While it’s been less than a month since Hurricane Irma’s strong winds brushed through Florida, Hillsborough County Commissioners are getting an earful from constituents questioning when debris gathered in front of their homes will be picked up.
Activist and military veteran Jae Passmore has become the latest Democrat to seek election to the Hillsborough County Commission.
The Hillsborough County School Board’s decision last year to drop so-called courtesy busing provoked anger among parents whose children were directly affected by the move. And Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandy Murman inspired other sharp responses Thursday when she suggested commissioners must do something about it.
The topsy-turvy saga regarding a Confederate monument in Tampa took yet another turn Wednesday when Hillsborough County Commissioners voted that the monument will stay in front of the courthouse annex unless the private sector raises $140,000 in the next 30 days.
After the Hillsborough County Commission initially voted last month to keep the Confederate statue in front of the county courthouse annex, Hillsborough Democrats vowed to take revenge at the ballot box next year against all four Republicans who resisted the call to move the monument.
Less than 24 hours before a vote to remove a controversial Confederate monument, a coalition of Tampa political leaders and activists is asking one member of the Hillsborough County Commission who voted last month to maintain the monument to change their mind. “The bottom line to those three remaining commissioners … I just got one message for you,” Tampa City Councilman Frank Roddick said at a press conference in front of the monument on Tuesday afternoon. “Vote to move the damn statue.”
Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist said he now supports moving the Confederate monument. The Republican voted the opposite way last month, but now thinks it should be relocated if a proper location will accept it. Crist was one of four Republicans on the County Commission who sided with activists to keep the monument in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse Annex, a controversial decision that has outraged many parts of the community.