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The case against a strong Clearwater Mayor (Part 3)

To recap parts 1 and 2 (TBRR May 13 and 20). Will a strong mayor lessen the burden of Scientology in Clearwater – no. And do the citizens of Clearwater want to be a St. Pete or Tampa – again a no. What’s it going to cost? A question that needs an answer before Clearwater considers a strong mayor. A peek at our neighbors to the east and south can give us some clues. In Tampa, Mayor Bob Buckhorn gets paid just over $150,000 a year – more than Clearwater’s city council combined. And because, he is a politician not a manager, a top administrator is required. In Tampa, that is slightly more than $200,000 – more than an 18-year city manager makes in Clearwater. And that’s the best case. In St. Pete, Mayor Rick Kriseman comes in at roughly $180,000, but he has used his some four years in office to build a top heavy pyramid complete with deputy mayor, chief of staff and assorted other functionaries all pulling in north of $150,000 each – you’d think it was Chicago. For that kind of money, you better get a Lexus. But – does Clearwater need a Lexus and, more importantly, is there any guarantee we get a Lexus? No, there isn’t.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Some weeks back, we promised a further list of companies that have recently moved to suppress free speech from the conservative side. It seems especially appropriate to list them this week. They are, but not limited to, Jenny Craig, Wayfair, Nestle and Office Depot. We had already mentioned the multi-layered Johnson & Johnson conglomerate in a previous post.

2. There was a moving ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Jude last weekend ordaining three young men as priests, but the biggest response from the packed cathedral came when Bishop Gregory Parkes mentioned that the three young men were Noles, Gators and Bulls respectively.

3. Further proof that only the good die young, long time Pinellas lawmaker and all around good guy John Morroni succumbed to cancer last week at age 63.

4. All this tempest about Publix’ support for Adam Putnam. The guy has deep roots in Polk County as does Publix. Do you expect them to support some Tallahassee dweller?

5. Hurricane season begins this Friday. Alberto is our first storm name and we offer this sage advice from 5:05 Newsletter: How do I prepare for hurricane season? Answer: STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least five days. STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car. STEP 3. Drive to California and remain there until Halloween. Good advice – wish we had that last year when we drove to Jacksonville and drowned our four month-old car.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. The seven game lost to the Caps was disappointing, but we take solace in the fact we had a better run than all but two hockey fandoms.

7. A local electrical lineman said it best last week – “If I carried on at a customer’s home or anywhere else in my workplace, I’d be fired. So why is the NFL players’ workplace any different”?

8. It’s fun to watch a visiting team’s telecasts from the Trop and listen to visiting announcers try to explain the rings at the stadium. It’s like hearing someone attempting to explain a very complex video game.

9. Techno geek alert, if you use Carbonite for your cloud services, you might want to re-think that. The company has a disturbing habit of collecting money and then not providing the services promised. Experts tell us pcloud, BACKBLAZE and Amazon Cloud are better alternatives.

10. This holiday week, here’s the first of our doubleheaders concerning franchises’ best players/pitchers. (Back story 3/25 TBRR) We take up two teams with somewhat shorter histories – the Diamondbacks and the Mariners. For the D’Backs, one only need to look to the heroes of the 2001 World Series – Luis Gonzalez who holds virtually every hitting record for the club plus the winning base hit in ’01 Series. But the MVP of that series was one of the most dominant pitchers in recent history, Randy Johnson with four ERA titles, nine strikeout titles and a perfect game. What’s not to like? Our second franchise is the Seattle Mariners. Let’s save space and just say Ken Griffey, Jr. – the face of the franchise for 11 seasons. On the pitching side, for the second time in this series of articles, we select an active player as the franchise best – King Felix Hernandez who has notched 160 victories and a Cy Young Award in his 13 seasons with the Mariners.

MLB at the 1/3 mark

It’s two months down and four more to play – some thoughts: The Mets are star crossed. They started the season on fire but one injury after another has doomed them to fourth place in the NL East. The AL East is going to be fun with the Yanks and Sox. Biggest disappointments at the one-third mark – the Dodgers, in danger of missing the playoffs, and the Indians who lead a weak AL Central by default. The nicest surprises are the local nine who are flirting with .500 and a team that should be flirting with .500, the Atlanta Braves, with the best record in the tough NL East.

UP NEXT: Should felons vote? The Owl Diner; Roku

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