Glad to see the editorial below from the Lakeland Ledger. It’s the story from the Ocala Star-Banner that is an example of the editorial.  Funny how the Star Banner did not carry the editorial in that both are owned by the New York Times and share stories.

There is no need for either bridges to cross US 75 near Ocala. Both are payoffs to developers who should buy their own bridge. Or AT LEAST build their projects and see if one is needed if they can fill the projects. Tax payers should not take the burden of fly-by-night developers.

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Pervasive State Corruption: Florida Corruption Tax

Published: Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:01 a.m.  The Lakeland Ledger

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Moreover, the costs resulting from “fraud, waste and abuse of state resources” is so much a part of a government pay-to-play culture that the 18-person grand jury said it amounts to “a Florida corruption tax” on residents.

Read the rest of the editorial by clicking here

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Editorial: The wrong interchange

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Commissioners voted to spend another $78,000 for consultants — who have received a total of $308,000 so far — to update an ongoing “justification” report for a $30 million-plus project that has little public support and, importantly, no identified financial support.

Read the rest of the story by clicking here

The West Palm Beach, Florida, story below makes me crazy!!! Brief comments below!

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Ibis HOA wants to remove 168 oak trees

by Andrew Abramson

Al Vazquez, chairman of West Palm Beach’s Green Task Force, wishes his neighborhood had the same luscious oak trees that line the streets in Ibis, an upscale West Palm community west of I-95 off Northlake Boulevard. So Vazquez was stunned to learn that Ibis officials were planning to remove 168 oak trees and replace them with palm trees.

“We should be so lucky,” Vazquez said. “What these people want to be removed is just insane.”

Read the rest of the story by clicking here.

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Remove that canopy of trees and the folks in that subdivision will watch their air conditioning bills double or triple. Palms of any kind cannot provide the shade and cooling an oak can.

Sounds like realtors at work here. Nothing costs tax payers more than realtors, road builders and developers trying to make a buck.

And who would vote for a candidate dumb enough to buy a home in a swamp, which is what all of those western neighborhoods were just a handful of years ago.