 One of those county commission days with a ton of notes and few votes.
Hey, it happens. If Citrus County commissioners spend a lot of time talking, as they did Tuesday, instead of doing, well, there’s not much to write about. And, my goodness, are these commissioners talking.  Every so often, Citrus County commissioners need to have The Talk.
I don’t know whether commissioners are at that point but indications suggest we’re getting there. You see, while commissioners are elected individually and serve together on a board that meets twice a month, there is much taking place beyond those few hours.  Happy Monday! Pull up a chair.
Today we introduce you to SCOP. Say it out loud. Sounds like “stop.” SCOP. As in, SCOP roads. SCOP stands for Small Counties Outreach Program. No one in the government calls it that. It’s just SCOP.  A commissioner recently expressed her displeasure at one of my blogs.
When I suggested maybe she was reading too much into it, the commissioner replied: “Words matter!” Yes, they do, fortunately. Between Just Wright Citrus and Florida Politics, it was a busy word week. So here are a few Friday words about words:  Let’s start Thursday with a question:
Been on U.S. 41 between Inverness and Hernando lately? Or even U.S. 41/S.R. 44 through the heart of Inverness? I was out there Wednesday. It was crazy. Middle of the afternoon, middle of the work week, and the traffic backups through town and northward were the kind you see after college football games.  A friend the other day asked a very simple question:
“Are we ready?” I knew what he meant. Are we, as in Citrus County, ready for the growth arriving daily before our very eyes?  Today’s question: What are we going to do about Ozello?
Chew on that and we’ll come back to it. A commitment prevented me from attending much of the planning commission meeting last week about the glampground zoning plan that had numerous white T-shirt Ozello residents out in force against it.  Of all the data-driven stories I’ve written, “white Citrus” is the oddest.
It was decades ago when learning that Citrus County had the highest per capita white population in the state. The African-American population has hovered around 3%.  Some things give me a chuckle and today’s photo is one of them.
For some reason, the sight of construction workers blocking the parking spaces of county commissioners conjured up a very old memory.  And…there goes the Beverly Hills pool.
I stopped by Wednesday in time to watch county workers fill the old pool with dirt before cementing it shut. Quite a few folks were nearby playing pickleball, the sport that’s sweeping the nation, or at least Citrus County, and will probably end up replacing the pool. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 35 years. Archives
March 2023
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