Friday, September 29, 2006

Iorio Irates Individuals

There seem to be some readers who really irate with Iorio.

If the Mayoral election were held today would you vote for Pam Iorio for Mayor? (Yes, No or Not sure) Why or Why Not? What are the biggest negative and positive issues she has? If you would not vote for Pam, who would you vote for as Mayor? If you would vote for her, who do you see as her most likely strongest opponent?

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

YES
Because I have paid attention to how things REALLY are and what it REALLY takes be the Mayor of Tampa. And while I can definitely find fault in areas like CODE, I know she has made a hurge difference in this town in a small amount of time. It is not so long we had a do nothing administration and the pain from that lingers on.

I like the direction she is headed and think she will do more in a second term.

Anonymous said...

YES
Because I have paid attention to how things REALLY are and what it REALLY takes be the Mayor of Tampa. And while I can definitely find fault in areas like CODE, I know she has made a hurge difference in this town in a small amount of time. It is not so long we had a do nothing administration and the pain from that lingers on.

I like the direction she is headed and think she will do more in a second term.

luckytop said...

Yes, I would vote for her in a minute. She understands the nuts & bolts of maintaining and improving this city. She promotes and supports diversity. A negative I see is her not having spearheaded an effort to roll back the tax millage in a meaningful way, since anyone can find ways to spend, but not many can find prudent ways to cut the fat.

Anonymous said...

No just NO, but HELL NO!

She has been the worst Mayor with regards to Code. She is a poor leader that has no courage to stand up and right a wrong. She should have realized over 2 years ago that her decision to hire Mr Lane was a huge mistake. Instead, she wasted an entire term and kept him in place. In addition, she is so hell bent on creating the riverwalk before we have basic necessities in place. Her Park expansions have cost us millions, yet the parks we currently have are inadequate and unsafe. She has created a multi-million dollar layer of useless staff to keep her sheltered and hidden from the very constitutes that elected her to begin with.

On a positive side, she seems to be really nice.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I would without hesitation. No one is perfect, keep that in mind. In the world of Politics and Government I think she far outshines 95% of those in her position. She's done a great job overall. She has a true passion for the well-being of City of Tampa, and that cannot be replaced.

Rick said...

No. The last (only) mayor I was impressed with was Sandy Freedman in my 20 years in Tampa. I read through her budget. I see the added positions and the the upward trend in city employees. Her adminstration is top heavy, if it were not for her moving positions out of the mayor's office you would have seen a dramatic bloating of the Mayor's office.
She was tone deaf on millage cuts when in reality, there was room for even more of a cut without impairing or reducing city services. She screamed over a 3.35 million dollar cut and less than a week later acknowledges that they had over-budgeted for the police and fire pensions to the tune of 1.2 million.
It is great that she supports diversity. But she did that when she was on the County Commission.
It takes more than supporting diversity to get my vote.

In short she is all form and little substance. There are several possibilities that could do a better job for our neighborhoods and the city. Frank Sanchez, Bob Buckhorn, Charlie Miranda, Rose Ferlita, and Bob Hernandez are but a few names. They each have drawbacks and their strong points.
The point is there is no perfect candidate. If you had told me I would be this disappointed in and Iorio administration before her election, I would have disagreed.

Anonymous said...

I am wondering myself If residents here were able to put into office who they thought was the best candiate for the job
who would you recommend?

I personally did not like Snakie sandra , she did not allow police officers to drive their patrols home and cut funds for them
I was the "in law" to a pd officer here in tampa he was a good person.

I do not think any one who is mayor should take anything away from its law enforcment budget

crime is horrid .

Anonymous said...

If you all think back to just a few short months ago, we were all convinced that Dawn Colvin was the greatest. It was "she is the best there is to offer" Once she got fired for smoking dope on company time, we got a new girl that has been nothing short of amazing. I honestly feel that this is the same case with Pam. While she is "nice" and smiles alot, she is very ignorant when it comes to local politics. Her idea of making a better city is build another park. However, the city is becoming covered in asphalt and concrete, so much so that we will have the worst flooding problems in history within the next few years, code enforcement is the biggest joke in any adminisration, there is more inside corruption in her administration than any other-- lap dances, porno videoing and the list goes on. All under her watch. She is aware of it yet nothing is being done. If you notice, the closer we get to election, the more time she will spend in East Tampa. She is hoping that the East Tampa neighborhoods will carry her through for one more term. With regards to "she has done alot in a short time" Take a look at the previous Mayors of New York, Atlanta and Chicago. They changed cities of this size and population in a much shorter time. Tampa is going backwards, however, she is the best we got! I don't buy it. If we scream loud enough, maybe a better candidate will step forward.

Anonymous said...

I agree, she is very nice but she is a VERY weak leader. She does need to stand up and lead her team instead of hiring high dollar smucks to come in and do the job for her. I vote no.

Anonymous said...

And I think you guys are full of poop and need a far better understanding of what makes the city government work. How things have been set up that cannot be changed, monies that are earmarked for certain things, that cannot be changed, and issues which have not been addressed in 20 plus years that are not in dire need of attention. Add to that the fact that no matter what idealistic world we all would like to live in, things do NOT happen over night and sometimes what you think you see, you don't.

Anonymous said...

Poop?


lmao.Geez I dont feel Im full of poop! And I'm offended by that shitty remark!

I like pam oreo's alot .
the problems this city has, cmon its going to take many many mayor's to fix

She is a good person I for one would like to see her in office longer.

She definetly is better than Sandra Freedman was.




BTW.what's the obsession with the poop ?






Stop watching so much CW~WTOG UPN or what ever it is now
and SOUTH PARK!

Anonymous said...

YES!

Check out the highrise condos shooting up downtown. That is exactly what this city needs. We need to move away from a downtown business district and move towards a business/residential/shopping district. If this town is ever going to be great, people need to live and work and play downtown. That should be our first priority and she had delivered in that respect. Hopefully Trump Towers is not a flop. As far as the riverwalk, this is part of making downtown more livable/playable. This is a good thing.

She is doing well but she needs to work on getting Tampa Park/Central Park/Robles Park moved north of Fletcher. Those complexes make the downtown and ybor city very dangerous. Downtown is prime real estate and prime realestate should be devoted to properties that can produce income/tax revenue, not properties that are subsidized and harbor crime. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we need to take public housing away. I'm just saying that it would be prudent to move the housing out of downtown, so people can feel safe to enjoy downtown.

She really needs to rework the salary structure, however. City employees make way too much money. When the city pays more than the private sector, you know there is plenty of fat to trim. True, dedicated public servants will do a good job with a fair salary. City salaries simply make city employees feel elite, and they get fat and lazy and tend to look down on the common man, instead of serving him/her.

Anonymous said...

In addition, the city offers benefits way better than the private sector, this combined with the higher salaries is way out of line.

I agree. I think the river walk is a great idea. However, I feel that this adminstration has pushed way to hard to make sure it was built under her watch. By doing so, other neighborhoods have had to suffer.

If I were mayor, I would fix what I have now before adding to the debt and problems.

Start by improving our roadways and transportation. At the same time improve code enforcement. Studies show that a cleaner city has lower crime and is overall a much safer place to live. Then make our parks an area of interest. Excluding the dog park, when was the last time you went to a park? They are all crap here. Yet we build more. Then add sidewalks and bike lanes. Why have a livable downtown and surrounding are if you can't walk or bike to get to your destination.

Instead, the mayor is more worried about putting the cart before the horse.

If the elections were today, I would vote no.

Anonymous said...

No Way

Anonymous said...

I would vote for her if I was convinced Tampa could not get cleaner and be a better city. A vote for Iorio is saying that you don't want a cleaner, safer, more progressive city. Perfect Example: Look at Iorio vs. Mayor Baker. He is a forward thinker, a getter done kind of Mayor. She is a backassward native Tampan that has no clue on what a city is supposed to be like.

I vote for Baker!

Chair said...

Yes, I would vote for her. Before I did, I would make her promise (on the record and in public) to do the following things:

1) Commit to providing funds *and* a timetable for adding actual drainage to Florida Avenue. And to keep from crapping up the river even worse than it is, to use the land around the water tower to build a drainage filtering system to pull out the trash and soak up a little of the rubber shavings, metal particles, oil slicks, and other toxic crap that build up on the streets every day.

2) Redo traffic light timing to improve traffic flow all over the city.

3) Provide sidewalks along every major street in Tampa, and add curb cuts so bicyclists (like me) don't have to go out in traffic with batshit crazy drivers to go from sidewalk to sidewalk.

Anonymous said...

Ok some answers to above.
Untill Mayor Pam there was no department and no funds to work on the drainage issues in Tampa. She made that a priority and it is happening, though it is not an immediate fix. It is at the moment a five year plan with another five year plan to follow.

Florida Ave, like Nebraska is FDOT and what ever drainage is to be done, is to be done by them. You should know that in the Nebraska redo that has been put on hold due to bidding issues, one of the things that is to be dropped due to lack of funds, is the drainage!

All the roads in the city are not city roads or city lights!

Sidewalks and curbs are definitely needed. And are being done. Can't be done all at once. But boy oh boy we do need them!!!

Anonymous said...

A vote for Pam is a vote for status quo

Anonymous said...

Amen. I am tired of nothing changing in this city. I watched a program the other day that highlighted all of the "improvements" downtown. All these $300,000+ condos being built. The mayor went on and on. It was an hour program. When it was finished, I looked at my husband and asked "What is she doing for the rest of Tampa?" Everytime I hear her speak it is always about downtown. At first I thought it was just me, then there was an article in last weeks paper that Ybor and SoHo are now looking for ways to combat this very thing.

Here is how short sided and ignorant this woman is. You have a downtown that does not have ample parking now, add thousands of residents to this problem, how the hell will this work. On her very show, she talked to a man that was developing, I believe, 3 of the projects. He said that the majority fo buyers were the older population and retired. Thus adding to the problem. So the cars will double downtown since the will not be leaving for work. She is so short sighted it will hurt Tampa in the years to come!

Anonymous said...

Yes.

I think a Mayor cannot focus on every neighborhood in every party of town at once. Good thing we have city council representatives too, right? They're more local than the mayor. So I think some of this wrath is misplaced. Remember when there was a vote on a bond to fund flood control, MY representative voted "no" because he lives in New Tampa and they have good flood control already, being a new development.

Iorio appears to be focusing on the sorts of improvements that can turn Tampa into a first-class city with all the ammenities we envy in places like Chicago, San Diego, and New York. Seminole Heights has some issues but we're pretty darned good at getting those fixed ourselves. There really isn't anyone to tacked the larger cancers in our city like downtown and the abused, industrialized river. These are two elements that ought to be the center of Tampa's identity and instead they're a huge anchor around our necks. So good for Mayor Iorio.

Would I like to see a real public transportation system? Yes. It annoys me that she's done nothing there. But I also realize that there's no point in funding light rail when the standard destination points for it like downtown aren't even functioning as a vibrant part of our city. So I have to admit the priorities there are decent.

The last thing we need is another Grecco.

I vote for Iorio.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't vote for her because she is a politition.

Anonymous said...

Now that last comment gave me my first laugh of my day. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

lol

good lord that was good ! ;-)




thanks a ton
Mondays suck!

Anonymous said...

O no Tampa downtown needs strip clubs and arcades for sexshops.
And cute small offices fixed for sex trade.
Prostitues from Neb.Ave,could change their lives if they chose.

Clean shower.shots and a square meal once in a while.


Class up down town 'Tampa!!!

Anonymous said...

Mayor Iorio wins hands down if she runs again. Even the remmenats of the Greco malcontents can't do anything about it so the issue is who is the best choice in 2011. Frank Sanchez is a superficial joke and nothing more that a prop for the Greco crowd. The best candidate in 2003 and maybe in 2011 is Buckhorn if he is still interested. He is the only one that truely knew the neighborhood issues and cared enough to show up all the time not just when he was running. His neighborhood plan is still the basis for most of what Iorio is doing. He told it like it was and that ruffled some feathers but nobody was better prepared to be the Mayor. Not sure what he is doing now but here is to his comeback.

Anonymous said...

Buckhorn would never win.
He couldn't even get the county commission seat because everyone knows he screwed the police and firefighters.
They all campaigned against him and a no name candidate won just because so many people did not want Buckhorn.
Please.

Anonymous said...

It is very unfortunate, but I do think that Iorio will win again. I honestly believe that she is one of the worst Mayors Tampa has seen. I just hope Tampa can survive four more years of deterioration. Tampa was named as one of the dirtiest cities in America. Crime per capita is one of the highest, transportation is horrible, our historic landmarks are in jeopardy. All under her watch. They did an article on the beautiful park next to the beer can building. They were trying to protect it. Unfortunately, it did not work with the mayors infamous riverwalk, so she let them cut it down. What a shame. Hopefully, she will decide not to run again... Ha!

Anonymous said...

That comment about Buckhorn not having the support of the Police and Fire Department is ridiculous. They have been strong supporters of him in every campaign he has ever been including the Mayors race. If anybody can dispute he was the best prepared candidate I would love to hear why.