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Stumbling leaderslack vision
A Times Editorial
Published January 22, 2008
Housing has tanked, a recession looms, the state is desperate to cut taxes and spending - and what are Hillsborough County commissioners doing? They spent the past year weakening environmental protections, debating whether to spend $40-million on a sports park, dawdling on economic development and picking fights with area governments.
At a time when citizens and taxpayers want their elected officials to focus and work together, Hillsborough has gone in the opposite direction. It has no economic plan beyond surviving, no clear political priorities, no strategy for broadening its business or tourist appeal, and no single, recognized leader. Voters have important choices to make this year in local elections.
Three commissioners are on the ballot, including Brian Blair, whose ham-handed attempt to gut environmental rules will give another issue on the ballot - whether to create a county mayor - a greater chance to pass. For many, the public outcry over wetlands, the sports park and tired visions for jobs, transit and growth crystallized the problem: County leaders have no depth and offer no real vision for the future.
That aimlessness is evident on every front. Commissioners have no answers for coping with a recession and the wrong ones for dealing with one cause of it, the housing collapse. Jim Norman wants to cut impact fees, which are charged to new development to offset its demand for new roads and other public services. He said that will put the construction industry back to work.
But developers cannot sell the homes they have now. Ground-breaking for new homes is at its lowest level in 16 years, the Commerce Department reported this month, despite deep price declines and rising incentives by developers. Impact fees are not the problem - tight credit and losses in mortgage lending are, along with tepid growth and investment, which is souring the outlook for jobs and spending. Still, Norman's colleagues embraced his idea, even though it will only encourage an even greater glut in housing and make it harder for growth to pay for itself once the economy recovers.
The consensus on impact fees typifies a board that serves as a lapdog for the development industry. However, it is more than a sop to campaign contributors. Norman's idea and the board's embrace of it reflects the knee-jerk, short-term mentality that drives policymaking - whether for growth, business development, water policy or transportation. Hillsborough voters may be focused on races at the top of the ticket, but local elections will shape their community for years. They need to pay close attention to local candidates.
[Last modified January 21, 2008, 22:10:55]
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