Public Meeting Two

The second public meeting we attended was in Downtown Tampa.  It was a county commission meeting regarding proposed new amendments for land usage and public schools, primarily in Plant City.  The Planning Commission is a group of people who develop mid-range plans for communities and neighborhoods.  The Planning Commission works with planning departments of Hillsborough County, Tampa, Temple Terrace and Plant City.

There were four amendments proposed to the commissioners.  The first was entitled Plant City: Comprehensive Plan Amendment PC/CPA 10-01.  It was to change the land usage from industrial to commercial near downtown Plant City.  The second was the PC/CPA 10-02 Amendment.  It was designed to develop a uniform curriculum in all Plant City public schools.  The amendment was also to receive more up-to-date information of the Student Generation Rate and test demographics more often.  (Tests are only done once every two years).  The third amendment was for future land use.  Mark Hudson, representative who spoke before the board, stated that there would be a new shopping center filled with businesses and commercial development.  There pose a few problems for this amendment though.  Potential impacts on I-4 may be a problem.  Also, the people of Lakeland are concerned about the traffic impacts and interference with the train station.  The vision map for this expansion area shows the development would take 30-35 years for the final product.  The final amendment was to propose over 25 acres of new commercial and natural preservation land.  The land is currently for residential purposes.  The maximum build out is 930, 441 square feet.

So, what does all this mumble jumble mean? I sat through a 45-minute meeting and barely had any idea what was being said.  I got the gist, but I don't think I understood the importance of this meeting.  There are going to be three new centers for business development in Plant City alone.  I started to put my own hometown into perspective.  Every time a new shopping center or something like it is constructed, it generates high traffic.  Even though I am from South Florida and traffic is everywhere, decisions like this make it worse.  A city like Plant City, though, can benefit from decisions like this.  There is hardly any traffic and it can generate a lot of revenue for the small city.  The economy is bad and the only way it is going to get better is if people become brave enough to start their own businesses to build an adequate economy once again.  Urban sprawl may generate traffic, but it also generates revenue.  Overall, these county commission meetings are important to the public and more people should attend.

Preston Trigg -- once again

Preston Trigg came to class again not to talk about taxes, but about the balanced budget.  Every government agency has to propose a balanced budget each fiscal year.  A balanced budget usually means the money expenditures and revenue are equal.  According to Mr. Trigg, California does not have a balanced budget.  So I decided to research it.  In 2004, California put on the ballot Proposition 58, or the California Balanced Budget Act.  It passed with over 70 percent of the vote.  The Act was to require state legislature to pass a state balanced budget every year.  It also created a reserve fund called the Budget Stabilization Account in case of future financial trouble.  That was in 2004, and here in 2010 California is in the worst financial shape it has ever been.

Proposition 57 (the California Economy Recovery Bond Act) was to prohibit creations of future bailout plans.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger fought for both Propositions 57 and 58 to be approved.  If both those acts were supposed to help the financial situation in California and they both did nothing.  Schwarzenegger wanted to "tear up California's credit card" and stop spending and borrowing.  I have no idea how they got into this predicament.  The state is deep in debt $83.5 billion in long-term bond debt and $64 billion in general obligation notes, which are financed by the state's general fund.

These stories about taxes, state and national deficits are so interesting.  You can find so much from a public record.  This also generates a lot of newsworthiness because debt is affecting so many people and everyone is feeling the hurt from the economy.

Public Meeting One -- Dale Mabry Improvements

On Tuesday, October 26th Hillsborough County held a public meeting.  The meeting took place at Northdale Rec Center on North Dale Mabry Highway.  It was to propose a new project to improve two problem-causing intersections.  The two intersections generate high traffic and delays every day amongst a high number of accidents.  Hillsborough County conducted a Preliminary Design and Engineering Study to determine the specific improvements that may be made to reduce problems and improve safety.  The two problem intersections are: North Lakeview Drive and North Dale Mabry Highway; and Northdale Boulevard and North Dale Mabry Highway.  The estimated cost of the Lakeview Drive intersection is $1.9 million.  The estimated cost of the Northdale Boulevard intersection is $1.6 million.  Both projects would start in Fall 2011 and would end in Summer 2012.

The changes of the Lakeview intersection would be to modify or close off the two nearest median openings that are located on N. Lakeview within close proximity to the intersection.  The changes of the Northdale intersection would be to modify and close off the nearest median opening located on Northdale within close proximity to the intersection.

The public meeting was very organized, for the most part.  They began with an introduction and a video made by the Department of Public Works and Icon Consulting Group.  The video showed detailed alternatives and scenarios that would enhance the intersections.  The Lakeview intersection had five alternatives, the fifth being the option for no construction whatsoever.  They will also replace existing streetlights.  In addition to the streetlights, the westbound lanes would be widened and left turning lanes would be added.  For the Northdale intersection, the lanes would be widened and two right and left lanes would be added.  A traffic separator, drainage systems and driveway connections would be added to both intersections if the approval were to take place.

After the video was shown, the structured part of the meeting ended.  There were easel boards with proposed diagrams of each alternative placed along the walls of the room.  This part of the meeting was open to questions.  Everyone was able to view the Google Map photos with the current and proposed alternatives.  That was a great aspect of the meeting because you can actually, visually see the difference in a tangible manner.  There was also a camera set up on a tripod in the middle of the room for questions that could not be answered by a county official.  Overall, the public meeting was a success.  And to my surprise, many people clapped when the moderator talked about the alternative to withhold construction. One repercussion of this entire project is that construction may impact trees in surrounding areas.

The Yellow Tabs

During the visit to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, we viewed something extreme.  But I'm not going to talk about that -- I'm sure everyone else is, anyway.  The class went on a tour with Chief Medical Examiner, Vernard Adams.  He took us through the clerical files and answered some of our questions about the deaths and statistics that come through his office every year.  The different causes of death were organized by color of tabs on the files.  In 2009, there were 1,995 investigations conducted on bodies.  Of those 1,995 bodies, 600 were non-traffic accidents, 200 were traffic accidents, 68 were homicides, 900 were natural causes and 200 were suicides. Two hundred were suicides.  Two hundred yellow tabs.  Two hundred people in Hillsborough County were so unhappy with their lives that they decided to end it themselves.

Suicide rates have risen in the United States since 1995 and are continuing to rise.  In Florida, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years olds. It is also the second leading cause of death for 25-34 year olds.  My uncle happens to fall into this category.  At the age of 32, my father’s brother decided to take his own life.  I was only three at the time and it still affects me to this very day.  I was shocked to know there are about 200 people who took their own lives in Hillsborough County last year.  Suicides are something many people don’t talk about.  I always thought it was extremely rare until the trip yesterday. 

I was so surprised to see the amount of yellow tabs that accumulated over the years.  It really is sad to see how many people would actually go through with the act itself.  Let alone how selfish of an act it is.  My uncle put a gun to his head and didn’t think of his three-year-old niece who loves him.  He didn’t think of his brothers, his mother and the rest of his family and friends who love him.  He was so unhappy with his life that he had to make ours miserable as well.  So, he pulled the trigger.  And that was that.  We’ve gone through years of heartache and pure dismay because of one split second.  This is something I never speak about because it is so hurtful still 18 years later.  Then I realized how many people in Hillsborough County alone go through what I go through year after year.  It’s good to not feel so alone.  

USF Library Blog

As a mass communications student, research is an essential part of our academic makeup. We must research to report. How can we inform the people without researching our informative elements? We can't.  It is important to know how to use the different databases for research.  So many pieces of information are available to you through the internet and these research databases can make your research a lot easier.  Thanks to technology, with the click of a button we are able to check senators' salaries, the Florida lobbyist list and how much my boss's house costs.

Working for a senatorial campaign, I am able to use many databases to find public records.  At the office I had access to individual campaign contributions and voter registration records.  As a journalist, I can use public records for just about anything and it will make my story plausible.  

This trip to the library is always helpful when conducting research for a class project.  There are so many databases for so many different subjects.  It really is incredible the amount of resources that are available to us as students.

One day we will have to use public records to write a story.  Those databases such as Lexis Nexis and CQ Researcher will make the story better.  The facts you retrieve from the databases will make the story more credible, giving your reader more incentive to watch, listen to or read your stories again and again.

Steve Andrews.  Need I say more?  Well, I will.  Six-time Emmy award winner.  One of the best investigative reporters in the nation.  This man is a legend.  And I, for one, was in awe at the importance of this trip.  As journalists, we know who Steve Andrews is and we know how influential he is to investigative reporting.  I was sitting in the room at the News Center in downtown Tampa completely in shock at who was standing before me.  I guess you could say I was star struck.  This is the day I realized I was absolutely sure of what I wanted to do in life.

Steve showed the class several of his investigative reporting packages and they were amazing.  He and his multimedia photojournalist, Gordon Dempsey, went around Tampa and the surrounding counties finding stories to investigate.  Some were even ideas given to them by residents in the area.  One story I found so interesting was about Harry Lee Coe, a state attorney, who was gambling with other people's money.  He borrowed money from friends who happen to be some important people within the great state of Florida.  When Steve tried to interview some of Coe's friends, they laughed in his face and told him nothing.

One thing Steve told the class that is very important to a journalist is to "dog 'em."  Dog 'em, meaning be persistent.  Get a story out of your interviewee and don't give up.  Chase them if you have to, and sometimes you will.   Of course the chase will get to a point where you must stop, but the silence can sometimes tell a story better than a journalist ever will.

Steve and Gordon are a great team who just want to inform the people of the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas of the goings on in the world.  That is our job as journalists, to inform.  And Steve Andrews does it with such poise and persistence.

Visit to Courthouse

Our class visited the Hillsborough County Courthouse and met with a few people. The first woman was an elderly woman by the name of Pat Frank.  Well, that elderly woman happened to be a very important person. Pat Frank is the Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts and the county comptroller.  Those are two huge positions and I commend Miss Pat Frank for her wide variety of responsibilities.

We also met with Doug Bakke, who is the Director of Family Law at the Hillsborough County Courthouse.  Doug was fun. I chose to go in his group for the tour and we had a great time.  He was funny, and just seemed like one of us.  We had a smaller, more intimate group so we were able to do more 'behind the scenes.'

We went through the foreclosure office and behind the desk were the millions of files throughout the years.  Some students took pictures, my memory happened to be full at that moment.  Of course.  There were dozens of cubicles with paperwork piled high. This county is just screaming foreclosure.  Made me realize something needs to be done with this economy.

We also walked through the long line of people in the traffic department.  I was nostalgic of Orient Road Jail when the inmates were staring at us.  Felt the exact same.  Pissed off people looking at new meat to intimidate.  I was just waiting for someone to bark...

So finally, we crossed over to the other wing of the courthouse.  We were brought into the evidence room. Well, not actually brought into. They allowed us to stand on one side of the doorway.  No one is allowed in the evidence room, for obvious reasons.  Some crazy USF student could have tampered with the one knife and the one picture that was in there.  Nothing interesting is going on in that room either.  A knife and a blown up picture of a Google Earth map.  No fingers like we heard about.

So, after that evidence room, we left.  My roommate and I decided to go to our favorite dive bar, Gilligan's, in downtown Tampa.  That was the highlight of my trip.