Disclosures and understanding what you read in my Posts

You will be amazed at how much more engaged in our political process you become, when you make a simple $5.00 contribution to a candidate, you support.

St. Petersburg, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin

This month (July 2016) I will begin following the upcoming election cycle at the national, state, county and local level.

As I often remind many of my friends, I am a Blogger not a reporter. I Post my thoughts and opinions, you will rarely see any "Breaking News" in my Posts.

In this election cycle, as in the past, I will periodically contribute to political campaigns, PACs or issues. I think it is important that as a reader, you can easily see when I am commenting about a campaign or candidate where I have contributed.

All of my Blog Posts end with the following:

E-mail Doc at: mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share and Like on Facebook. 

The tag line will be as shown below with "Disclosures" added. As I contribute to various campaigns, the campaign or candidate will be listed.

E-mail Doc at: mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com. Or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share and Like on Facebook.

Disclosures:

These contributions are not ringing endorsements, and I frequently disagree on specifics with those I have supported and agree with those whom I have not.

I would encourage you to contribute to a candidate or cause you support. Today virtually all campaigns have a WEB site where it is easy and secure to make a contribution.

The amount really is not that important, but you will be amazed at how much more engaged in our political process you become when you make a simple $5.00 contribution to candidate or a cause you support.

Running a campaign, whether it is for city council or president of the United States is an arduous task. Most candidates will tell you they are more inspired by the number of names on the contributor list than the numbers beside the names.

Thank you for the time you invest in reading what I Post. I deeply appreciate all of your comments, Tweets and e-mails.

It will be an interesting election cycle with just a few months until the Presidential election. I hope I pique your interest, make you smile, raise your awareness and move you to comment in the coming weeks.

E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to Like and share on Facebook.

See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos.

Disclosures:

Contributor: Bob Gualtieri for Pinellas County Sheriff

Tampa Bay Partnership Reinvents itself

You can toss The Tampa Bay Partnership into the same bucket as the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and TBARTA.

St. Petersburg, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin

The Tampa Bay Partnership (TBP) was formed in 1994 as a regional joint public/private organization to encourage and support major economic issues.

You can read the details of the TBP reinvention in the Tampa Bay Times piece by Robert Trigaux Business Columnist: Tampa Bay Partnership  2.0: To meet regional challenge, economic advocacy group reinvents itself.

The Tampa Bay Partnership is made up of CEOs and government officials, and the primary aim was to support economic development from a regional perspective.

From the Tampa Bay Partnership web site:

About the Tampa Bay Partnership

The Tampa Bay Partnership galvanizes the business and political leadership of Tampa Bay to exert its collective influence on the policies, programs and projects that enhance the economic competitiveness and prosperity of our region.

Through the Partnership’s public policy, political action and research initiatives, a diverse community is united with one shared vision and one powerful voice on issues of regional significance.

Founded in 1994, the regional advocacy organization is today supported by more than 120 private investors, public partners and community stakeholders from the counties of Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota.

You can check out their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TBPartnership

In this reincarnation “The Partnership plans to end its public-private structure and instead be run exclusively by a "council of governors" consisting of up to 40 CEOs of major companies based or operating here who would pay $50,000 a year to serve on the board. A second-tier "leadership council" of another 40-plus senior area executives will pay $25,000 a year to participate.”

They will dump their public funding along with the politicians (Public Partners) and the public scrutiny that come with the public money and simply become a regional lobbying club made up of people who can afford the “dues” or feel the investment will be in their best interest.

The TBP has not been all that effective of late, except for the recent TBX effort but there is little to indicate their support made much difference.

You can toss The Tampa Bay Partnership into the same bucket as the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and TBARTA.

The Tampa Bay region is such an alphabet soup of planning organizations, cities, counties and special-interest groups and organizations that it is a wonder that anything gets done.

Once TBP is successful in filling its Board at $50K and $25K, a pop and unfettered by the restrictions that come along with the public funding it will be interesting to see what the Tampa Bay Partnership 2.0 looks like. Will they be a good old boys club, a lobbying group, self-serving special interest group, a Political Action Committee (PAC) or some hybrid combination?

One thing is for sure, if you can’t afford a seat at the TBP table the likelihood they will be supporting anything in your best interest is slim.

E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook.

See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos.

Disclosures:

Contributor: Bob Gualtieri for Pinellas County Sheriff

Another Urban Myth Busted

We've grown weary of the incessant cheerleading around downtown development for both Tampa and St. Petersburg. We're glad they are developing and improving, but its not the only story in town. All that's hot in the real estate market is not downtown.

Forget Davis Islands, South Tampa and downtown St. Petersburg — Tampa Bay's hottest ZIP codes are two you might not expect.

While wealthier parts of the bay area have seen greater price appreciation since 2004, the areas most sought after by home buyers today are Largo/Seminole (ZIP 33778) and Tampa's Carrollwood-Northdale (ZIP 33624), realtor.com says.

It should not be any surprise as to why.

The main reason for those ZIPs' popularity is simple — both have stable neighborhoods with the kind of roomy yet moderately priced homes that are in increasingly tight supply these days.

In ZIP 33624, "Northdale is affordable square footage for the money,'' says Joe Lewkowicz, a veteran Coldwell Banker agent. "Plus, they've got the YMCA, which a lot of people use, the golf course, a great school right there (Gaither High), and it's close in to downtown.''

Disclosure: Joe Lewkowicz is a neighbor.

Amenities. Good value. Space. Privacy. Yard. Good schools...

Northdale Park

In short, the American Dream does not start and end in a boxed up in an apartment, even if downtown transmogrifies into a Disney-esque entertainment district for the ADHD afflicted in crowd.

Perhaps the high rents downtown contribute. A friend recently moved downtown into a one bedroom apartment for $1700 per month.  He likes it downtown, so great for him. That kind of rent is typical of downtown these days.

Latest downtown Tampa apartment rents on Zlillow.com as of June 9

Compare that to Northdale.

Lewkowicz is negotiating an offer on a 2,400-square-foot home with a new kitchen and golf-course view, listed at $325,000. "In a lot of other areas you cannot get that for that kind of money,'' he says.

A quick mortgage calculation assuming $325,000 purchase price, 30 years, 20% down, 3.75% interest rate terms for that Northdale house can be bought for $1204.10 per month (principal and interest only).

You can decide which is the best for you and your family. Many are choosing Northdale and other affordable areas.

Despite all the news from downtown and other urban developments, people continue to move into the suburbs at a higher rate than the urban districts, as Jed Kolko, formerly Chief Economist for Trulia wrote in March this year.

Today the Census Bureau released its 2015 population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas. After volatile swings in growth patterns during last decade’s housing bubble and bust, long-term trends are reasserting themselves. Population is growing faster in the South and West than in the Northeast and Midwest, and faster in suburban areas than in urban counties; both of these trends accelerated in 2015. 

Again, this is not news for those who follow the issue and seek the facts, or even observe the greater residential development in Hillsborough County suburbs compared to city of Tampa.

As Kolko's further analysis shows this is not an anomaly. He expects this pattern of faster growth in the suburbs to continue.

But it’s not just that population growth patterns today more like they did during early years of the bubble. Rather, local population growth trends increasingly look like they did before the bubble, in the 1980s and 1990s.

There is much more to read from Kolko, so read the whole thing.

While we're piecing urban myths, the luxury urban housing bubble is not looking too good.

One major meme for the luxury developers had to do with well-off retirees—the one domestic population with the money to afford such housing. Newspapers have been crammed with anecdotal stories about this “trend.” Yet analysis of Census trends among seniors shows that the senior percentage share in both the inner core and older suburbs dropped between 2000 and 2010 while growing substantially in the newer suburbs and exurbs. The most recent data show these patterns continue.

Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox further explain much of the run up has been due to foreign buyers and investors, and that well is drying up. It's not a full on crash, but there are higher vacancy rates in many markets. This may not be good news for more downtown residential development.

Especially for the urbanistas.

But they can get a better value for the money in the 'burbs.

Les Miller Gives Away Your Taxes To Tax You More

Les Miller, Chairman of the Hillsborough County Commission, recently announced he will vote against Tampa Bay Express, a $6 billion dollar plan to improve the interstate system in the Tampa Bay area.

Opponents of Tampa Bay Express now have a powerful ally who also wants to squash the $6 billion plan: Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller.

Miller said Monday that he will vote against the project known as TBX — a plan to add express toll lanes to Tampa Bay’s interstates — and there’s nothing that the Florida Department of Transportation can say at this point to change his mind.

TBX construction is planned to be funded with the taxes, mostly gas taxes, that we've paid to the state and federal Highway Trust Fund. It's planned to be built with our hard earned tax dollars.

Les Miller, Chairman Hillsborough County Commission and MPO

Yet Miller does not want that money to come back to Tampa.

“I agree with the people that don’t want this and they don’t think they should have this in the neighborhood without a complete study done,” Miller said. “People just feel like it’s going to destroy their neighborhood. Tampa Heights, Seminole Heights. Even though they’re older they’re transforming into vibrant communities.”

TBX has been studied, planned, and designed for almost 20 years. It's the only transportation project in the Tampa Bay area that has been planned to professional transportation standards at all.

The "destroy their neighborhood" is a red herring tossed out by the TBX opponents. The Florida DOT has planned and acquired most of the right of way for the expansion over the last 10 years or so. It has been in the public, yet the nearby affected communities are "transforming into vibrant communities" in spite of the ravages of TBX. Not to mention the interstate is already there, and has been there for over 50 years.

Or are they "transforming into vibrant communities" because of TBX and improved access to those communities?

Miller, also Chairman of the Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization, will be voting on June 22 to give our money away, rather than add TBX to the MPO's Transportation Improvement Program.

“A 'no’ vote has dramatic consequences for our region,” said Rick Homans, CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership. “The opportunity to assemble a large amount of transportation funds for our region in the future would probably be next to impossible.”

Miller has also been an outspoken advocate for the troubled Go Hillsborough project, seeking to raise sales taxes in Hillsborough another 1/2 cent for up to 30 years. Go Hillsborough is a total mess as we've documented repeated here at the EyeOnTampaBay. It's a tax referendum with a wish list of projects. No studies, no plans, no designs, no engineering.

For example, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's treasured light rail project between downtown and the airport was estimated to cost $450 million. But that was just a guess. It could easily cost $1 billion. They have no ridership studies, fare recovery estimates, no route, no idea how many or what type of rail cars, where to place the stops, traffic and road crossing impacts,... or even how to route rails to and from the tight and complicated infrastructure around the airport. It does nothing to alleviate congestion for the vast majority of Hillsborough commuters. But he had to have it, and he got it included in Go Hillsborough.

Here we are. The chair of the BOCC and MPO wants to throw away the taxes you've paid to build the most well planned transportation project in years and we get nothing. Miller would rather tax you even more to build a political wish list of costly random projects that will do nothing.

Addicted To Sales Tax Hike - Time to Stop It

The sales tax hike madness continues as the county commissioners scheduled another sales tax hike public hearing for tomorrow evening at 6pm down at County Center.

County revenues are rapidly growing and the county can fund our roads and transportation NEEDS within our growing existing budget. No sales tax is needed but fiscal discipline is required. 

Unfortunately some of our county commissioners and our county administrator have an addiction. They are addicted to YOUR money and they want more of it. They want more of your hard earned money to grow government, grow the bureaucracy at County Center, fund cronies, fund special interests, fund more crony consultants, fund more pork projects and empower the unelected bureaucrats more who would manage the new boatload of tax dollars.

Addicted to sales tax hike

The tax and spend collaborators who are addicted to a sales tax hike think it is "their" money not yours to spend and they want the ability to spend it on anything - like a new baseball stadium. They got addicted with the CIT tax and now they are hooked. 

The addiction for a sales tax hike reveals many problems. It has turned our transportation issue into an incoherent mess and a Rubik's cube puzzle.

One of the biggest problems the addiction for a sales tax hike created was handing County Administrator Mike Merrill responsibility for the transportation issue. Merrill is no transportation expert, he is no professional facilitator, he is not a neutral party on the transportation issue and he is heavily afflicted with the sales tax hike addiction.

Merrill, an unelected bureaucrat accountable to no voter, has been waging a war against the taxpayer throughout the entire transportation initiative. When one has sales tax hike addiction, one does not care about priorities. When addicted, the solution to funding our roads and transportation is always raise the sales tax, not prioritize our existing budget to spend prudently and wisely on our highest priorities first. 

Transportation is only the #1 issue of the tax and spend collaborators addicted to higher taxes when it is all about a sales tax hike. Otherwise, transportation is and has been no priority to those addicted. When the county budgets more money on animal services than funding our neglected and deteriorating roads, transportation is no priority.

Sales tax hike addiction resulted in the county handing cronies the $1.35 million Go Hillsborough campaign to sell their sales tax hike addiction to the public. That failed.

Handing cronies the phony campaign ensured they would follow the direction of the addicted and propose the only fix the addicted required - a sales tax hike. 

When addicted to a sales tax hike, process does not matter. To the afflicted, the end justifies the means. That is why Go Hillsborough was so flawed and the addiction so great that it resulted in a law enforcement investigation. 

Citizens should read the law enforcement investigation because our local media, also afflicted with the sales tax hike addiction, has done a disservice by refusing to report on the actual content. 

A dark cloud continues to hang over anything associated with the tainted Go Hillsborough. The tax and spend collaborators addicted to the sales tax hike don't care. 

Common sense dictated the county commissioners terminate Go Hillsborough the moment law enforcement got involved. Those addicted to a sales tax hike have lost any sense of common sense. They are just eyeing the fix of a new boatload of tax dollars to feed their addiction.

More proof those addicted to the sales tax hike have no common sense and/or are tone-deaf to today's electorate. At today's BOCC Budget Workshop Merrill is proposing a Citizens Budget Review Committee. What he is actually proposing is the Cronies Budget Review Committee.

Merrill's proposed Cronies Budget Review Committee

Why are only organizations who support the sales tax hike on a Budget Review Committee? Why are so many entities who already get taxpayer money on a Budget Review Committee? 

The biggest question is since when does the County Administrator make appointments? Since Merrill became our first unelected policy making County Mayor?

This proposal is outrageous. But more proof that Merrill and those addicted to a sales tax hike want to ensure the taxpayer feeding trough keeps flowing. The county commissioners need to outright reject this proposal.

The county's current budget states there will be a $300 million surplus by FY2020. Merrill has estimated property tax revenue will grow almost 8% for FY2017. Our county is growing both with new construction hitting the tax rolls and our property values rising again. The 10 year outlook is Hillsborough will continue to grow.

As the Eye has consistently stated, the growth of our budget can fund our road and transportation needs. 

It will take enough county commissioners to push back and stand up to Mike Merrill and his tax and spend collaborators who are addicted to a sales tax hike.

Time to force those addicted to a sales tax hike into rehab. 

Time for the county to fund our highest priorities first within our existing growing budget. 

Time to stop the sales tax hike nonsense once and for all.

Show up tomorrow at 6pm County Center and tell the commissioners No to any sales tax hike.

Watch out Pinellas County here comes the next let's build a train initiative - Forward Pinellas.

Sort of like Go Hillsborough but with a much cooler Logo.

St. Petersburg, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author: In Search of Robin

One of the ways government attempts to get around those pesky citizens who don’t agree with something the government wants to do is call it something else and float the idea again. They call that “re-branding.”

We often call that putting lipstick on a pig, but re-branding is much more millennial.

WALLA - Forward Pinellas a 2014 Florida legislative action that combined the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Pinellas Planning Council.

From the Pinellas Forward “branding website”: “The role of transportation and land development in Pinellas County took on increased importance with passage of a special act of the Florida Legislature in 2014 unifying a 13-member governing board of local elected officials with responsibility for countywide transportation and land use planning.” 

You can read more in saintpetersblog by Anne Lindberg: Metropolitan Planning Organization, Pinellas Planning Council are now Forward Pinellas.

If you check closely you will find the 13 elected officials who make up Pinellas Forward are, for the most part, the same folks that brought you GreenLight Pinellas. There doesn't appear to be any serious citizen representation on this new transportation redevelopment (read that light rail) task force.

So if the mission has not changed, the players have not substantially changed, and the citizenry has no significant input just what should we expect to change?

Nothing.

They do have a nice new logo, which I am sure you helped pay for, and a noncommittal mission statement: “Forward Pinellas will provide leadership to align resources and plans that help to achieve a compelling vision for Pinellas County, our individual communities and our region.”

Does anyone have any idea what the hell that means?

Let me take a stab at a literal translation: We are going to package up light rail along with some toss-a-ways like road improvement, and a few new buses and try to shame you folks into a sales tax to finance it.

Sort of like Go Hillsborough but with a much cooler Logo.

I am sure that all the folks at Pinellas Forward are waiting with baited breath to see how the second run at getting a sales tax referendum past the Hillsborough County Commission goes.

If it bombs a second-time  look for Forward Pinellas to steal quietly into the background for a while but should the Go Hillsborough machine get the sales tax on the ballot the next hurdle will be the election, and the folks in Hillsborough County should send yet another resounding message with a NO vote.

Then it will time for the Metropolitan planning organization/Pinellas Planning Council/Forward Pinellas to take a serious look at reality.

Sooner or later, it will become clear that these groups of elected officials, the big developers and light rail lobbyists do not a transportation planning organization make.

E-mail Doc at mail to: dr.gwebb@yahoo.com or send me a Facebook (Gene Webb) Friend request. Please comment below, and be sure to share on Facebook.

See Doc's Photo Gallery at Bay Post Photos.

Disclosures:

Contributor: Bob Gualtieri for Pinellas County Sheriff

Taxpayers Beware! Sales Tax Hike Is For A New Baseball Stadium

County Commissioner Ken Hagan, Mayor Bob Buckhorn and unelected bureaucrat Mike Merrill have been the biggest champions of pushing another transportation sales tax hike.

As we posted here, Hagan jumped the shark already in April 2015 when he came out for a 30 year transportation sales tax hike smack in the middle of the Go Hillsborough campaign before funding options were even being discussed. 

Why? 

It must be because Hagan and Buckhorn want the Rays and a new baseball stadium in Tampa and they want some tax dollars to do it. 

Publicly funded Marlins stadium in Miami

After St. Petersburg allowed the Rays look for a baseball stadium in Tampa in January, immediately Mayor Buckhorn and Commissioner Hagan jumped on the new baseball stadium bandwagon. 

Ken Hagan maintains funding for any new stadium must come primarily from the team. “Any stadium deal is going to have to be primarily funded by the team and the private sector.

Then just a couple of months later in March SaintPetersblog reports Hagan states:

As negotiations continue between Hillsborough County and the Tampa Bay Rays about a potential new stadium, Commissioner Ken Hagan said on Wednesday he wants county staff to put out a request for proposal to have an underwriting team ready to sell stadium revenue bonds.

We know Hagan's passion is baseball so let's go back in time and connect some dots.

May 19, 2010 (ironically right after Hagan voted with 4 other commissioners to put the 1% rail tax hike on the ballot that went down in flames) A Baseball Coalition group presented to the county commissioners:  

In Tampa, nearly all the Commissioners who spoke went out of their way to insist that the County had no intention of poaching the team from St. Petersburg, and certainly not with any taxpayer subsidies

Every other commissioner echoed Hagan's comments on the possibility of public financing for a ballpark, such as Mark Sharpe, who said "I don't want to in any way give any indication that I'm supporting funding a new stadium when we're working on emergency services and basic core services."

June 9, 2011 Tampa Bay Times reported:

The approach is called tax-increment financing, and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan put it center-stage this week as an idea to help the Tampa Bay Rays make a new home somewhere in the county.

"It's just one of what I'm sure will be, if we get to that point, 20 different financing options that will be available," he said. (The money to build the stadium itself, Buckhorn has said, needs to come from private equity and a "significant" contribution from team owners.) 

Tax-increment revenues, Buckhorn said, would work best downtown, which is where he would hope to see a ballpark built if it ever came to pass. Additional property tax revenue generated by new hotels, restaurants and stores built nearby could repay infrastructure bonds.

Monday, Buckhorn had drinks at a downtown bar with Hagan and Beth Leytham, a public relations consultant who is friends with both, and the three discussed the idea. 

"It was purely a social visit," he said. "Inevitably business comes up, but it wasn't designed for that." 

Two days later, Hagan brought up tax-increment financing for baseball during a County Commission workshop that was partly about finding ways to pay for needed infrastructure improvements. At the moment, commissioners were talking about using tax-increment financing for other stuff, including road improvements needed around the Florida State Fair.

February 1, 2013 Tampa Bay Times reported:

Hagan has said he is not proposing any public financing if the Rays' stadium ends up in Hillsborough County.

A poll was done by St. Pete Polls in August 2013 showing little appetite for public funding of a new baseball stadium for the Rays. The poll reflected opposition to public funding of a new ballpark by a 56 to 36 percentage margin. 

Yet at the same time at a news conference Hagan and Buckhorn wanted to use growth of property tax revenues in a Community Redevelopment District (CRA) to fund a new baseball stadium. 

Most estimates of a new retractable ballpark in the Tampa Area are around $600-$650 million. Previously, Rays management has talked about paying up to a third of that amount. Another possible source of revenue could come from having the park inside an area that is already zoned as a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) which could conceivable leverage up to $100 million.

But that would still require hundreds of millions of dollars, and both men said they are intent on not raising anybody's taxes. Hagan said there are "creative ways" to fill that gap, including stadium naming rights, using the EB-5 program (where foreigners who contribute millions of dollars to a development can get citizenship in the U.S.), and parking revenues. 

"I believe, Mayor Buckhorn believes, that we can get to the magic number," Hagan said. "The challenge that we have now ... is that there's not one specific model that will be utilized in every location. The location will determine to some degree what financing options we have." 

That is using public funds. Hagan's previous statements about not using any public financing for a new Rays stadium came with an expiration date.

According to the transcript of the July 18, 2013 budget workshop where the commissioners were discussing public-private partnerships aka P3's, Hagan stated:

>>KEN HAGAN: MM-HMM. WELL, I'VE STATED THIS REPEATEDLY OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN BECAUSE IT NEVER SEEMS TO GET THROUGH, BUT HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY'S NOT GOING TO BUILD A BASEBALL STADIUM. I MEAN, THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS.  

AND I DON'T THINK THERE ARE VERY MANY COMMUNITIES AROUND THE COUNTRY THAT WILL FINANCE STADIUM CONSTRUCTION, SO THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING IS A P3 OPTION A POSSIBILITY, BECAUSE WE'RE NOT GOING TO BUILD ONE.   

>>KEN HAGAN: AND I DON'T WANT TO KEEP BEATING THIS -- BEATING THIS HORSE HERE, BUT YOU SAID IT, BE -- CREATIVITY.
WE'RE NOT GOING TO ASK THE TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR A STADIUM (emphasis mine), WE'RE NOT GOING TO FUND A BASEBALL STADIUM, SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE CREATIVE, AND I BELIEVE A P3 OPTION…

At a county commission meeting on October 1, 2014, it was reported

Following the lead of County Commissioner Ken Hagan, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners today voted to have a small working group be the lead agency to work with Tampa Bay Rays officials, if and when the St. Petersburg-based baseball franchise can work out a deal with St. Pete to speak to officials in Hillsborough about a potential site for a new ballpark.  

That working group would consist of Hagan, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Tampa Sports Authority CEO Eric Hart, and a member of the private sector to be named later.

Hagan not only made the motion to create this baseball stadium working group at the October 1 BOCC meeting, he also made a motion to approve 7 firms to do bond underwriting services for the county. According to the HTV transcript Hagan stated:

A MOTION ON IS B-3 FOR BOND UNDERWRITING SERVICES. THIS IS A GROUP OF SEVEN FIRMS THAT WE CAN UTILIZE OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS TO ASSIST IN BOND UNDERWRITING TO MEET FUTURE DEBT FINANCING NEEDS. THE BACKUP IDENTIFIES AREAS WHERE WE MAY NEED THESE SERVICES OF THESE FIRMS. IT INCLUDES COMMUNITY FACILITIES. IT INCLUDES COMMUNITY FACILITIES.  

WHILE IT DOES NOT SPECIFICALLY LIST A BASEBALL STADIUM, THIS IS CERTAINLY ONE AREA WHERE WE WILL NEED THE EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE OF A WORLD-CLASS FIRM (emphasis mine). AND BY APPROVING A POOL OF POTENTIAL UNDERWRITERS, THE COUNTY WOULD BENEFIT FROM EACH FIRM'S EXPERTISE, BECAUSE WHAT WILL EVENTUALLY HAPPEN IS THAT THEY WILL COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER FOR THE WORK, AND IT SAYS SO IN SO MANY WORDS IN OUR BACKUP WHEN IT STATES, THIS WILL PROVIDE MAXIMUM IDEA FLOW AND COMPETITION.  

BUT TO CONCLUDE HERE, BY HAVING A TEAM READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE RAYS AND BY HAVING FINANCIAL EXPERTS ONBOARD, THE MESSAGE WE ARE SENDING TO THE RAYS AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS THAT HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY IS READY. WE ARE PREPARED TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING ONCE AN AGREEMENT IS REACHED.

When Commissioner Sharpe chimed in that stadiums tend to be successful when it comes to redevelopment projects, walkability and public transportation, Hagan's actual response to Sharpe (from the meeting transcript):

YOU’LL SEE THAT MOST OF YOUR RECENT STADIUMS ARE LOCATED IN URBAN AREAS, NOT NECESSARILY DOWNTOWN, BUT IN AN URBAN AREA. THEY'RE SMALLER FACILITIES, AND TRANSIT IS ESSENTIAL.  

I CAN TELL YOU FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, THERE'S NO LESS THAN A DOZEN BASEBALL STADIUMS I'VE GONE TO AND TAKEN RAIL THERE, THAT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT (emphasis mine), REGARDLESS OF WHERE THE STADIUM IS ULTIMATELY LOCATED, BUT TRANSIT'S GOING TO BE A NECESSARY INGREDIENT

At the very next BOCC meeting on October 15, 2014, the commissioners voted to hire a law firm with ties to Major League Baseball. This was done through the Consent Agenda - no discussion allowed  - in a hush-hush manner not to attract any attention.

This action taken by the commissioners on October 15 was finally reported in the media by the Tampa Bay Times on January 15, 2015. 

One of the most notable steps Hillsborough County has taken toward its desire to woo the Tampa Bay Rays to the county was also one of the quietest: County commissioners in October agreed to hire Foley & Lardner, a law firm with extensive ties to Major League Baseball and a partner who is a former MLB president. 

Under terms of the one-year contract, the firm will be paid a flat monthly fee of $4,500 and attorneys can bill an hourly rate of up to $395. 

The firm's ties to baseball were not discussed at the Oct. 15 meeting where Hillsborough commissioners agreed to hire the firm. A description on the commission's public agenda said only that Foley & Lardner was being hired to provide "specialized legal services . . . related to public private partnerships and other complex transactions."

But other county officials indicated the primary reason to hire the firm was the Rays. Commissioner Kevin Beckner said he was told as much in a briefing by county staffers before the Oct. 15 vote.

October 2014 was conveniently right after the county handed the Parsons/Letham team a million dollar no bid contract to create the phony Go Hillsborough campaign to market another transportation sales tax hike referendum. Remember Leytham was with Buckhorn and Hagan talking tax increment financing back in 2011.

November 4, 2015 Tampa Bay Times reported 

Hagan said there won’t be a tax hike to pay for a stadium, and “were not going to have a sweet-heart deal such as what happened with Raymond James Stadium,” the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hagan is a board member for the Tampa Sports Authority, which owns Raymond James. 

Hagan envisioned a public-private partnership where the county helps pay for infrastructure improvements to support the stadium, and the Rays and the private sector pay for the new building.

So what now? 

Yesterday the Tampa Bay Times reported Rays discuss nine potential ballpark sites with Tampa, Hillsborough officials

Tampa Bay Rays executives met with Tampa and Hillsborough County officials Tuesday for their first discussion of specific potential baseball stadium sites in the county. 

Rather, the two sides discussed how each site might connect to a regional transit plan, how each might promote walkability, which ones might have easier access to parking and the ways that each site could "contribute to our goal of having the facility open 365 days a year and active to the public at large," Auld said. 

Based on where a stadium was built, officials have said there could be up to 10 different sources of funding. Along with money from the team, those could include property taxes earmarked for community redevelopment in areas like downtown Tampa, rental car surcharges, some hotel bed taxes, money authorized by the Legislature, ticket user fees and foreign investment available through the federal government's EB-5 visa program.

What exactly is going on here? 

Hagan wants to be creative about how to fund a new baseball stadium. He and Buckhorn have proposed basically the same tax-increment financing (TIF) concept Commissioners Murman and White have brought up for transportation. While Murman and White have proposed using the growth of our existing property tax revenue to fund our #1 issue transportation that would benefit us all, Hagan and Buckhorn want to use a TIF to fund (bond out) a baseball stadium that benefits another wealthy sports team owner. 

While there is talk of 10-20 different funding sources for a baseball stadium, Hagan insists an unnecessary sales tax hike is the only funding solution for our transportation needs. We previously reported here and here Hagan's attempts to take every alternative funding option off the table except a sales tax hike.

No wonder Hagan and Buckhorn have been stomping their feet every inch of the way demanding a sales tax hike. They want their baseball stadium and somehow use our existing revenues and some public money to fund it; at the same time they want taxpayers to raise our sales tax for money the county already has to fund our #1 issue - transportation. This is bad governance, bad policy and tone-deafness.

Sometime between now and 2026, the Community Investment Tax (CIT) that built Raymond James will be put on the ballot for reauthorization. The CIT reauthorization must be considered as part of the transportation funding discussion.

We believe the CIT should not be reauthorized for any term longer than 10 years when it expires in 2026. However, the MPO's Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) states

Extending the CIT beyond 2026 could generate an additional $2.4 billion through 2040 for infrastructure projects.

Hillsborough MPO's CIT revenue forecast if extended thru 2040

Reauthorization of the CIT will bring another boatload of tax dollars. Between our growing existing revenues and new CIT monies, the county will be swimming in plenty of tax dollars. 

Any new sales tax hike will simply create a huge county slush fund for a new baseball stadium, to subsidize more special interests, fund more pork projects and grow county government even bigger.

Taxpayers should never allow that to happen.

Much of the transportation initiative was orchestrated over the last 3 years and so too has Hagan's efforts to entice the Rays with a new stadium in Tampa. We posted here how Leytham, Hagan and Merrill were scheming behind the scenes about a sales tax hike.

The local power brokers know what is going on and the media is fed sound bites for the public to munch on but Hagan was quoted in a March Tribune article:

Talks between Hillsborough County leaders and the Tampa Bay Rays will be held behind closed doors to shield the team’s thinking about possible stadium sites and protect its negotiating position. 

The Tribune reported more scheming in March:

New ideas floated Friday included a state-of the-art training center that could double as a community wellness center, perhaps in partnership with local universities, Auld said.  

The many kitchens where game-day food is cooked for fans could be used for a culinary institution or training facility. 

“We call it reconstructing the ballpark,” Auld said. “We’re going to look at every single piece of the stadium, ask the community how can we make that part effective for you year round?”  

Hagan said that perhaps could make the use of tax dollars for part of the stadium cost more palatable for the public(emphasis mine). 

“They’re looking at other areas where a ballpark could really help to assist with various community needs and taking advantage of our cultural assets,” he said. “It’s a new paradigm with respect to the facility."

The scheming and lack of transparency associated with both efforts should be disturbing to all. 

The scheming proves that Hagan knows the public has no appetite for publicly funding another stadium for a wealthy sports team owner. We all know the fiscal mess that happened in Miami with the Marlins new stadium.

Noah Pransky's Shadow of the Stadium blog has been following the shadowy movements and undertakings by those pushing for the Rays and a new baseball stadium in Tampa.  

Noah's latest blog post titled Hillsborough, Rays Talk Stadium Locations; Still Pretend $200+M is Hiding in Sofa Cushions sums things up quite nicely: 

So to summarize, Hagan hasn't figured out how to pay for a new Rays park in Tampa; he hasn't figured out how to redirect general revenue funds toward baseball without anyone noticing; and he hasn't figured out how to weasel his way out of his "no new taxes" pledge.