Gandy as Time Capsule

Oooh, these people make me nuts!

Let this man pour his money into your neighborhood! For the love of God, you've been b*tching about infrastructure forever, and nobody's saying you're wrong! You've got an opportunity to leverage funds, and what do you do?

You start acting like a bunch of whiny fifth-graders!

"I kind of feel like that's blackmail or a threat,'' said John Starnes, the neighborhood group's vice president. "You're saying, 'If we build what's already been approved, you get zip. But, if we build
what we're asking for, you get $5 million.'

"I'm a low-income, blue- collar schmuck living in South Tampa doing the best I can,'' Starnes said. "Why can't you be happy with 500 units?''

Shouldn't low-income people be happy to see the values in their area go up? Even if Starnes is a renter, he's got rent control and increased economic opportunity in his favor. And not only that, but maybe Pridgen also wants to 'do the best he can.'

And again, enough with the idiotic, sensational semantics: we've heard 'blackmail,' 'bribe,' 'threat,' and 'catch,' all in relation to Pridgen's offer.

That type of emotionally charged language is bullying crap. The money Pridgen is laying out is perhaps 'comity,' 'parity,' 'consideration,' or plain and simple, a 'good-faith deposit.'

He wants to sink his dough into the area, and he's showing us he means it.

I've never seen such ignorant, short-sighted righteousness out of a neighborhood group. How are they not embarrasssed?