Three items on our plate today. All digestible: — Homosassa friends no doubt recognize the photo. That’s the southwest corner of Halls River Road/U.S. 19, the future site of a 7-Eleven gas station. Here’s someone you don’t know. But you may recognize the name. That’s Anton Van Usen at Cattle Dog’s on Friday morning, giving me all the reasons why he isn’t to blame for the nightmare known as Inverness Villages Unit 4. It’s unusual for the Chronicle to bury the lead. “Look for improved print quality in your Chronicle,” read the headline below the fold in Wednesday’s Chronicle. The story from Executive Editor Jim Gouvellis said, starting next week, the Chronicle would be printed at The Ledger plant in Lakeland and we’re going to see a cleaner and more colorful newspaper because of it. One of the joys of self-employment is the ability to mow my yard on a work day. Like Wednesday. I wrote a Florida Politics story and then finished the blog early so I could spend two hours in the early evening working off my Hostess Cupcakes. The rider’s on the fritz; it’s push mower time and those two hours are quite a workout in the July heat. Do this kind of work long enough and come to accept certain truths about local government. This is one of them: Directors and other higher-ups can never EVER go against the County Commission’s wishes and venture off on their own. Anton Van Usen wants to have a chat. And I’m all for it. Van Usen is the not-developer at Inverness Villages 4, the place we’ve been writing about with the horrible public streets that somehow are the residents’ responsibility. It’s a pleasant Sunday when my wife tells me she enjoys talking about Pine Ridge zoning. “I’m really interested in this,” she says, as I stare back as if she’s insane. Good thing, because that’s today’s topic. And then there’s my swimming story. Yes, I’m a grown male living in Florida, on a lake, water everywhere, and I can’t swim a stroke. But I say with certainty that Just Wright Citrus would not exist today had I not taken swimming lessons. The property appraiser has an important announcement. Ahem. “Property values are through the roof!” OK, I’m paraphrasing, but the press release from Property Appraiser Cregg Dalton’s office about the official tax roll shows pretty much what we expect: Super strong economy for anything that sits on property. Now that we’ve celebrated freedom with three days of hot dogs, fireworks and ice cream (not in that order), let's get down to what summer is all about. Scallops. We’re five days into July and scallop season is in full swing. Residents of Crystal River and Homosassa know all about the influx of scallop-seeking boaters in their communities. |
AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
May 2024
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