The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 61

h-cHpascoI. 13 CD Section Q) THE TAMPA TRIBUNE Friday, March 15, 1985 Sign applications up during lull in law Steve Otto City officials say the 166 sign permits issued in a 32-day period is an effort by companies to apply before a tougher sign ordinance goes into effect. QsL sion and questioned the council's commitment to passing the sign ordinance. "Our feeling is disappointment" Pennington said. "We have worked fast and responsibly to put a strong, enforceable ordinance before council.

"It's evident by their action don't want to enact an ordinance with the strength and teeth this one has." And even some council members questioned the decision to send the case back to the mayor. "What we have going I think is a game between the council and mayor," Council-woman Haven Poe said. Poe, who voted for the moratorium, said the ban is needed. And she said the council has been "dragging its feet" over passing the sign ordinance for too long. "We've either got to get a good one (ordinance) or forget it" she said.

But ironically, by deciding not to impose the ban themselves, the council may force a ban to be imposed more quickly if Martinez decides to take action. According to Assistant City Attorney Tom Saunders, the council would.have had to conduct two public hearings and wait up to 40 days before the moratorium could have gone into effect The mayor, with an executive order, can impose a ban immediately. Saunders said that legally, a moratorium by the council would be stronger in court than an executive order from Martinez. And despite the fact that it would have meant a long delay, Pennington said the mayor still thought it best to ask council to impose the moratorium. See SIGN, Page 15B Just what's up with little green men? rector of the city's Department of Housing, Inspections and Community Services, told the council that Mayor Bob Martinez wanted them to impose a moratorium on signs until the new sign ordinance is passed.

But the council became deadlocked 3-3 over the moratorium, and in a move that angered the mayor's office, voted 6-0 to tell Martinez it was up to him to impose the ban if he wanted one. Councilman Eddie Caballero was not present at the meeting. Martinez was out of town and unavailable for comment but his chief of staff, George Pennington, denounced the deci By TOM WARD Tribune Staff Writer While the Tampa City Council continued plodding slowly toward passage of a new sign ordinance Thursday, city officials said sign companies are taking advantage of the current less-restrictive law and overwhelming the city with sign applications. City spokeswoman Marjorie Snead said the city issued 166 permits for new signs during a 32-day period from Feb. 4 to March 7.

City officials say they normally Issue 50 permits per month. Armed with those statistics, Snead, di Bidding protest puts new buses behind schedule The delay means taxpayers will have to continue paying an estimated $18,000 a month to keep older buses on the road. ST- i Hi I 'IL I By DAN BERNSTEIN Tribune Staff Writer One of every six HARTline buses Is living on borrowed time, yet the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority has been strapped in its attempt to replace them because of a protest over Its bidding requirements. The protest filed by a New York-based bus manufacturer, so far has set back the scheduled replacement of 27 1971 model buses by about three months, authority officials say. The delay means that passengers on those buses will continue to experience noisy and bumpy rides, along with hard seats and a lack of air conditioning.

It also means that taxpayers will continue pumping an estimated $18,000 a month in higher maintenance costs associated with older buses, based on average costs per mile on older buses compared with new buses. That estimate does not include major repairs or overhauls. "This is really hurting us," said Harry Orr, consultant to the author ity and its former executive director. "We are paying plenty now." Most buses are built to last 12 years or 500,000 miles, according to Orr. The authority had hoped to replace the 1971 buses by July.

Now, It appears the earliest any new buses can arrive is late September. The delay involves a protest by Bus Industries of America, which claims that the company Is being excluded from bidding because its buses have a different transmission and engine configuration. The federal Urban Mass Transportation Administration is reviewing the protest and can be expected to make a ruling soon, according to Donald Alford, director of the administration's regional office in Alt-anta. Alford said Thursday his office will send a recommendation to the agency's Washington, D.C office "today or tomorrow." He said he could not reveal what that recommendation will be. It usually takes See BUSES, Page 2B What did they really see and other Friday unidentified Ottographs: As you may recall from last week's ramblings, a group that calls itself "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" recently ran an ad In the MacDill Air Force Base newspaper "The Thunderbolt" looking for information on the alleged storage of UFOs at MacDill.

I fired off a letter to the UFO people looking for more Information, but they were a little vague In their response. Larry W. Bryant, who Is the director of the organization, wrote back that there have been reports that MacDill, Langley AFB in Virginia and Homestead AFB near Miami have all served as way stations or temporary repositories for crashed saucer artifacts. He included an ad that ran in the Boiling AFB "Beam" in Washington D.C on the Homestead incident "Were you stationed at Homestead AFB back in the seventies when Richard M. Nixon allegedly allowed entertainer Jackie Gleason to view a repository of UFO artifacts (including some of their alien occupants).

If so we need your testimony in preparation of our suit about that and other aspects of the Cosmic Watergate." The letter from Bryant added that I could find out a lot more if I invested $1 1 in a book called "The Stringfield Report." Well, $1 1 Is a lot of money, even for a high powered column like this. I tried to reach Jackie Gleason, but he hasn't returned the call, even though I left a message that It involved a Cosmic Watergate. The time has come to ask just what Is going on out there at MacDill. Are there really little green men being hidden away or are they Just the Rowdies waiting for next year? Is It true that Eric "E.T." Truvillion was seen near the base? Why were MacDill trucks seen hauling crates of Reese's Pieces onto the base? Apparently I was Just a tad off on my prediction that this past week's County Commission election would draw about 99 percent of the eligible voters to the polls. Of course I would expect that being within 87 percent is acceptable in the polling business.

I am sure that the runoff election in April will more than make up for this lackluster showing and that upwards of 13 percent of you will show up. I was a little surprised to see NCNB's proposal to make changes In their plans for their new building that is supposed to start going up early this summer. It's not that the little cubical buildings they want to add to their new circular tower on the, riverside arent impressive. It's Just that back when they first announced they were going to build the tower, the architect came up with some drawings that he said compared downtown Tampa to downtown Paris. I've got to admit the similarities were striking, especially If you closed your eyes, started humming the "Marseilles," and pretend that that old radio tower was the Eiffel Tower, but I'm afraid the new buildings don't quite match up to Paris.

It's starting to look a little more like downtown Omaha. Those of you who like downtown Omaha, please don't send mail. 1 lived there once and I even went to the Ak-sar-ben to see the rodeo. Maybe you weren't as puzzled as I was Thursday about a story out of Gainesville on a report out of the University of Florida on how poor the quality of life in Florida is in ranking of the 10 most populous states. What the survey said was that Florida had the most divorces, and Is second with the most marriages.

We also had the highest death rate, crime rate and lowest teacher salaries. Picky, picky. I figure the Gator professor was Just growling because Florida didn't get picked for the NCAA basketball tournament Ah well, money can't buy everything. Tribune photo by DAVID POLCYN The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority Is awaiting the arrival of replacements for 27 1971 model buses, such as this one on a lift in the bus company's garage. Arbitration of malpractice suits pushed A medical malpractice task force has devised a plan that would encourage plaintiffs and defendants to arbitrate rather than litigate their claims.

By SAM MILLER Tribune Staff Writer TALLAHASSEE Gov. Bob Graham's medical malpractice commission has rejected lawsuit restrictions sought by Florida doctors, but developed an arbitration system It hopes will keep many pa'tlent-physlclan disputes out of court The Governor's Task Force on Medical Malpractice probably also has ruled out endorsing former Senate President Dempsey Barron's still evolving plan to radically change the way malpractice lawsuits are tried, even though It hasn't formally considered the proposal. The commission completed work Thursday on what Vice Chairman Manuel Medina of Miami says Is "a big compromise" that won't please either doctors or lawyers. The proposal requires malpractice disputes to go through arbitration before going to court It Is based on the 90-day cooling off period advocated over the last couple of years by Insurance Commissioner Bill. Gunter and the old malpractice mediation system declared unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court In the late 1970s.

Malpractice lawsuits would be filed as they are now, but before they could be tried, the dispute would go before a panel of arbiters. If the doctors or hospital being sued confessed to negligence and accepted "financial responsibility," then the arbitration would be Binding. The final settlement would be the amount of damages recommended by the arbiters and the suit could not proceed to trial. If the doctor-hospital defendants do not all accept financial responsibility, then the dispute goes to non-binding arbitration, but with financial penalties devised to encourage both sides to accept the arbiters' findings. If either party rejects the findings, the case goes to trial.

When the Jury verdict comes in, it can be reduced 25 percent If it is not significantly greater than the arbitration recommendation and that recommendation was rejected by the former patient The verdict could be boosted 25 percent If not significantly less than the arbitration finding and the finding was rejected by the defending hospital or physician. A Tampa anesthesiologist former state Rep. Richard Hodes, headed the subcommittee that developed the plan, but the Florida Medical Association likely will continue to push for lawsuit restrictions such as radl- See SUITS, Page 2B Rep. Art Simon opposes the arbitration plan, and believes It would be found unconstitutional. Inside Tax group director blasts DOT Dominic Calabro, head of Florida TaxWatch, calls the department's shortfall estimates "meaningless." Harvey, Chavez discuss black youth Perry Harvey Jr.

said fc officials should "coordinate community relations" while Helen Chavez claimed the solution was for role models to be more active in the community. Phone glitch solved ft Public safety head Robert Smith told City Council members that calls shouldn't be lost now that a computer problem Is fixed. ments on the case. He said his best guess Is that the court will refuse Jurisdiction, In which case Florida gets the money Immediately. "If there Is a revenue problem, and there Is reason to question that It Is at least three years away," Calabro said.

By estimates of TaxWatch, Calabro said, the state road department will have only $6.2 million less this year, only $100,000 less next year, and $4.3 million less In 1987 from the Impact of lower gas prices. Calabro said the price of road construction In Florida has, for 15 years, closely followed the cost of petroleum products because as-, phalt Is a major component Over that period, Calabro said, gas prices rose 269 percent while highway costs rose 193 percent Yet DOT Is predicting gas prices will rise only 16 percent for the rest of the decade, while road costs will By JIM WALKER Tribune Staff Writer TALLAHASSEE Florida faces no more than a $10.6 million shortfall over the next three yean in gas tax revenue due to falling prices at the pump and the state Department of Transportation misleads taxpayers if it says otherwise, a citizen tax research group charged Thursday. "I'd say DOT hyped up the figures to get a tax increase, and knowingly did so," said Dominic Calabro, executive director of Florida Tax-Watch Inc. He was referring to DOT claims that the state will confront a $605 million shortfall In road tax dollars over the next five years. DOT has widely distributed its estimates, accompanied by a revised five-year road building plan.

"Those figures are meaningless," Calabro said. worked up "the worst case scenario and didn't spell It out as the worst case scenario," he said. Calabro said savings from the falling inflation rate absorb much of the tax loss from lower gas prices. In addition, It Isn't accurate to lump in as lost revenue the $265.4 million currently held in trust while airlines battle in court against paying their share of the gas tax. Calabro said the U.S.

Supreme Court may, as soon as Monday, an- UPI photo Dominic Calabro, executive director of Florida TaxWatch tells reporters that Florida's Department of Transportation's estimate of $605 million shortfall Is too high a figure. See TAX, Page 2B The transportation depa; hear argu Iment H-Cll PSCO.