copied from the St. Pete Times...

Don't let St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker annex Tierra Verde

Paul P. Murray, guest columnist

Published Friday, February 6, 2009

---

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker's opinion piece (Annexation explanation, Jan. 15) ignores reality for the residents of Tierra Verde. We should not be surprised that politicians see the world differently than we do. Confronted with a politician's spin, who are we to attempt to respond? Anyway, this is how we see it.

For several decades, folks have been moving to Tierra Verde to enjoy life in a more laid-back island atmosphere. Almost the entire island was developed for residential use, and the few commercial properties served the needs of residents and visitors. Because the vast majority of residents like Tierra Verde the way it is, in 2007 they voted in support of Pinellas County adopting a Comprehensive Overlay Plan to maintain the current sense of place and quality of life that, among other things, limits the density and intensity of development.

Unfortunately, at the peak of the real estate market, two developers bought commercial properties at the gateway to Tierra Verde. They decided they needed to intensely redevelop these properties in order to maximize their profits. But intense development is not part of Tierra Verde's past or present and is not consistent with the Tierra Verde community's vision for the island's future or the state-approved Community Overlay Plan. The developers were unable to get the county to allow them to build what they wanted, so they turned to the city, which has more liberal rules and, of course, was eager to attain a foothold on the island.

Historically, the purpose of annexation was to allow a municipality to extend services like water, sewer treatment, or police and fire protection to an unincorporated area that did not have such services in return for an increased tax base. That is not the case in Tierra Verde, for we have all of these services, and the residents have demonstrated their satisfaction with being part of unincorporated Pinellas County at the ballot box.

Mayor Baker said that the city is not annexing, is not attempting to annex and, during his term has never planned to annex the homes of the residents of Tierra Verde. How does he explain the land-use section of St. Petersburg's Comprehensive Plan that states the city's goal is annexation of all of Tierra Verde for its tax base? The city filed three times last year for the annexation of our island, and the final application filing excised the docks from the Tierra Verde Resort and left them in unincorporated Tierra Verde. Why? Could it be that the people who live aboard their boats would force a vote of the residents for approval?

Mayor Baker doesn't have the right to spread his tax burden to us in Tierra Verde. We might have a lower millage rate, but that is more than offset by our highly appraised values.

In this budget-challenged environment in which we find ourselves, we hope the residents of St. Petersburg will track closely the hundreds of thousands of dollars the mayor plans to spend on litigating his annexation dream.

Paul P. Murray is president of the Tierra Verde Community Association.

New Neighborhood Tradition

Yesterday we got together with a few of our neighbors and went to the beach to toast the sunset. It's so easy to forget to slow down and enjoy the everyday things around you. We're going to try to get as many of the neighbors to join in once a month. It was great fun. We took some things to snack on - we had two kinds of shrimp, grapes, cheeses, bread, and a little bit of wine. We all took chairs and blankets, but we just stood around visiting and enjoying the scenery. It was a great way to unwind after such a long week.

Tonight we are off to one of our other neighbor's annual Christmas party. We'll be sure to spread the word about next month's Sunset Toast.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, as a couple of you know, I recently received a bit of bad news. After a few doctor visits and lots of tests, I have been told that I am borderline diabetic with high blood pressure. Understand that this wasn’t a surprise. My grandmother was diabetic, and my mother has hypertension. So the writing was on the wall. My weight has always been an issue for me, even when it probably shouldn’t have been. I look back on photos of myself 10 years ago and think, wow, I wish I was that thin now. But I can assure you that even when I was “that thin” I saw myself much differently.

I come from a large family, and that’s not a headcount. Most of my family is overweight to some degree, like most people. I don’t think I was the typical “fat kid” growing up, but I always felt I was. When I was in junior high school, I had a year where I was really what I would call “skinny” – but I never knew that until years later when I looked back on old photos. Still not sure who that kid was. But, as I grew older and entered high school, my weight began to climb.

The same day that I got this diagnosis from my doctor, also happened to be the same day I had scheduled an appointment at my new gym for a total body analysis. For someone like me, this is always an emotionally delicate experience. It’s the ultimate feedback where you have to face the realities that you fear the most but know are true. I managed to hold it together and got through the assessment. Thankfully, Victor, my new wellness coach, was nothing but professional and never once did I see that secret wince that I feared.

There were a lot of emotions that day (and there still are), and mostly I was scared. Not for the reasons you might think. Not because I was told I am on the verge of a serious condition, the stress of which nearly knocked me out anyway, but because of what I didn’t feel. As I said, this wasn’t a surprise. I figured that someday, a doctor was going to give me the “lose weight or else” speech. But I always assumed that would be the incentive to make me do something about it. I would finally be forced into action. I would be ordered into life changing habits. Someone else would take control (and ultimately responsibility?). What scared me the most was that I didn’t feel this inspiration or compulsion to make the changes I need - which led to frustration, anger, and despair. My last motivational hope crumbled beneath me.

I managed to lock away the emotions for the rest of the day at work, through my appointment at the gym, and all the way home. I knew when I got home I was going to have to tell Bill, and I was not going to do this well. I love Bill more than I can tell you. I knew he would be supportive, but I knew better than to expect sympathy. And I’ll admit that maybe I needed a little pity party – just a small one. I shared this news with only a few of you, but only a little bit of info and at a safe distance. I couldn’t talk to any of you face to face. I’m feeling a little better – but not much. We talked and it was as I expected. But this works because I know he can look at it all objectively. He is being very supportive and we’re looking at the foods we both eat. And I’m trying really hard not to take my anger or frustration out on him when he makes a comment or asks a question about the food I am eating (or wanting to eat). I know he’s just trying to help. And it’s not his fault that I’m where I am now. It still doesn’t make it easy.

I still have a lot of raw emotion around this. I’m not even sure why I’m feeling compelled to write it down and share it with you in this manner. Maybe it’s easier to share it in a way that I can remain detached. Maybe this is how I need to cope. But don’t be surprised if you read this and notice that I’ve taken it down soon afterwards.

The best friggin' latte ever.

http://www.peets.com/