10/22/26 – Ethics Workshop and Comp Plan Returns

With the Rays bonding agreement approved and Charter Amendments moving forward to the November 5 public hearing, Tampa City Council turns its attention to a workshop Thursday morning and a land use agenda that evening. Ethics and board appointments will dominate the discussion in the morning while the long-term comprehensive plan will be the key subject of discussion later that evening. Any decisions made during the workshop will require a future vote to codify.

And while the idea of an inspector general and a strong ethics policy sounds great, I can’t help but think about the upcoming election and if any of it will really matter if we continue to hand over decisions to Tallahassee while not holding them accountable to how they spend our taxes now.

Want to show me you care about ethics? Don’t vote for the Trump and DeSantis endorsed candidates who either participated in or looked the other way on the Hope Scandal. You want an inspector general? Say no to the people that built and supported the boondoggle of sweetheart no-bid Alligator Alcatraz contracts. And that’s setting aside the discussion if the state had any authority to build it in the first place. Or need. To me it was a billion-dollar inhumane publicity stunt to line the pockets of political donors while ignoring the real needs of the state.

And as far as Amendment 3, I’ve written the last couple of weeks that I oppose the proposed language. Rather than another long post, I’ll just say I’m open to a discussion about ways to make home ownership more affordable through adjustments to the homestead exemption, but not at the expense of basic services. In Tampa, cutting the budget $60 million, $80 million will absolutely result in a cut to municipal services. Or a shift in taxes. And let’s be clear — Tallahassee doesn’t set our property taxes, the people we elect to the county commission and city council do. Want a more efficient government? Elect one.

And while on the subject, let’s talk Thursday night’s agenda and the update to the comp plan. The one that was initially presented in May of 2025. Twice the state has rejected Tampa’s proposed changes due to what they say are proposals that violate SB180. A law that was passed to provide hurricane relief that was used as a backdoor to prevent any restrictions on development and has yet to be “fixed” by the same people in Tallahassee that want to dictate everything else the city can do. 2 years of trying to update a comp plan as well as rewrite and modernize the land development code stymied at every turn by this bill. Yet no one talks about it during an election. You can’t keep electing the same state party expecting a different outcome.

The comp plan and LDC update were supposed to be a compromise between development and neighborhoods. Now it’s just seems like a slightly watered-down wish list from developers.

In the meantime, this week’s deep dive shows the current plan is creating housing units at a faster pace than the new plan recommends.

Council is off next week which means there won’t be a preview post so I can get caught up on some chores under the hood of Tampa Monitor and try and figure out how to keep this experiment afloat. Your financial support would be greatly appreciated.