Hard to defend my local Dems when they do dumb shit like this..

[ddeclue]

Mind you the Orlando City Council is 100% Democratic and only ONE of the members (Phil Diamond) had the backbone to say NO to this sweetheart deal to a member of their good ol' boys club here in Orlando where the city kicked out an existing tenant at a cost of $200k to break the lease to give 3 years rent free use of that property to a PRIVATE charter school being run by a lawyer on the Mayor's city payroll. Overall it's gonna end up costing probably twice the $200k. Meanwhile we are suffering huge tax shortfalls, laying off firefighters and police and building a basketball stadium for Republican uber-conservative out of state Amway billionaire Rich DeVos.

:argh:

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-city-subsidizes-charter-school-20100206,0,5279749.story

With no public discussion, Orlando has booted a nonprofit driving school from a city-owned building near downtown so it could turn the property over to a new charter school being launched by a high-ranking city official.

It cost the cash-strapped city more than $200,000 to get out of its lease with the Florida Safety Council eight years early, an expense the City Council wasn't told about. At the same time, commissioners voted two weeks ago to lease the building to the fledgling Central Florida Leadership Academy rent-free for its first three years.

At the time the city began discussing terminating the Safety Council's lease, it was wrestling with how to make up a $41 million deficit. And while backers of the charter school say it will eventually repay the city for its short-term losses, they acknowledge there's no guarantee that will happen.

"I'm shocked to hear the city wasted $200,000 so they could rent this building for free," City Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "Anytime you have high-ranking city officials doing business with the city it raises concern. I think it stinks to high heaven."... more at link..