Anyway, as you can see, Mr. Gernert's not going to "dignify" my very simple question about asking Winter Haven city government for money for USFP. I think we can assume that's a no.
Remember how, way back when the CSX thing started, the Lakeland Chamber and the rest of aristocracy spent a lot of time hemming and hawing their opposition because they didn't want to meddle in Winter Haven's economic development project and wanted to avoid controversy, etc?
In this economy, CSX will not lightly walk away from more than $600 million in cash and system improvements, liability or no. FDOT probably still wants to hand that money over to the company. In fact, it's already done so to some degree in the form of ongoing overpass improvements in north central Florida. Buddy Dyer is out begging for $20,000 in legal expense money so lawyers can try to figure out a way around the senate. Democracy in action. (Funny that with all the money spent on John Thrasher and other uber lobbyists during the session, Dyer is reduced to panhandling for this. You would think GrayRobinson would just pick it up for him.) Anyway, this isn't over. But it's worth taking a moment for some post mortem thoughts before this deal reveals itself as the undead zombie vampire that we fear it might be.
Public Relations and members of the media, new and traditional, are meeting today to discuss methods to best get information to the public. A Lakeland Minute and a brief summary inside...
Commentary I got busy last week, so this is a little dated now. But I want to take a moment to revisit Politics-in-the-Park-gate. You may remember, that's when the crack triumvirate of Tom Palmer, Bob Gernert, and shadowy counterterroism forces within the city of Lakeland's security apparatus conjured, denounced, and successfully intervened with their imaginations to halt the mortal threat to Charlie Crist's comfort posed by a blog post I spent 15 minutes writing the night before. A bunch of Jack Bauers, they are. Background here. There clearly was no plan - other than my meek exhortation - to confront the governor with CSX questions or chanting. (Though I'm told Crist's FDLE security detail was made aware of the threat and presumably briefed the governor on it. So thanks for that, Tom, Bob, and whoever else. The more the People's governor associates CSX with controversy and political intensity, the happier I'll be. The People's governor is not known for his political bravery. Ask Orlando.) But what if there was a plan? What if some portion of P in P goers had chanted CSX so that Charlie could hear them or shouted questions since he wasn't taking them in person, from what I understand. (I wasn't there when he spoke.) Over on his Winter Haven Chamber blog, Bob Gernert said such a thing would amount to an "ambush" of the governor. And that would be bad form, I guess. But wait just a second. Who pays the People's Governor's salary? I thought he worked for us. This was an explicitly political rally, wasn't it? Crist was there, explicitly, to ask us to vote for John McCain. Does this transaction only flow in one direction? We can't ask him something in return? That's an ambush? It might hurt his feelings, and that might.....? Whaaaaaa?
Bio: Billy Townsend was a longtime government, political and general assignment reporter in Polk County and the wider I-4 corridor. He wrote extensively about Polk's unique regional identity and the issues shaping it, including USF Polytechnic, the Heartland Parkway and the CSX rail deal. Billy recently left professional reporting to take a corporate writing job, but he keeps close tabs on news of all stripes (especially political news) and the changes in modern journalism. Billy's wife is Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership.They live with their three children in the Lake Morton area. His work at Lakeland Local is his first as an amateur hyperlocal writer.