I used to help an even less digital than me realtor friend by looking up public info at Pasco County, Fl, tax collector site. (Actually, our tax appraiser posted property data online because tax collector kept making excuses. IMHO collector slow played us to keep his office's print fees rolling in.)
Today, I tried shortcut - added "impact fee."(Florida makes new buildings pay for infrastructure since we have no state income tax yet.) So, I don't know when things changed, or why, but this blockquote below is new (to me) WARNING posted in red.
Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public-records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing.
Wait, IMPACT FEES are to pay for INFRASTRUCTURE, like roads? Follow my yellow brick road dollars and rant......
So where is road money from those impact fees? Someone needs to explain why they passed house bill to LEASE roads to private firms. And stop Florida senate from buying this raw deal. THIS DOUBLESPEAK didn't hit me until mid-diary to rant about public e-dress. Please pull my threads cause I'm tangled in "newspeak" wonderland.
Why should accessing public data online make my e-dress public? To whom? For what? Just more junk e-mail? Is this in your state and WHY should it be less private than letter or phone call? Florida did stupid stuff before Jeb Bush and he's not governor since January, but he's not gone from behind scenes yet either.
Years back Florida stupidly sold our driver's license data at about 1 cent each, while they included SS#, without public notice. Alias JEB outsourced formerly state data work to a private Ohio company, who sublet some of it to a Colorado firm using prisoners. (Do I wonder why Florida relative with tanker endorsement on DL had ID theft, but even with FBI "help", and while we were being told to fear truck bombs after 9/11, perp was never caught even with his home address, arrest photo and prints, and him using fake Carolina license working "over the road? Going thru all those truck weigh stations?) But, then, I wonder if our Florida public employees who formerly input data disappeared, went crazy, died, or won the lotto and refused to work? Why bribe companies to move here "to make jobs" while exporting state jobs to private cronies in Ohio swing state before Dumya votes? Bet it DID NOT cost us less. Just sayin'.
They haven't sold off all Florida public assets like corporate raiders, yet. (House passed stupid "road lease" bill that would prevent new state roads being built if they "compete" with privatized toll roads that we were promised would be "free" when tolls paid off bonds.)
Boy, I can picture our first big hurricane evacuation with some "Dubai roads" in charge. Remember Rita? Why not borrow money for roads like they did before impact fees, by selling bonds? Duh.) Floridians, please push our senate to say no if and when/if they file same bill.
We only elected them for 2 or 4 years. Is it even legal for them to contract or sell our assets for 50 or 75 years? Come to think of it, even nationally, with 2 to 6 year terms, is it legal to make deals for longer than their elected term? Is it legal to "spend" money which is so future that it taxes people too young to vote yet? Isn't that "taxation without representation" to spend my not close to voter age yet grandkids' taxes? Didn't we fight a war with England over that?
As long as I'm rambling anyway, the first time John Ellis Bush ran, our voters said no. That's probably why Poppy Bush cried. If not for our 4 year delay, Dumya would have had to use those Texas felons on famed list to put J.E.B. in Whitehouse. Same evil result but with a Bush slick enough to make his initials into a homeboy sounding alias. Florida voted high speed rail a constitutional amendment. JEBco refused, delayed, & brought in big ad guns & "experts" to terrorize voters about price and forced re-vote against it. NOW they whine about roads? We voted small class size mandatory by amendment-- and they still fail to downsize all our classrooms and whine about cost.
But no corporate welfare cuts yet. Jeb said cuts were "accidentally" tied to national cuts. Read my lips. NO more Bush. Ever. B.J.(before jeb,) Florida had huge tax surplus. Now we can't "afford" basics? We were "growth" state for a loooooong time and did just fine B.J.
I'm above average paranoid with PTSD, so if my e-dentity panic is off base, just let that part slide into deserved obscurity.
[Added thought: Over many years high gas taxes were voted in to sock it to the tourists jamming roads in winter. Where's our CASH?]