Tax chief Nelson to retire; probably time for a fresh outlook

Pinellas Tax Collector Diane Nelson has announced she will retire this year. This did not create quite the stir as when Pam Dubov announced she was leaving as Property Appraiser. The difference being Nelson took over a system that was running fairly well and, frankly, hasn’t done much to make it any better. Dubov, on the other hand, assumed the leadership of an office rife with corruption and turned it around. There’s another stark contrast - Nelson, like so many politicians, wants to anoint her successor which often doesn’t serve the public interest (see Sheriff, Pinellas County). Dubov, anything but the stereotypical politician, did not openly endorse someone from within her office. Fortunately, someone has emerged from the outside who appears to be an adequate replacement for the Property Appraiser. It would probably serve the tax payers of Pinellas for a set of fresh eyes from the outside the tax collector’s office emerging to improve a system that, while not broken, isn’t exactly a paragon of excellence.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. It’s official – as of April 22^nd, it now costs more to park in the Clearwater Marina for a day than it does to park at Walt Disney World. More on the unbelievable mess that is our city marina in a future edition.

2. With the spring training agreement between the Blue Jays and Dunedin a little over a year away from expiring, do you seriously think the Toronto Blue Jays aren’t trolling both Florida and Arizona for a new spring training site? Dunedin’s mayor and the Blue Jay’s president are both blowing smoke about “productive talks”.

3. Eric Lynn is a decided underdog to Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for District 13’s Congressional seat – which, thanks to judicial meddling, is tantamount to election. But Lynn shouldn’t despair. Charlie will spend about two years in Washington before he seeks some other office.

4. The overallgoals of FAST (Faith and Action for Strength Together) are noble. But the group too often expects simplistic solutions to what are very complex problems.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you dined at Tampa’s Hawaiian Village Restaurant on North Dale Mabry in the 1960s.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It was hard not to see a little bit of your own mother (particularly if you grew up Catholic) in Doris Roberts’ portrayal of Ray Romano’s mom in Everybody Loves Raymond. The multi-Emmy award winning actress died last week at age 90.

7. You no doubt heard – Fed Ex guy falls asleep in the cargo bin of a jet in Memphis and winds up in Texas. So the next time you need something from Amazon or EBay quick, just have them slip it in his pocket and give him a Melatonin.

8. Looking at the Buc’s weak pre-season schedule, you can’t help but wish those games would count. Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Cleveland and Washington are not exactly Super Bowl contenders.

9. Factoid: The man first offered the role of Rob Petrie was not Dick Van Dyke but a comic who was hosting a New York-based game show Who Do You Trust – Johnny Carson. From an interesting Carson biography Here’s Johnny by his life-long second banana – Ed McMahon.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) feels the top three ideas of the past half-century are the cellphone , the IPod and, with many thanks to Al Gore, the internet.

Message from Schilling firing: “Just shut up”

ESPN terminated baseball analyst Curt Schilling after another offensive remark involving the former star pitcher and the gay community. No argument here. Like so many, many others, we are happy for Curt Schilling’s success on the mound, but we don’t give a damn about his political or social views. The same holds true for every other athlete, actor/actress or recording star. We simply don’t care about your views on candidates, social issues or anything else – and more importantly, exactly what qualifies you to tell us how to vote or think?

SNEAK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK – THE HOT MESS THAT IS CLEARWATER’S FIRE DEPARTMENT