2010
COUNCIL SHOULD SHARE POWER WITH PLANNING AND ZONING
We Gulfporters expect an awful lot from our Mayor, (salary, $900 per month), and our four City Council Members, (salaries, $600 per month). Obviously, the folks who run for a City Council seat aren’t doing it for the money. When one considers the number of meetings they attend and the hours involved, they are probably [...]
2010-2011 BUDGET $1.2 MILLION SHORT, (AGAIN)!
Preliminary figures and forecasts submitted to the City Council by City Manager O’Reilly and Administration Director Dan Carpenter indicate that operations costs for 2010-2011, (based on this year), will be around $10 million and projected revenues from all sources will be about $8.8 million. This year’s revenue shortfall is primarily due to a projected 10-12% [...]
WATCHDOGS INVITED: GULFPORT! MAGAZINE LAUNCH PARTY
We are throwing a party to launch the first issue of Gulfport! Magazine and YOU are all invited! Saturday, June 5th, 2010 from 6:00 to 10:00 pm at the Gulfport Casino. Admission is FREE, food will be catered by Stella’s Deli and Gelato, Tampa Bay blues bands Thunderbolt Brown and the Robbie Robertson Band will [...]
“FLEXIBILITY” TRUMPS PRINCIPLE AT CITY COUNCIL!
At the May 18 Regular Meeting of the City Council, the Council voted 4-1 to continue Gulfport’s relationship with the Tampa Bay Nitrogen Management Consortium. Since the vote will “only” cost the City $6,000 in membership fees over a 5 year period, it would be easy to dismiss the vote as being relatively inconsequential. Apparently, [...]
FWC EMERGENCY MEETING MAY 19!
At 10 AM on Wednesday, May 19 the Commissioners of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, (FWC), will meet at the Tradewinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach to discuss the agency’s ongoing response to the Deepwater horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chairman Rodney Barreto called the meeting nearly a month [...]
GULFPORT WAS RIGHT ABOUT OFFSHORE DRILLING!
When we think our City council is wrong, we’re quick to point out the mistake in the interest of avoiding similar mistakes in the future. Often, when they do something right, we neglect to give proper credit for making the right move. The current oil leakage disaster in our Gulf of Mexico raises the question [...]
GREED! ISN’T IT GOOD?
By Dogfish Our recently gone independent Governor Charlie Crist declares Pinellas county along with much of the Florida Gulf Counties a disaster area, in anticipation of the worst environmental disaster in the history of our country coming ashore and ruining our beach, killing our wildlife, and basically ruining our way of life, just so you [...]
GULFPORT TO HIRE MUNICIPAL LAW FIRM
Once burdened with a slew of City Officials with the word “Acting” before their titles, (City Manager, City Clerk, Police Chief and City Attorney), Gulfport finally is about to retire the term from our letterhead by choosing the option of hiring a municipal law firm and its partner Andrew Salzman as the City Attorney. Thus [...]
THE LEADERSHIP MUST LEAD THE WAY
The leadership in this city MUST step forward and help to mend the fences and subside the anger and rebuild the sense of community of which Cathy Salustri of The Gabber writes in her most recent edition of “Hard Candy”. This cannot happen if the leadership of the City picks and chooses, because of actions [...]
SMOKE, SMOKE, SMOKE ‘DEM CIGARETTES
Sung (badly) to the tune of Smoke Gets in My Eyes Could it be that the principal complainant is in fact an unregulated “smoker” who constitutes a threat to his own health and degrades the quality of life of others? Evidently some noxious, cancer linked fumes are better than others. Is the cigarette debris and [...]
GULFPORT MUST GROW TO SURVIVE!
Almost everybody in Gulfport wants to preserve the character of our city, to keep Gulfport essentially the way that it is. Because we live in a dynamic, capitalistic society, institutions that do not enjoy continuous growth tend not only to stagnate but tend to shrink. This is the dilemma that faces our City Council in [...]
FUNDAY…YOU’RE INVITED!
Once again, on Saturday, May 8, the Boca Ciega Yacht Club invites one and all to a free FUNDAY from 1-4 PM. Just bring yourselves, your family and your friends and be ready to party! There’s fun things to do for all ages from kid’s games to free boat rides on some of the Clubs [...]
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF OUR NEW CITY COUNCIL
Well, we’ve had the organizational meeting of our new City Council and we’ve had our first Council Workshop and already we may be able to see some patterns emerging. First, it is clear that Michele King finally has control of the Council as was evidenced by the abandonment of a tradition of rotating the Vice [...]
PORTRAIT OF A POLICE CHIEF AND HIS VISION FOR GULFPORT
According to newly appointed Chief of the Gulfport Police Department, Robert A. Vincent, one of the most significant events that led him on his path to becoming a Police Chief was when he was placed under arrest. He was 8 years old. Rob Vincent was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1972 where he lived [...]
NOW INSIDE THEIR PAPER CUP…EVERYTHING IS LOOKING UP
Gulfport takes another turn for the worse. March 16, 2010 the City Council of Gulfport Florida passes a Plan to allow another unregulated Smoker into this City. Short term planning with a myopic view has chopped development into pieces. A company in search of a location with a focus on Clean Technology has less reason [...]