TOP OF THE WEEK:

 But first a “headnote” – we apologize for the tardiness of getting the blog posted last week. We know all ten of our readers wait breathlessly for it to appear each Sunday. It would not have happened if your HB (Humble Blogger) weren’t so technologically challenged. Thanks to a really terrific IT person who backs us up – like all the time! Now, on with the show.

This fall voters will decide whether to tax themselves another penny on the dollar to pave the way for light rail in the county. Greenlight Pinellas is a noble idea but fraught with problems. Principal among the problems is the new tax would replace a current levy on real property in the county. So instead of we homeowners continuing to pay for transit upgrades, the burden would fall on many, many people who don’t own property and can ill afford to pay even more for their kid’s shoes, diapers and school supplies. The other question in this house of cards is how long before our transit officials come back to us and say “Hey, just kidding about dropping that levy on your property!” Granted some of this tax burden (potentially the highest sales tax in the state) would be shared by tourists who already pay outrageous bed taxes in our county, but the biggest burden of this regressive tax will fall on those who can least afford it.

THIS WEEK’S TEN:

 1. With Susan Latvala leaving her post on the County Commission and, parenthetically, abandoning her party in the recent District 13 race, it’s easier to count the number of folks not running for her seat than those who are.

2. Latvala’s departure from the county commission is creating a ripple effect especially in Dunedin where the chairs in the commission chamber will get shuffled with Mayor Dave Eggers leaving to run for the Latvala seat. But Dunedin will not suffer a leadership void. Already long time commissioner and Pinellas Community Foundation head Julie Scales has announced for mayor. Former commissioner Deborah Kynes and businessman and civic leader Bruce Livingston will seek commission seats. This trio brings a world of experience to the fore and Dunedin should not miss a beat.

3. Our Raves and Rants focus group (which consists of three, old cranky people) remind the world that their yellow legal pads have never frozen or crashed. Margin of error: 50 percent or so.

4. With a shadow of a tear, we said goodbye to the cast of “How I Met Your Mother” last Monday. Frankly, they had me at the title back in 2005. One of the unique aspects of the show’s long run was that it was initially dismissed by most critics – critics who, in large measure, warmed to it over the years. Not on the level of a Seinfeld but not far behind either. Although as far as classic character names are concerned, the Slutty Pumpkin was right up there with the Soup Nazi.

5. Another TV note. MLB’s Extra Innings package is usually free for the first week or so of the MLB season to entice you to buy the season package at about $200. The opening day Brewers-Braves game was nothing but a broken up satellite signal for nine innings making the announcers sound like the late Foster Brooks – and viewers happy they weren’t actually paying for that garbage.

6. Good move by Marquette hiring long time Duke assistant Steve Wojciechowski. There have been other stabs taken at getting Wojo away from Duke, but Coach K’s recent announcement that he planned to stay on at Duke for another five years might have made Wojo more amenable to an offer. Prediction: he will be back on Duke’s sideline in the future.

7. Honest, this happened less than two weeks before the District 13 general election. Your HB (humble blogger) gets a robocall one evening asking him to push buttons indicating his choice in the long before held Republican primary. Hope whoever funded that fiasco got their money back.

8. Few things make us do a slow burn more than seeing a bunch of kids whip into a beach handicapped parking space; hang grandma’s handicap tag on the mirror then grab their chairs and towels and run for the beach. If caught, there should be a very special fine/punishment for such punks.

9. We would be remiss not to recognize the passing of a true American patriot late last month. Former U.S. Senator and Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton was a POW for over seven years during the Vietnam War but never gave any quarter to his enemy even when severely beaten for his famous blinked TORTURE message during a staged interview by the North Vietnamese.

10. We hear many heartfelt stories of families whose members need medical pot to ease pain. We’ve heard very little from heartbroken families whose members are now drug addicts who started on that road with pot.

IN CLOSING:

 An addendum to our Top of The Week: State Senator Jeff Brandes is taking the PSTA to task for its funding of an “educational” campaign on Greenlight Pinellas. So far, some $800,000 of taxpayer money has been spent on this “educational” campaign – including signage on PSTA buses. Funny, when opponents of the initiative wanted to spend non-taxpayer dollars for similar signage, they were rebuked by the PSTA – something about PSTA’s signage being educational but the opponents not being educational? The spending of taxpayer dollars on campaigns like this one and Clearwater’s Marine Aquarium is simply not right. A great many taxpayers disagree with these initiatives and for good reason; why should their dollars be spent to promote what they consider to be economic follies?