2009
OPEN, TRANSPARENT and OBJECTIVE GOVERNMENT….. WHY NOT??
At a May Council meeting, I suggested, to Gulfport Council and Staff that they embrace Alex Sink’s philosophy of open and transparent government. Specifically my suggestion (excerpted from my follow – up e-mail) was as follows: ” In the spirit of Alex Sink’s observation and practice that government be transparent, please consider the same for [...]
DO THEY EVER RESPOND TO “PUBLIC SESSION” INPUT??
Have you ever attended a Gulfport City Council meeting and asked a question or offered a suggestion during the public session and / or regarding an agenda item? If so, you know that you must provide your name and address. According to the Mayor, the purpose is to enable the Council and / or Staff [...]
HISTORICAL SOCIETY HITS THE ROAD
Besides being in on the fun of planning and running Gulfport’s 100th Anniversary, there are some new reasons to get active and join the Gulfport Historical Society now. Instead of regular monthly meetings, a series of fun events have been planned that are certain to re-kindle interest in long-time members and to encourage others to [...]
CITY BUDGET EXPRESSES OUR WISHES?
Yes, if the system is working. Here’s the way the representative system is supposed to work. We get informed about the City Council candidates’ views on how our city should be run. We vote for the person who best reflects our views. Once elected, our choice helps to create policies and programs that are generally [...]
LOOPER TROLLEY TRUDGES ON!
The Third Installment of a Three Part Series Back in April in our second installment on the Looper Trolley between Gulfport and St. Pete Beach, (Corey Ave.) we predicted that our fair city would contribute about $65,000 in operating losses for the 12 months between October of 2008 and the end of September of 2009. [...]
WE WANT YOUR MONEY
By Dogfish What I thought was going to be a quiet run of the mill city council meeting certainly turned into something quite different. I got there early to observe a meeting about the pending litigation on our long running (7 years +) lawsuit attempting to close down the real estate office at the entrance [...]
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG MISTER MAYOR!
At a Special City Council Meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon on Friday, July 10, 2009 when the least amount of citizen input could be guaranteed, Mayor Mike Yakes pushed through a series of votes to fire our part-time City Attorney of 20 years, Timothy Driscoll, establish a full-time City Attorney position, hire local attorney, [...]
WHY DON’T FLORIDIANS GIVE A HOOT?
I just got back from a couple of weeks vacation with my wife and all my kids and grandkids, (20 people). Sounds like potential chaos, but they enjoy each other and tend to leave me alone, after I make their breakfasts, that is. So I have time to go off by myself and think. [...]
ELECTRIC CARTS IN GULFPORT….WHY NOT?
Should Gulfport allow Golf Cars to be driven on our city streets? Naturally I am biased on this point. And the question is “Why Not?” The world is going green, some places faster then others. Gulfport can lead the way in this particular part. Our little city is uniquely suited for the use of golf [...]
FULL TIME ATTORNEY FLAP…ITS BAAAAACK!
At a 2:00 in the afternoon Special Meeting on Tuesday, June 23rd our City Council was set to once again consider whether or not to hire a full time City Attorney instead of continuing the use of a part-time attorney as we always had. Vice-Mayor Bob Worthington, sitting in for an ailing Mayor Yakes, opened [...]
GOOD PRODUCT, BAD PACKAGE!
According to the Agenda of the June 16, 2009 Gulfport City Council Meeting “Representative Rick Kriseman” was to give a presentation on a Local Government Energy Retrofit Program, (LGERP). To get more information I went to the City website hoping to find some details in the Agenda Packet which is presented to the City Council [...]
QUICKIE FOODIE FOLLIES
I’m taking off for a couple of months to cloud city…Seattle drizzle (am I nuts?). Well, the grands are there, so I make the sacrifice. But other calling cards are the hiking trails, islands, parks, flowers, galleries, museums, quirky citizens, book nooks, coffee cafes, nude-cycling parade (I don’t participate, just gawk), and eating establishments, especially [...]
THE HIDDEN TAXES IN OUR “ENTERPRISE FUNDS!”
Third in a Three Part Series On Making A Budget This year the real estate taxes you paid to Gulfport paid about 30% of the cost of running our city government. Four “Enterprise Funds,” operating within our city government contributed over 31% of the cost of running our city government. The rest came from grants, [...]
GULFPORT CITY PAYROLL IS OFF THE CHARTS!
Second of a Three Part Series Did you know that employee payroll accounts for over 50% of the annual City budget? Did you know that there are 175 employees on the City’s payroll? Did you know that the City paid $30,000 for a payroll study back in 2005 and then largely ignored it’s recommendations? Did [...]
MOORING FIELD PASSES ANOTHER TEST
On May 14, 2009 Vice Mayor Bob Worthington, Interim City Manager Jim O’Reilly and Harbormaster Dennis Frain presented a review of the City’s Harbor Management Plan which includes the mooring field proposal to the Agency on Bay Management. After hearing the presentation and a lengthy discussion, The Agency on Bay Management reiterated their support for [...]