Foster's 40 Follies, Part I

Here is Part I of a two part series outlining “Foster’s 40 Follies” and why it is time for a change at City Hall.

1.       Foster gave his campaign manager, Jim Neader, a no-bid $50,000 a year job to bring crappy international baseball to Al Lang Stadium while cutting jobs, creating fees, and raising our taxes.  

2.       After an exhaustive job search for a city lobbyist vacancy and narrowing the field to highly qualified candidates, Foster suddenly moved a highly unqualified codes director (Todd Yost) into the post.  

3.       Progress Energy owed the City $145,000 in back taxes, but Foster waived it.

4.       Foster took a tax funded trip to Charlotte NC on a secret quest to save Baywalk.  Then local resident Bill Edwards purchased the place.

5.       Foster wanted to be the city’s “first black mayor”.  Then he made offensive comments like African Americans are lousy entrepreneurs and said the best part about Martin Luther King day is having an extra day off of work.  His threat to close Jennie Park pool and forgetting about meeting with Sweetbay before the Midtown store closed hasn’t helped either.

6.       A Hillsborough official called Foster “goofy” in his remarks on light rail.

7.       Foster had a secret stadium plan to keep the Rays in St Pete.  It was so secret, we are still waiting to know what it is.

8.       Foster dumps the homeless problem on a neighboring community, as crime doubles around the Safe Harbor homeless shelter.

9.       Foster says he resolved the homeless issue, yet they are flocking back to Williams Park.

10.   Foster campaigned on transparency, then keeps mum on the budget.

11.   Foster hired Safety Harbor’s City Manager to be his Budget Director.  He quit and went back to Safety Harbor in less than a month.

12.   Foster stonewalls questions about the Hilton receiving an improper $160k break on TIF fees.  He said we will never know who ordered the code red, because Foster can’t handle the truth.

13.   The Midtown Sweetbay fiasco.  He was stunned that they were closing.  He didn’t recall meeting with them in April of 2011.  Then he didn’t recall what happened in the meeting because of the officer funerals from a few months prior (WTF?).  Then he references the mayor of Twinkie Town (WTF??)

14.   The RNC Party mystery and how much taxpayer money went towards it.  First it was $500,000, then it was $2,800.  Council asked Police Chief Harmon for a cost breakdown, but he couldn’t provide it due to national security.  The City of Tampa sent this same “national security” information over in the form of a public record.

15.   Foster wastes $75k on an outside law firm to push a regressive Fire Fee that ultimately fails.

16.   Foster strong arms his staff to donate money to his Mayor’s Mentors program.

17.   Foster takes sole credit for saving the St Pete postmark, when the real credit belongs to Congressman Young.

18.   Foster took a tax funded trip to Japan in late 2011.  The irony about his other tax funded Japan trip?  He went as a Councilman in 2001 on behalf of then-Mayor Baker because Baker was too busy being Mayor.    

19.   Foster calls St Petersburg a “gassy city”.

20.   Foster uses an orange smelling disinfectant to contain downtown street stench.  

www.MayorFosterSucks.com