Column

Deals go down in the land of the free

By SUE CARLTON
Published July 4, 2007

In the spirit of the day, a theme of independence.

Charlie Miranda, reprising his role as a voice of reason in his return to the Tampa City Council, struck an early blow for it in zoning decisions.

What made him uneasy? Side deals sometimes cut between developers and the neighborhood groups that have the ear of the City Council. (Ear? Sometimes they seem to have the council's entire head.)

Here's how it works: A developer who wants to build a strip mall, a condo, a business, is encouraged to work with the neighborhood.

Fair enough, since it's residents who have to live with more traffic or a new building or other changes to where they live.

But this is a delicate balance. Deals aren't always tit for tat, as in, we take down this many trees here, we put up this many more over there.

You hear about neighborhoods getting a park, a playground, a big check.

Those who do this for a living know that without a neighborhood's support, they can have a tough row to hoe standing before the council.

Miranda was specifically uncomfortable with agreements in ambitious housing and retail projects in West Tampa calling on the developer to give more than $700, 000 to the community development group for affordable housing programs.

And of course there's the recent news that police are investigating allegations that a neighborhood association asked for money in exchange for its support of a planned project near International Plaza.

There's that delicate balance. When does reasonable mitigation start to look more like a shakedown?

Side deals raise the potential for decisions based on something other than what's fair.

Or as Miranda put it, "You're either going to have good zoning, bad zoning, or bad zoning that's good with money."

Some ideas for reform on the table: banning requests for anything of value in exchange for support or opposition. Disclosure of any relationship between someone who speaks on behalf of a project and the person who wants to build it. Mitigation done through the city, not on the side.

All of which could help make what sometimes goes on between developers and residents look a little less like sausage getting made.

* * *

Newbie Al Higginbotham, sounding more like a real Hillsborough County commissioner every day, denies any potential conflict of interest related to his wife's business relationship with a trash hauler whose cause Higginbotham has advocated as a commissioner.

The Times' Bill Varian reports that the hauler's company does debris-removal work for Higginbotham's wife's home-building company.

Higginbotham, who owned 25 percent of the business but says he divested his shares this year, says he knows little about his wife's business dealings.

Now that's independence.

* * *

And so much for respecting the independence of judges. As Scooter Libby can tell you, it's great to have friends in high places.

Happy Independence Day anyway.

[Last modified July 3, 2007, 23:46:26]