Mitch Perry Report: Daily Loaf, Creative Loafing Tampa

Mitch Perry Report 5.23.13 -Hillsborough County, where progress moves at a snail's pace

Mitch Perry — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:14:00 -0400

News about the LGBT community in one way or another seems to dominate the news these days. A big national story will be taking place later today in Grapevine, Texas, where the Boy Scouts of America are considering a proposal at their annual meeting to allow gay youths to participate openly in the popular organization for the first time (but not gay adults).…

Mitch Perry Report 5.22.13 - Please welcome Anthony Weiner back to the political stage

Mitch Perry — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:53:00 -0400

For those of us who thrive on following elections, 2013 is a pretty dry year. Locally we've got the St. Pete mayoral and City Council elections coming up, with a big primary in August (with the Lens on the ballot) and the general election in November.…

Mitch Perry Report: Fluoride on the ballot again, but a long way from Pinellas County

Mitch Perry — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:09:00 -0400

Last year, the issue of the Pinellas County Commission's 2011 vote to remove fluoride from the water supply exploded, partially because of the Tampa Bay Times editorial page that raged against the four commissioners who supported that measure — John Morroni, Norm Roche, Neil Brickfield and Nancy Bostock. (Times writers Tim Nickens and Dan Ruth ended up receiving Pulitzer Prizes for the editorial campaign.)

With Bostock and Brickfield running for re-election last fall, the issue hung around their necks like an albatross, and was used in every possible campaign forum or event by their respective Democratic opponents, Janet Long and Charlie Justice.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.20.13: The President's agenda wasn't in good shape before Benghazi/AP/IRS …

Mitch Perry — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:06:00 -0400

Can we end the pretense espoused by such conventional wisdom proprietors as MSNBC's Joe Scarborough that the various problems hitting the Obama White House "threaten" his second term agenda? With the exception of immigration, Republicans (particularly in the House) have not really shown any interest in working with the president whatsoever (though on budget issues they're sort of forced to) since his re-election.…

Mitch Perry Report: Tribune urges Rick Scott to veto study of HART/PSTA merger

Mitch Perry — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:20:00 -0400

The Tampa Tribune's editorial page today is coming out forcefully in advocating that Governor Rick Scott veto the $200,000 added into the state budget by Clearwater area GOP state Senator Jack Latvala for a new "desk study" evaluating the prospects of a merger between HART & PSTA, the two respective transit agencies for Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.

The paper notes the $100,000 study conducted by the agencies last year (that one paid by the agencies - this one would be paid for by Tallahassee, or you could say, taxpayers).…

Mitch Perry Report: WTF is happening at the White House?

Mitch Perry — Tue, 14 May 2013 08:00:00 -0400

During the past presidential election, lots of reporters (including myself) wrote that there were many similarities between the 2004 and 2012 campaigns. The main parallel was a polarizing incumbent who was ripe for being defeated, running against a stiff Massachusetts politician who most folks didn't feel comfortable with.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.13.13: IRS scandal will redound on local government

Mitch Perry — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:47:00 -0400

The American people's trust in government began eroding in the 1970s, and it has never fully recovered. That erosion, coupled with an ideological aversion amongst Libertarians and some conservatives to what they label "big government," has created an environment where Second Amendment fans can argue against universal background checks for guns because of fears of a national gun registry, which they claim would lead the government to take away their guns.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.10.2013: Not so fast, Mr. Minder

Mitch Perry — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

Although it's being reported that the Tampa City Council postponed voting on the ambitious 36-story apartment tower complex near the Straz Center last night, in fact it was the point man for the city of Tampa, economic development head Bob McDonough, who accurately read the temperature in the room at City Hall and deduced that the city needed more time to answer questions from the Council — and the public — about the development.

As we reported earlier this week, opposition that has grown in recent months since the proposal by developers Greg Minder and Phillip Smith to built to the immediate west of the John F. Germany Public Library and to the south of the Straz Center.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.8.13: Stop calling Mark Sanford's victory "amazing"

Mitch Perry — Wed, 08 May 2013 08:00:00 -0400

As the returns coming in last night showed that Mark Sanford was going to defeat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the special election for Congress in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza tweeted, "Amazing. Just amazing."

No, Mr. Cillizza.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.6.13: LeBron James takes home more hardware

Mitch Perry — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:54:00 -0400

Hope everyone had a good weekend - how can you not dig these uncommonly low-humidity days rolling into the first week of May? By the way, I discovered something about myself yesterday. I can't deal with films like "Iron Man 3" at all anymore.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.2.13: May Day around the world, and in Tampa

Mitch Perry — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:56:00 -0400

There were demonstrations held throughout the world on May Day, a day when labor unions traditionally take to the streets to talk about work conditions. According to reports, more than 100,000 people in Spain marched because they were upset about budget talks and higher taxes.…

Mitch Perry Report 5.1.13: Parent trigger bill bites the dust, again

Mitch Perry — Wed, 01 May 2013 08:00:00 -0400

There was a lot of news out of Tallahassee yesterday, but for our money, nothing was more significant than the rejection of the Parent Empowerment Act (a/k/a parent trigger), a bill strongly opposed not just by the teachers unions, but a variety of groups and some Republicans.

If the bill was going to go down to defeat, enough Republicans would have to join Democrats in opposing it, and that's exactly what happened in the Senate, where it once again deadlocked in a 20-20 vote.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.29.13 - The best movie of 2013 was released this weekend

Mitch Perry — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:11:00 -0400

A happy good morning to y'all on this last Monday in April. How was the weekend?

As an inveterate moviegoer, 2013 has started off a bit rocky, to say the least, which is why I can happily say I saw two very strong films over the past couple of days that I'm happy to recommend to everyone.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.26.13 - One more time, Florida Republicans say no to Medicaid expansion

Mitch Perry — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:20:00 -0400

It was long, it was arduous, and if you believe that Medicaid expansion as provided by the federal government is the right thing, it was frustrating. On Thursday members of the Florida House rejected an amendment from one of their own - Pasco County's Mike Fasano, from a plan offered from another one of their own - Governor Rick Scott.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.25.13 - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are NOT on the clock tonight

Mitch Perry — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The NFL draft begins tonight live from New York City. That means football junkies who've been in hibernation since the Baltimore Ravens outlasted the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl nearly three months ago can plan on camping in front of their television sets over the next three nights and nerd out.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.24.13 - Immigration bill to pass with 70 Senate votes?

Mitch Perry — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:00:00 -0400

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the omnipresent legislator who is literally on cable news ever day now, boldly predicts that the comprehensive immigration reform bill being debated in the U.S. Senate currently can pass with 70 votes, with 22 votes coming from the 45-member Republican Senate Caucus.

Although there is (deserved) concern about the bill's chances in the House, if you've been reading comments from GOP heavyweights John Boehner and Paul Ryan of late, you know those influential lawmakers want to see a strong bill passed as well.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.23.13 - Sequestration hits the fan

Mitch Perry — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:56:00 -0400

When sequestration hit at the beginning of last month, we were warned that most people wouldn't be adversely affected for awhile, but that sometime in mid-April, flights would be delayed because of mandated furloughs for air traffic controllers.

That promise became the reality yesterday, when major airports throughout the country reported delays in some case of nearly two hours because of wind (in the case of LaGuardia) and "volume" everywhere else.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.22.13 - Happy Earth Day?

Mitch Perry — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:45:00 -0400

Although there were lots of events on Saturday commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the original Earth Day (including over at USF), today is actually the day set aside to embrace all things about the environment.

But apparently some of our legislators in Tallahassee haven't received the memo.…

Mitch Perry Report: The Boston manhunt headlines a big Friday for news

Mitch Perry — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:09:00 -0400

The biggest story in the world this morning is all about the intense manhunt in a Boston suburb regarding a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. That suspect is supposed to be 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.11.15 -Rand Paul goes to Howard University

Mitch Perry — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:33:00 -0400

Rand Paul spoke at Howard University in Washington D.C. yesterday, and while it may not have been a total success, yes, you do have to give something up to him for going out and speaking at one of the top historic black colleges in America. Don't you?

Press reports indicate that it was a bit bumpy, but the larger issue is this: the dude was making an attempt at speaking to a particular group - blacks - that traditionally have shut out the Republican Party.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.10.13 - Kathy Castor & DWS: A tale of 2 different takes on Cuba

Mitch Perry — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:47:00 -0400

Kathy Castor's trip to Cuba last week has been extensively reported on this Web site and throughout the Tampa Bay media. Although other members of Congress have been calling for years to end the economic embargo, Castor may be the first member of the Florida delegation while in office to go so far as to say that trade and travel restrictions no longer make sense after 51 years.…

Mitch Perry Report: Will Hillsborough Commissioners tighten background check law already on the books?

Mitch Perry — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:00:00 -0400

To the surprise of no one, Hillsborough County Commission attorney Chip Fletcher ruled yesterday that the board does not have the authority to enact a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition clips. State law forbids local Florida governments from enacting their own such laws, as you might recall we all learned last year after Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn was unsuccessful in getting guns banned from the so-called "event zone" during the Republican National Convention.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.8.13: The Masters joins the 21st Century

Mitch Perry — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:01:00 -0400

Good morning, everyone.

The big news this morning is the news that "the Iron Lady," former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, one of the dominant figures in 20th Century England, has passed away at the age of 87.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.5.13 - Remembering a pop cultural icon

Mitch Perry — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:23:00 -0400

I first saw Roger Ebert on television in 1978, when he and Gene Siskel, this other Chicago-based film critic, were talking about movies on PBS, and there was never really anything like that I had ever seen on TV. I was seriously into movies then (as I still am now), and it was exciting to see an intelligent discussion about the subject in those pre-cable days.…

Mitch Perry Report 4.4.13 - Mrs. Castor goes to Cuba

Mitch Perry — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:14:00 -0400

A year and a half after she initially said she intended to visit, Tampa-area Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor is in Cuba today (as reported by Ted Jackovics in the Tampa Tribune) for a trip that will last through the weekend.

Although Castor had not told the media in advance exactly when she was traveling, she laid the groundwork with a speech that she gave before a conference held in Tampa two weeks ago on rapprochement (and exclusively reported by CL) with the Communist island.…