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JAY CRIDLINCounty leaders draw a crowd - and some complaints - as they hold a town hall meeting at a mall.
BRANDON - When Rick Sink walked out of Sears and into Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon after buying a pair of jeans last night, he expected to hear the usual mall background music.
Instead, he heard something completely different: A Board of County Commissioners meeting.
"I stumbled upon it as I was walking in this direction," said Sink, 52, of Brandon.
He wasn't alone. Hundreds of shoppers stopped by a town hall meeting held by the county commission last night in Westfield Shoppingtown Brandon.
The forum was a novel idea: Bring the meeting to the masses, and they will come and stay informed.
In the end, though, it was met with mixed results.
With about 400 in attendance, it was the second largest town hall meeting the commission has held, said county spokesman Steve Valdez.
But how many of those 400 could hear what was being said is another question entirely. The echo effect in the mall and the white noise of shoppers in the background rendered the event nearly inaudible to many of the casual bystanders.
"It was a success in terms of the number of people who were here and the interest," said Commissioner Pat Frank, "But it was an extremely hard venue to hear and be heard. That was frustrating, because I knew if I answered a question, I was just consuming time and no one knew what I said."
The meeting, along with a number of county booths that jostled for elbow room with cell phone kiosks and peanut stands, was a unique experiment in cross promotion aimed at shoppers who otherwise wouldn't dream of attending a commission meeting.
Some shoppers, like Sink, decided the meeting was worth their time.
"I think citizens like myself can get more involved if they see it occurring in front of them," he said.
Others were just there for the shopping.
"It would be nice if there wasn't also the mall," said Gitanjali Senapati, 21, of New Tampa, moments after walking out of Claire's. "It's too much. I came here to shop."
Those in attendance voiced a number of complaints. Residents clamored for repairs and widening for Parsons Road, Boyette Road and State Road 574 in Seffner.
Irvin Johnson of Brandon drew applause when he spoke out against the pressure of growth on the community.
"I think the builders are running Hillsborough County," he said. "You've got to get rid of that rubber stamp that says, "Builders approved.' "
For the most part, the commissioners' responses were brief, allowing as many people to speak as possible. Still, by the end, Chairman Tom Scott was left with a stack of names of residents who did not get a chance to speak. Valdez said the county commission may hold another mall meeting. The next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 9 in northwest Hillsborough County, is still without a venue, and Valdez hoped this could show what a meeting at Westfield Shoppingtown Citrus Park would be like.
"I think we are pushing the limits of our audio equipment to the max," Valdez said. "If we ever do this again, we're going to try and improve it."
Commissioner Jim Norman said he thought a meeting at Citrus Park would be a hit.
"You have a lot of folks around that aren't interfacing with government every day," Norman said. "We're seeing all kinds of walk-up folks that didn't know the event was here, and they want to stay."
But when all was said and done, Frank indicated the commission's experiment with shopping malls may be over.
"I don't think this particular place works for us," she said. "We'd have to have a situation where the audio is more compliant."
- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com