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Letter to the editor

Talk of the bay: Shakeup artist performing close to home

By Times staff
Published June 7, 2007

"Shareholders love him. CEOs loathe him." That's the headline on the June 11 cover of Fortune magazine featuring Wall Street shake-up artist Carl Icahn, who Wednesday indicated plans to make yet another attempt to buy Florida luxury homebuilder WCI Communities. Icahn entered into the bidding process just six weeks after WCI shareholders rejected his unsolicited $22-per-share offer. WCI, based in Bonita Springs, just south of Fort Myers, has since put itself up for auction. Among WCI's many properties: the Westshore Yacht Club in Tampa and Sun City Center in south Hillsborough County.

Bogus hotel fees can be recovered
The $2.3-million settlement was reached last summer; now it's your chance to get a (probably very small) piece of the pie. The state said Wednesday that it is encouraging consumers who believe they were unfairly charged extra fees at Wyndham hotels to file claims for restitution. The hotel chain, which has since been purchased by LXR, was accused of billing customers for automatic charges like a "resort fee, " "resort service charge, " "energy fee or surcharge, " "safe fee, " "safe warranty charge" or "transportation fee, " without clearly disclosing those charges. The settlement allocates $560, 000 for hotel guests' claims. Almost 40 hotels, including the Hilton in Clearwater Beach and the Wyndham Westshore in Tampa, are named in the settlement. For a complete list, and for information on how to file a claim, visit www.myfloridalegal.com.

Tax breaks sway job source our way
St. Petersburg has scored a hit with 37 more defense industry jobs. Conax Florida Corp., whose products include explosive parachute releases for the Army, is merging with a California sister company called H. Koch & Sons. The companies will do business at Conax's plant at 2801 75th St. N, which already employs 170. Conax's British parent company considered moving Koch to Davenport, Iowa, or Orchard Park, N.Y., but was approved for tax breaks totaling $110, 000 from the state, Pinellas County and St. Petersburg. Conax plans a $2.5-million upgrade to its plant to make Koch aircraft restraints and parachute disconnects. The jobs pay more than $40, 000 a year.

[Last modified June 6, 2007, 22:45:31]