Bill Varian, Times Staff Writer
Bill Varian writes about Hillsborough County government and politics for the Tampa Bay Times. He joined the Times in 1999 as a crime reporter in Citrus County after five years of writing about growth-related issues and city hall for the Tallahassee Democrat. A 1990 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., he also has worked at newspapers in Augusta, Ga., and Burlington, N.C. Between school and his first news gig, he had a bartending job that required him to dress like a monk. He lives in Tampa.
Phone: (813) 226-3387
Email: varian@tampabay.com
Twitter: @VarianTimes
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Hillsborough won't prevent candidates from serving on boards
06/19/13PoliticsTAMPA — Conservative activist and School Board candidate Terry Kemple will retain his eligibility to serve on appointed Hillsborough County panels.
Reversing a vote from two weeks ago, county commissioners Wednesday dropped a proposal to deny candidates for elected office from serving on appointed boards.
The decision came as commissioners were set to ratify the prohibition. Commissioner Mark Sharpe said, after receiving feedback by email, Facebook and Twitter, he had a change of heart....
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Hillsborough County Commission approves first of two incentives for Amazon
06/19/13 Local GovernmentTAMPA — Hillsborough County commissioners officially added Amazon to their wish list Wednesday by approving the first of two financial incentives for the online retail giant to build a warehouse in Ruskin.
They can proceed to checkout when they take up the second and larger subsidy deal — a waiver of half the property taxes on the new distribution center for seven years — July 17....
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Hillsborough County to tie charitable grants to performance
06/16/13PoliticsTAMPA — Hillsborough County hands out millions of dollars each year to charities and other nonprofits that do everything from housing the homeless to helping battered women and children.
In coming years, those groups will face increasing demands that they prove they are spending taxpayers' dollars wisely — and that they are achieving results.
County Administrator Mike Merrill and his staff are putting nonprofits on notice they will have to do more to show they are a good investment of tax money....
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Amazon deal could bring 1,000 jobs to Hillsborough, but more taxes for online shoppers
06/13/13BusinessTALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and Amazon announced a deal Thursday in which the Internet retail giant would create 3,000 new jobs in Florida by 2016 — with about a third of those likely headed for a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in Ruskin, a part of Hillsborough County desperately needing an economic jolt.
But the good news comes with a catch: The new jobs in the state also mean consumers will be required to pay a 6 percent state sales tax on all the books, DVDs, CDs and other products they buy through Amazon.com. ...
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Hillsborough seeking to land 1,000 of those Amazon jobs
06/13/13 BlogHillsborough County officials are confirming they are in the hunt for a third of those 3,000 Amazon.com jobs Gov. Rick Scott announced Thursday, dangling subsidies at the online-shopping giant in hopes of luring a distribution center in the South Shore area.
Commissioners have a pair of agenda items before them for next Wednesday's meeting related to the prospective deal. They note that the company is considering building a $200 million, one-million-square-foot distribution complex, or "fulfillment center," at the South Shore Corporate Park in Ruskin....
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Nan Rich coming to Tampa next Friday
06/13/13 BlogThe only name Democrat who has actually filed to run for governor in 2014 will be in the back yard of two other people some in the party hope also will declare.
Nan Rich, a former state Senator, will address the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa at noon Friday, June 21. The group meets at Maestro's Restaurant at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa. Make a reservation by going here: https://www.tigerbayclub.com/reserve.html....
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Nan Rich to address Tiger Bay Club of Tampa next week
06/13/13 BlogThe only Democrat with some name recognition who has actually filed to run for governor in 2014 will be in the back yard of two other people some in the party hope also will declare.
Nan Rich, a former state Senator, will address the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa at noon Friday, June 21. The group meets at Maestro's Restaurant at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa. Make a reservation by going here: https://www.tigerbayclub.com/reserve.html....
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Redrum! Scary midnight movies to shine at Curtis Hixon
06/12/13 BlogA haunted hotel. Flesh-eating zombies. Demonic possession. Finally the city may be onto something in its never ending quest to breathe life into downtown Tampa after dark.
The City of Tampa and Friends of Tampa Recreation Inc. announced a new midnight movie series in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park Wednesday featuring scary movies. "Scream on the Green" will begin Friday, June 21, with a showing of the classic Stanley Kubrick take on Stephen King's The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Good evening, Mr. Torrance!...
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Tampa to launch midnight scary movie series in Curtis Hixon park
06/12/13 Human InterestA haunted hotel. Flesh-eating zombies. Demonic possession. Finally the city may be onto something in its never ending quest to breathe life into downtown Tampa after dark.
The City of Tampa and Friends of Tampa Recreation Inc. on Wednesday announced a new midnight movie series in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park featuring scary movies. "Scream on the Green" will begin Friday, June 21, with a showing of the classic Stanley Kubrick take on Stephen King's The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. Good evening, Mr. Torrance!...
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Hillsborough commissioner's wild idea? Native flowers by roads
06/09/13 Local GovernmentTAMPA — Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan wants to save kittens by having fewer killed at his government's shelter.
Now fellow board member Al Higginbotham is pushing the county to plant flowers.
Who knew the red-meat eating conservatives on the County Commission were such softies?
Higginbotham has won board support to have the county pursue a program of planting native Florida wildflowers along its roadways and in its highway medians, seemingly tapping his inner Lady Bird Johnson. ...
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Equality advocates to celebrate repeal of Hillsborough gay pride ban
06/06/13 BlogGay-rights advocates will hold a celebration Sunday for the repeal of the gay-pride recognition ban in Hillsborough County that looks also to be a congratulatory party for Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who helped make it happen.
Equality Florida and other rights groups are inviting people to the event getting called "Join Commissioner Beckner -- Pride is Back in Hillsborough" Sunday. The event is from 4-6 p.m. at Hamburger Mary's Bar & Grille, 1600 E 7th Ave in Ybor City....
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Calvert objects to claims she misused committee appointment
06/06/13 BlogA primary challenger to Republican Victor Crist's Hillsborough County Commission reelection campaign last year says she objects to accusations she used an appointment to the county's Citizens Advisory Committee as a soapbox for her campaign.
Commissioners voted 5-1 Wednesday in favor of a policy prohibiting candidates for office from serving on county-appointed boards to prevent those office-seekers from using the post to advance their campaigns. While commissioners didn't use her name, two of them claimed Crist faced just those circumstances in his last election in terms that made clear they were talking about Sharon Calvert, his Republican primary challenger....
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Kevin Beckner picking up wins for gay equality in second term
06/06/13PoliticsTAMPA — Hillsborough County's first openly gay commissioner didn't focus on advancing gay equality in his first term on the board, and didn't have much success when he did.
As he pledged as a candidate, Kevin Beckner concentrated on public safety, from pushing for alternatives to juvenile offender incarceration to cracking down on pill mills and staged auto crashes.
So far in his second term, Beckner, a Democrat, has placed the gay rights debate front and center. And he's scoring some victories with his Republican-dominated board, this week securing the repeal of an 8-year-old ban on county recognition of gay-pride events that had been a touchstone for rights advocates....
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Hillsborough commission bans office-seekers from county panels
06/05/13NewsTAMPA — Hillsborough County commissioners voted Wednesday to deprive candidates seeking elected office a potential soapbox to advance their campaigns.
The board voted 5-1 to prohibit declared candidates for office from serving on county boards and councils to which commissioners appoint representatives. The policy amendment also requires people already serving on an appointed board to report their candidacy for office so that commissioners can vote to remove them....
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Hillsborough County Commission unanimously repeals ban of gay pride recognition
06/05/13 Local GovernmentTAMPA — For years, Hillsborough County stood firm, refusing to protect gays from discrimination as other governments approved domestic partnerships and even gay marriage.
But Hillsborough County commissioners reversed course Wednesday, overturning a local policy many gay rights activists saw as the ultimate insult. They voted 7-0 to repeal a ban on county government recognition of gay pride, a movement the ban's instigator once dismissed with a "little g, little p."...
