Elected leaders agree transportation fixes are a priority

TAMPA — This is not supposed to be possible.

But Hillsborough County commissioners sat down with leaders from the county's three cities and its transit agency Wednesday and managed to reach congenial consensus on a broad public policy matter.

Commissioners met with the county's three mayors and chairman of Hillsborough Area Regional Transit for what at first was billed as a transportation summit but what likely will be the first of several meetings of elected leaders. Their task is to identify what the county's transportation priorities should be and, eventually, how to pursue them given that local governments have little spare money....

GaYBOR recognition wins full Hillsborough Commission support

TAMPA — All seven Hillsborough County commissioners have now signed a proclamation saluting GaYBOR Days, an event that seeks to promote the West Coast of Florida as welcoming to gay tourists and business owners.

One by one, Republicans Sandra Murman, Al Higginbotham and Victor Crist joined four of their fellow board members Wednesday by adding their names to a proclamation that recognizes GaYBOR Days as an economic driver. Crist was the last one when he signed his name in red about 3:15 p.m. after learning he was the only one who had not....

GaYBOR group wins unexpected recognition as economic engine

TAMPA — In the recent past, it would seem almost unthinkable that the Hillsborough County Commission would salute a group promoting the region to gay business owners and tourists.

But something stirred at Hillsborough County Center this week, when the commission's gay board member circulated an annual proclamation heralding GaYBOR Days in the Ybor City historic district. For the first time in the event's six years, a majority of the seven-member board has signed it....

Hillsborough County mostly nipped by veto pen

Hillsborough County was spared wide-scale cuts when Gov. Rick Scott unveiled the work of his veto pen Monday, but it did take some hits.

The governor vetoed $2.5 million for a conservation and technology park in southern Hillsborough, the biggest hit locally. The project is a collaboration between the Florida Aquarium, Tampa Electric Co. and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission....

Partisan fight likely on push for Hillsborough Hispanic seat

TAMPA — Republicans on the Hillsborough County Commission have twice refused in the past two years to even discuss changing their district boundaries to make it easier for a Hispanic to win a seat.

Suddenly, most of those same commissioners voted to do just that last week, and some Republican leaders are saying the idea may have merit as a step toward making the board better reflect the county's diversity. ...

Hillsborough commissioners to study new district that could heighten Hispanics' influence

TAMPA — The Republican courtship of Hispanic voters may be making its way to the local government level, at least in Hillsborough County.

County commissioners voted 6-0 Wednesday to take the first step toward allowing voters to consider whether to create a voting district that would make it easier to elect a Hispanic person to the board. Commissioners have rejected that very idea twice in the past two years, generally along partisan lines, with Republicans voting against it....

Kemple presses for diversity panel appointment

When Hillsborough County commissioners voted earlier this year to create a diversity advisory panel charged with making their government more responsive to people with varied backgrounds, Terry Kemple asked for an appointment.

Kemple explained why in an email to members of his Christian-based Community Issues Council:

"Since you regularly receive my emails, you know that whenever you hear the word 'diversity' in relationship to our culture," Kemple wrote. "it is code for some effort to forward the homosexual agenda."...

Hillsborough County Children's Board picks new leader

The Children's Board of Hillsborough County has tapped the head of Alabama's Department of Child Abuse Prevention to lead the organization that provides money to nonprofits that promote child welfare.

Kelley Parris of Montgomery, Ala., has led that state's child abuse prevention efforts since 2008. Before that, she was executive director of the West Alabama Mental Health Center Inc., where she worked for six years....

Ed Turanchik's latest big idea: High-speed ferries

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Ed Turanchik promoting high-speed ferries as transit for Tampa Bay

TAMPA — Ed Turanchik, he of Olympic dreams and proposals for commuter rail as an antidote to traffic snarls, has a new big pitch.

Catch this: high-speed ferry service.

Turanchik, a lawyer with the Akerman Senterfitt firm, has been quietly pitching a proposal to some civic leaders and elected officials on behalf of a client hoping to operate a commuter ferry service in Tampa Bay....

New leader picked to head Hillsborough Children's Board

TAMPA — The Children's Board of Hillsborough County has tapped the head of Alabama's Department of Child Abuse Prevention to lead the organization that provides money to nonprofits that promote child welfare.

Kelley Parris of Montgomery, Ala., has led that state's child abuse prevention efforts since 2008. Before that, she was executive director of the West Alabama Mental Health Center Inc., where she worked for six years....

Coffee talk with Murman Friday

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe holds his nearly weekly coffee sessions at Buddy Brew in South Tampa. Commissioner Sandy Murman has her own monthly version, though the location moves around town.

Her next one is this Friday at Nola Second Line Cafe, at 301 W Platt St. It's from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Any and all are welcome to drop by and bend her ear on where you think the county should focus its attention....