No chocolate-covered bacon this time. And, surprisingly, no elephant ears. Wonder how that happened. But we did pet a rooster, bought homemade biscuits for Buddy, and ran into a few old friends. It’s Florida State Fair time. The developer who wants to build houses on the Pine Ridge Golf Course is not taking his defeat lying down. You may recall that last month, after an hours-long hearing before a crowd of Pine Ridgers, the County Commission voted 5-0 against Southern Oaks Property Group’s changing of the Pine Ridge master plan to allow 85 homes on the closed golf course. Now Southern Oaks has filed a “request for relief” with the county, claiming the board's vote was unfair. There’s a reality to the blog business: They’re not all humdingers. I know. You’re shocked. Readers open their phones each morning expecting 700 words of prose bliss to start the day. It’s my preference that each blog elicit an emotional response: surprise, delight, confusion, concern, attitude, and maybe even a little bit of anger here and there. If you don’t smile at least once during these 3 to 5 minutes, that’s a failure on my part. This is the sort of thing that makes people crazy about the government. Not in a good way. Remember the County Commission having a long discussion and vote last week on whether to stop all permitted work on new homes under construction at Inverness Villages 4? This month marks my 37th year in Citrus County, and for some reason what’s coming back to me is the first impression of Inverness. Small. Cute. Historic Old Courthouse in the middle of town. Friendly folks. And one heck of a traffic problem. For no other reason than it’s Friday, I present: Um…well…Friday stuff. We’ve had quite the jump in Facebook followers from 4,900 on Jan. 8 to hitting 5,600 on Feb. 3. Currently sitting at 5,619. We have a standard in this business about avoiding the quote lede. It’s considered amateurish to start (lede) a news story, column, or blog, with a quote. It ranks right up there with the question lede. Both should be avoided. Because if there ever was the opportunity for a quote lede, Commissioner Diana Finegan provided it Tuesday. It’s been years since any candidate for office roused the reaction that hit me Tuesday afternoon when I saw Doug Alexander announce his campaign for sheriff. Doug, pastor at the New Church Without Walls, and an unquestionable community leader, automatically brings a facet to the sheriff’s race that we all deserve. This is the sheriff’s race we were promised, but not delivered, four years ago when Mike Prendergast easily won re-election. Hey, it’s Tuesday. Let’s look at the County Commission agenda. The commission meets at 1 p.m. in the Courthouse. — Chairman Holly Davis wants to issue a stop-work order for active permits in Inverness Villages 4. Let’s get right into that. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
May 2024
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