises of “affordable housing” and “jobs, jobs, jobs”! Nothing more than the modern day snake oil salesman’s pitch.

The truth of the matter is the “affordable housing” component will be about 10-units priced slightly less than a ¼ of a million dollars, and located in the back of the complex near the dumpsters.

As for “jobs, jobs, jobs”… we’re looking at 10-12 dollars an-hour retail sales jobs at best, and temporary construction jobs that will go predominantly to illegal immigrants who send 80% of their salary back to Mexico, while we (legal taxpayers) pick up the tab for their health care, education, and food stamps.

[justme]

Happy April Fool's Day... So... what was the best April Fool's joke you played on someone or someone played on you?

[Howard Troxler]

Re: April Fool's: I would like to claim that I am a natural skeptic and not easily fooled, but if I did that, I would immediately fall for some whopper or another.

Best of all time I've heard of was not an April Fool's joke per se, but a farewell prank played in one of our bureaus on a college intern on her last day. The young reporter was assigned a story that a big prostitution ring in town with prominent clients had been busted up -- and when she got the list of "johns," turns out that her senior boss was on the list! The junior editors naturally said she would have to confront him... he was in on the prank of course, and at the right moment during their tense confrontation, before the poor woman suffered TOO much, everybody rolled in the cake...

Howard,
When is Phil Gailey retiring?

The Buzz has a story about Jim Sebesta deciding not to run for county commission. He suggests that a major announcement will be made soon about transportation that he wants to be part of.

My guess is he means the Rays are going to make their announcement about helping out with transportation/ intermodal transportation hub. Designed of course, to make folks think they are so good to the community. OK, that last part is an April Fools!

Sebesta was at the Trop project bidders conference. Maybe we should check to see if he's a registered lobbiest yet.