A Tale Of Two Budget Cuts

Our old boss here at the Times. Gene Patterson, was a WWII tank commander under George S. Patton. He tells the story of Patton chewing out his men for not gaining ground fast enough -- he knew it was not fast enough, Old Blood and Guts yelled, because he wasn't seeing enough second lieutenants getting killed.

That story popped up in my mind on Wednesday when, by coincidence, I had a previously arranged lunch meeting with Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. It turned out to be the eve of her announcement  of how she would meet the tax cuts just passed by the Legislature. The next day she laid off 121 full-time employees, and eliminated 133 part-time and seasonal jobs and 115 other posts. Here's this morning's article by Janet Zink. [Times photo | Brian Cassella]

Why did this remind me of Patterson and Patton? Because Iorio said she specifically told her top managers that she wanted to see assistant department heads and management included in the cuts, and not just low-level workers or things that were most visible to the public. "I got the message," Iorio said, talking about public opinion in favor of property tax cuts. "And I decided we were going to do it, and do it without any hand-wringing."

It is tempting to contrast the Tampa story with this morning's article by Aaron Sharockman about the comparable cuts proposed by Mayor Rick Baker in St. Petersburg. Sharockman's article says Baker's cuts are more targeted toward lower-level workers. My Thursday column also criticized the direction of the cuts under the headline, At least the deputy mayors survived.

However, in the Tampa-St. Petersburg comparison, there is an important difference that ought to be factored in. St. Petersburg, under Baker, has made at least SOME cuts to its tax rate year after year, while Tampa's millage stayed the same. That meant Tampa was riding the full tide of soaring property values, while St. Pete was giving back to taxpayers at least some of it (not all, but some). So if Tampa's response to the new order seems more dramatic, it's also the case that Tampa might have had further to go.

Good Riddance To The Donald

This whole Donald Trump thing baffled me in the first place. The idea that Tampa should be grateful to have the Trump brand on a 52-story luxury condo tower seemed dated and tacky from the outset, when the $300-million project was announced in 2005. It felt like we were expected to get all excited over getting a new Playboy Club or something equally passe. What next, will we have to line up and wave palm fronds for Paris Hilton?

But, as they say, bull finds its own level, and the champagne wishes and caviar dreams of 2005 have given way to the realities of a busted condo market, poor sales, construction liens and lawsuits. As my colleague James Thorner reports today, Trump has terminated his contract with SimDag, the developers, and filed a lawsuit against them in federal court.

Being a dedicated Trump-avoider when possible, I didn't even realize that this wasn't his building in the first place -- Trump just puts his name on the thing in return for a piece of the action, kind of like a McDonald's franchise. He's doing it all over the country.

Maybe the developers can recover by signing up Rosie O'Donnell. [Times photo | Chris Zuppa]

To Know, Know, Know Him Was To Not Elect, Elect, Elect Him

The 56-44 victory by Tampa City Council member Gwen Miller over challenger Joe Redner was a surprisingly decisive margin. When Redner finished second to Miller in a crowded field in the March 6 election and qualified for a runoff, I thought he had a strong chance to win. In retrospect the relatively strong early voting and turnout -- nearly matching the first election, a rarity -- was to Miller's benefit.

Some people say Redner's missteps during the runoff campaign hurt him, for example, his offer of free admission to his nude-dancing club as a reward for voting, which reminded folks of his background, or his ill-considered claim to be "blacker" than Miller. (He meant well, I believe -- he meant he would be more sympathetic to the disadvantaged. But honestly, I don't think any of us white folks get to claim we are "blacker" than anyone who got the short end of the stick during the era of legal segregation and Jim Crow laws.) At any rate, both incidents reminded voters of his unpredictable nature.

Redner was widely credited with being a strong, articulate and knowledgeable candidate. He has come a long way. But in the end a combination of factors did him in: a better ground-level campaign by Miller, the threat that Redner posed to the status quo (especially business and development folks), and a gut-level reluctance by rank-and-file voters to take the chance on a wild card, who no doubt would have gained Tampa some colorful and unwelcome national publicity as well. Those in favor of upsetting the apple-cart will have to be content with the gain of Mary Mulhern on the City Council.

Can He Do That? And Other Stories

It's the stories inside the newspaper that sometimes make me sit up and yell the loudest. Here's one: The man that Gov. Charlie Crist has hired to oversee growth management in our state is Tom Pelham, secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. Without a doubt, Pelham is an expert on the law. But, check out this article by my colleague Craig Pittman: Even after taking his state job, Pelham intends to continue to represent developers as a private attorney! This seems too weird to be true, and will probably be the subject of my column tomorrow.

Incidentally, one of Pelham's cases as a private attorney included helping the city of St. Pete Beach fight a citizens' group that wanted direct voter control of growth decisions. Pelham argued in Court for the city that these things were Too Complicated for voters to handle directly. Well, the citizens' group won in court and then at the ballot box, and now has a majority on the St. Pete Beach City Commission. Check out an article in today's paper by Cristina Silva.

Also, here's an interesting article on the condo movement in downtown Tampa by Michael Van Sickler. Ever since I got here 25 years ago the talk in Tampa has been about how to get a residential component downtown. One interesting difference to me between Tampa and St. Pete, which has been condo-izing its downtown for years, is the deliberate targeting of more reasonable price ranges. Now, if Mayor Iorio can throw in a car-less downtown with step-on, step-off transit...

$1 beats $4-plus; That's MR. Redner To You, Bub

The candidate with the most money often wins in politics, but not always. You can win without the most money if you have the most of something else -- energy, organization, work, message.

Tuesday saw an impressive upset win by Mary Mulhern, who beat two-term City Council incumbent Shawn Harrison in Tuesday's city elections in Tampa. Harrison had more than four times as much money. No doubt lots of folks will be telling Mulhern that they knew all along she had it in the bag, but I confess I didn't know it -- my apology for the lack of faith, Madame Council Member-Elect. To show my age, this outcome is a little like Phyllis Busansky's 1988 stunning upset of council member Tom Vann in a County Commission race. It turns out anything is possible after all.

And at long last, after several tries for public office, Joe Redner got into a City Council runoff against incumbent Gwen Miller to be held March 27. Very interesting! Redner has gotten better and better as a candidate, and actually carried the city precincts in his last try for the County Commission. Miller is vulnerable. But it's not a given. I know lots of people who voted for Redner as a novelty or as an alternative in a crowded field, but the test is whether they are willing to continue to overlook his day job (famous strip-club owner, in case you somehow haven't heard of him) now that he is so close to winning... look out for an Anybody-But-Redner campaign, Joe.

Oh, and Mayor Pam Iorio got re-elected with a zillion percent of the vote.

Election Day In Tampa; Pinellas Nervous Over Penny

It's election day in Tampa, where Mayor Pam Iorio is a safe bet for re-election, and six seats are up on the City Council. The most interesting council races involve two incumbents, Gwen Miller and John Dingfelder.

Also, check out an article by my colleague Will Van Sant about the March 13 Penny for Pinellas election, and the fact that local pols are slightly nervous over its prospects. Between property taxes and insurance crises, a lot of taxpayers are in a grumpy mood.

Me, I am in a grumpy mood because the county won't talk about the fate of the Brooker Creek Preserve until March 15, two days after the Penny election. If they're gonna pump water out of the thing and build soccer fields on it, they oughta say so beforehand.