Shining light on the good, bad and ugly of bureaucracy in Florida

Tony Knox is a character. He has run for governor twice. He speaks his mind. 

But mainly, he shines shoes. 

Lots and lots of shoes. 

He had a gig at the Tallahassee airport for more than a decade in the 1990s and 2000s before his contract wasn’t renewed. 

The 72-year-old has shined the shoes of Jeb Bush and countless other politicians, lobbyists and members of the process. He’s worked the League of Cities convention every year since the year Ronald Reagan left office. 

And last year, he tried to get back into the Tallahassee airport to provide his services to the members of the process and other businesspeople who fly in and out of town. 

But Knox ran headlong into a lack of creativity and flexibility that have contributed to TLH being the most expensive airport in the country. 

Knox spoke with a lot of Tallahassee leaders about this – from commissioners to City Manager Reese Goad and finally Airport Director David Pollard, who asked to see a picture of what his stand would look like. 

The response from Pollard: it doesn’t match our new airport design. 

“He didn’t like the stain on the wood,” Knox said.  “He told me that have a beautiful airport and that the stand looks too bad. But they wouldn’t even tell me what they wanted the stand to look like.” 

Knox sent him the picture, which you see as a part of this story. 

Knox then asked if the airport wanted to design its own stand, but was told they couldn’t afford to do it. A recent piece in Red Tape Florida revealed that the airport has $1.5 more in revenue than expenses, with the excess shuttled off to the fire services fund or other unnamed general funds.  

Knox says the typical shoe stand costs a couple hundred dollars to construct. “The chair costs more than anything else,” he said. “You’re basically just building a small porch with one step.” 

But apparently the airport wanted something much grander and more expensive that would match TLH’s marble-heavy aesthetic. 

Knox doesn’t know about all of that – he just wants to work and meet people, and perhaps most importantly, train new workers. 

“Tony Knox isn’t going to stay there and shine shoes all day,” Knox said. “I teach a person how to work. I’ll teach you how to present yourself and shine shoes. Most people don’t even know how to talk to people.” 

Ryan Cohn, EVP and partner at Sachs Media in Tallahassee, has been a Knox customer and proponent of independent airport governance. He says Knox’s story is another example of the missed opportunities that hold the airport back. 

“Imagine if our airport actually felt like Tallahassee,” Cohn said. “Before your flight, you could sip a Lucky Goat latte while getting a shoeshine, browse local books from Midtown Reader, and buy handmade candy from Lofty Pursuits. That’s the kind of experience people remember.” 

“But that takes vision,” Cohn added. “Instead, we got an airport bar named after Monroe Street.” 

For his part, Knox says he isn’t giving up. 

“I just want to shine shoes,” he said. 

By Jami Holder 

To readers of Red Tape Florida:  We are pleased to announce a new content-sharing partnership between Red Tape Florida and the Devoe L. Moore Center at Florida State University. From time to time, the Devoe L. Moore Center will share research and other writing that is relevant to Red Tape Florida’s mission of shining a light on excessive local government regulation and bureaucracy. Today is the first installment in that partnership. 

Floridians are currently suffering from an affordable housing crisis. According to a recent report from the Florida Housing Coalition, more than 2.1 million Florida households were cost-burdened, or spending more than 30 percent of their monthly incomes on housing costs. This crisis is occurring as a result of a housing supply shortage. Even with an influx of new apartment complexes being built across Florida, the market is still not providing enough housing options for low and moderate-income households.  

S.B. 184, a bill sponsored by Florida Senator Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, would require local governments to allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in certain areas of all cities in Florida. ADUs, also referred to as granny flats, casitas, or in-law suites, are small-scale developments contained within pre-existing single-family housing lots. The passage of the Senator’s bill could soon become a promising step in promoting the development of ADUs and other forms of medium-density and urban infill housing. 

ADU’s are part of a trend toward medium-density housing and are increasingly popular alternatives to large-scale apartment complexes. These types of housing help restore “missing middle housing” because they aim to fill in a gap between single-family homes and high-density apartment buildings. Missing middle housing types include townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, condos, and, in some cases, ADUs. They are typically designed to be cohesive within an existing neighborhood design. This housing also minimizes urban sprawl by allowing for urban infill within pre-existing neighborhoods to avoid new subdivision development. 

ADUs can address the state’s affordable housing crisis by providing Floridians with a cheaper alternative to single-family houses. For example, ADUs can be especially beneficial for seniors, who may wish to age in lower-density residential areas rather than in apartment communities. ADUs can also provide families with flexible housing options for young adults and can provide property owners with an additional source of income. 

Despite these community benefits, ADUs currently face a number of legal and regulatory barriers in Florida. Several of Florida’s 67 counties do not mention ADUs in their local ordinances at all, and some counties explicitly prohibit them from being built in single-family zoning districts. When they are allowed, ADUs face restrictions in size, location, and owner-occupancy. These burdensome regulatory barriers deter homeowners from constructing ADUs on their land. 

If Floridians wish to have more affordable housing options, restrictions against ADUs should be eliminated. ADUs should be allowed by default in all single-family zoning districts in Florida, and excessive minimum lot size requirements should also be reduced so new units can more easily be developed. Additionally, property owners should be encouraged to rent their ADUs on the long-term market instead of as vacation rentals or short-term leases.  

Sen. Gaetz’s bill is a great step in the right direction by Florida lawmakers, but more bills should still be introduced to further ease regulatory barriers to ADUs.  Policies that relax restrictions on market-driven housing will be necessary to meet the affordable housing challenges faced by Floridians. 

Jami Holder is a Research Intern at the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University and an Interdisciplinary Social Sciences major with a concentration in urban planning.  

via: floridapolitics.com

Builders and homeowners often get exasperated by delays — waiting costs time and money.

Good news might be coming soon for people in Florida who build houses or need home repairs.

A new proposed law (HB 683) aims to make the process of getting building permits for smaller jobs faster and easier. On Friday, the House passed it unanimously, 114-0.

Read the entire story on Floridapolitics.com

Sometimes, break even isn’t break even. 

At a high level, the City of Tallahassee budget site (which is a wonderful service to residents, by the way) shows that the Tallahassee Airport is spending exactly what it is taking in. 

But a deeper dive shows that is not the case. 

For years, the airport – with the highest fares in America – has been making a profit of more than $1.3 million. That money has been shuttled off to the fire services fund up until this most recent year when $1.506 was sent to what was simply described on the web site as “other funds.” 

What is “other funds?”  We can’t find it on the site. But it begs the question, why is the City making its most-expensive-in-the-nation airport a profit center. Sure, $1.5 million is only about 7.5 percent of the total budget, but the airport is the butt of local jokes and is an albatross around the city’s neck, why not reinvest that money into … something. 

Also, how about some local vendors in the airport?  

The book selection in TLH is embarrassing – couldn’t a local bookstore be a better alternative? What about a Lucky Goat, Red Eye or Ground Ops coffee shop? Why does everything have to be some vanilla airport vendor? 

And why is change always so off the table? 

This August piece in the Tallahassee Democrat featured some excellent arguments from Sachs Media executive Ryan Cohn on an airport authority, but City Manager Reese Goad dismissed the idea for no other reason than it had already been talked about before.  

That’s not good enough. 

The Greater Tallahassee Chamber – which had at one time strongly advocated for an authority – seems to have backed off that position and sided with Goad.  

We recently featured our own ideas on changing the dynamic at the airport, followed by some even better ones from local CEO Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet.  

Another way the airport could do better at holding down costs is through salary control. The total salary line for airport employees has increased around 30 percent since the 2021-2022 budget, from $4.13 million to $5.35 million. The rate of inflation during that period was around 18 percent.  

Dividing total FTEs (58) into total salary lines, gives an average salary of $92,313. 

It should also be noted that the airport has allocated expenses back to the city for functions that are well represented by airport personnel. For example, the airport sends $157,000 back to the “home office” for accounting expense even though there are 3 full-time equivalents (FTEs) listed in “Admin-Finance.” 

The bottom line: TLH airport — which isn’t growing, features the highest prices in the country and which isn’t exactly known for its stellar service — should be reinvesting every penny it makes into improvement.  

Red Tape Florida recently released an investigative piece on the slow growth and high fares at Tallahassee International Airport, and the feedback was enormous.

Local Tallahassee resident, Co-Founder of Launch Tally and WellConnector and Sr Advisor, Informatics Strategy, APHL Board Chair at Ruvos, Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet weighed in on the issue at hand and offered some insightful suggestions.

Here are some ideas…some may already be in the works and some may not make sense for our region but maybe it will keep the conversation going…we need to think differently…

Build a Regional Air Alliance

• Form a multi-county/regional partnership with neighboring counties and cities to jointly market TLH as the airport for the broader region (not just Tallahassee).
• Leverage joint funding for incentives to attract airlines

Create a “Fly TLH” Incentive Program

• Offer rebates or local tax credits to businesses that book a minimum number of flights through TLH annually.
• Develop a frequent flyer cash-back or perks system that rewards residents who consistently choose TLH over Jacksonville or Panama City.

Develop an Airline Incubator Program

• Partner with start-up regional airlines or charter operators and help incubate new routes with subsidized landing fees, marketing help, and operational support.
• Pitch TLH as a test market for new short-haul or hybrid models (examples: semi-private flights or subscription-based air service like JSX).

Strategic Public-Private Partnership

• Create a public-private fund involving FSU, FAMU, TSC, major local employers, and the state to subsidize or offset the financial risk for new airlines/routes.
• Example: Amazon, Apple, or JetBlue helped fund new airport developments in other markets. It could also be a way to attract them to do business in our region.

Tech + Travel Innovation Hub (one of my favorites)

• Position TLH as a smart airport innovation zone, inviting tech startups to test autonomous luggage handling, biometric security, or AI-enhanced travel experiences. We can be a beta testing ground..make it easy for these companies to do biz in Tallahassee.

Redefine TLH’s Brand

• Launch a bold rebranding campaign that positions TLH as “The Capital Gateway” or “The Smartest Airport in the South.” We have a ton of smart marketing folks in our community..they can come together (work as one) to help.

Now, if we want to change the game…we will need a quarterback willing to lead the vision and execute.

Oh, there is one more….Free Parking.

Offering free parking at TLH could be a game-changing incentive….especially in a city like Tallahassee, where travelers drive to the airport.

Immediate traveler savings: For many, parking adds $50–$100 to a trip. Free parking makes TLH more competitive vs. JAX or Panama City. And it is not only about the $ but the time and convenience…how many people get a family member to drop them off at the airport at 5AM or get picked up at 11PM to save on parking…..

Behavior shift: People often drive 2–3 hours to fly cheaper. Free parking could help tip the balance back in TLH’s favor—especially for last-minute or short trips.

Perceived value: “Free parking” is simple and powerful marketing ….easy to remember, easy to sell. To me this is the best part. The publicity alone could drive more attention to TLH as we are thinking different about travel.

“Fly TLH Free Parking” Program

Why not try it? Conduct a pilot program for 12–18 months offering free parking for travelers who book through TLH (would require proof of boarding pass).

Could be tiered: first 3–5 days free, then reduced pricing. We won’t know if it will work if we don’t try it…

Free Parking for Loyalty

Partner with local banks, business groups, or airlie to offer free or discounted parking based on flight frequency, employer affiliation (state worker, FSU/FAMU/TSC, etc.), or enrollment in a “TLH Perks” program.

Weekend or Off-Peak Parking Free

Free parking Friday–Sunday or for early morning/late-night flights to encourage use of underutilized times. Again, proof of a boarding pass is needed.

Free Parking as a Business Incentive

Offer companies and agencies free airport parking for employees who book business travel from TLH

Make it part of Tallahassee’s business retention and expansion strategy.

Amplify the Strategy

Combine free parking with targeted airline recruitment, marketing, and economic development initiatives.

Use it as leverage in regional business conversations: “We don’t just want you to stay in Tallahassee—we’ll make it easier for your people to travel too.”

Just some initial thoughts and ideas…..

(Why is one almost triple the other?) 

How much is a fair discount for work not done by local government? And why does that question have so many different answers, even within the same county? 

Red Tape Florida took a look at work done by private providers – businesses who do electrical inspections and the like. 

Florida law is crystal clear – if a homeowner or contractor uses a private provider inspector to perform electrical or other types of building inspections in lieu of the local building official, the local government must discount the permit fees by the amount of the cost savings realized for not having to perform the services. 

In Leon County, that discount is 60 percent. Same in Bay County. In the city of Clearwater, it’s 50 percent. In Martin County, it’s 65 percent. 

But in Tallahassee, that number is just 20 percent.  

Why? 

The fee for the permit is supposed to cover the costs incurred by the government. In fact, statutes require building departments to operate as enterprise funds. They are only allowed to use the revenue generated from permit fees to fund the operation of the department. But Tallahassee is taking 80 percent of the money it would receive for doing the inspection itself, even though it’s not actually doing the work. Which also begs the question of where that money is going? 

According to John Reddick, the City of Tallahassee’s Growth Management Director, it’s because of the city’s “maintaining of high-quality service.” 

“Due to the relatively larger scale of projects in the city limits, the types of construction and requests from builders can demand significant time and attention from staff,” Reddick said.  

But the actual providers have another theory – that the city simply doesn’t want private providers to do the work. That was the case in Bay County before a lawsuit was filed by Al Wilson, who runs a private company called the Florida Building Code Compliance Authority. Bay County was giving just a 25 percent discount to private providers, much less than the discount mandated by statutes. 

After successful litigation, Bay County is now up to 60 percent, which means hundreds of dollars per inspection no longer flow into local government coffers in exchange for no work being done. 

But lest you think this is inside baseball for builders, contractors and developers, the people actually paying this added expense are the eventual homebuyers. It’s part of the reason why overregulation is such an underreported factor when it comes to the affordable housing crisis.  

“These local governments are just thumbing their nose at the will of the Legislature,” said Wilson, who has become a crusader against overregulation. “They take money for work they don’t do, and force you to sue them to make it right. 

“But the people paying the price aren’t people like me, it’s the homebuyer. When you start adding up a few hundred dollars here and a few thousand dollars there, it can really make a huge difference in the eventual sales price,” Wilson said. 

What’s stark about the situation in the state capital is that right across the street at Leon County’s office, the discount is 60 percent – about three times what Tallahassee is offering. 

Why is Leon County so much higher than the City of Tallahassee? 

According to Justin Poole, Leon Director of Building Plans Review and Inspection, the number was determined by his predecessor 6 years ago. But he thinks it’s too high. 

“After six years of experience with private provider projects, I can easily say that 60 percent is too much of a discount,” Poole said.  “Dealing with private provider projects is an administrative nightmare, and in my opinion, the discount should be around 25 percent.”   

Stay tuned for future updates… 

The controversy over proposed changes to Thomasville Road in midtown Tallahassee generated overwhelming opposition from local businesses, commuters, and residents alike.  

On one hand, it’s a great example of how broad and admirable visions – in this case, improving the overall attractiveness of Midtown – don’t always survive the descent into the nitty gritty details of implementation. 

Folks spent a lot of time developing a vision for Midtown and, in many ways, it is a good one – a more vibrant, walkable destination area where businesses can flourish.  

But as the Midtown plan pertains to the southern end of Thomasville Road, it simply didn’t pass the common sense test – eliminating a left turn lane would have been disastrous move for commuters and businesses. And it likely wouldn’t have mattered because few of them would have survived two years of the vital road being converted to one way southbound. 

We are relieved that FDOT killed the Blueprint-driven plan, sparing businesses and commuters from what could have been an economic disaster for that area of town. 

Taking a step back, however, Red Tape Florida believes this is a symptom of a larger problem – Tallahassee seems to be a one-trick pony of “placemaking,” without a true vision or understanding of how to grow a retail economy.  While murals, landscaping, and wider sidewalks may enhance an area’s aesthetic appeal, they are not enough to grow a thriving retail economy. 

Midtown’s future success requires more than cosmetic changes; it demands a serious strategy for attracting and sustaining retail businesses. 

While it is now clear that Blueprint citizen engagement badly missed the mark, something else caught our eye. The survey of residents about what to do in Midtown was notable for what was NOT included as options for a response. Blueprint asked survey takers to rank the following in importance: bicycle facilities, bus stops and amenities, congestion relief, pedestrian facilities, placemaking, travel speeds and signage and wayfinding.  

Notably absent from the survey? Business development and parking. The entire survey is devoid of anything that might help drive some actual commerce. 

Making a difference is going to require some new thinking, not just from local government, but from folks in nearby residential areas who too often take a NIMBY (not in my backyard) approach. 

The area will never become a thriving walkable area until there is a critical mass of places to walk. Right now, a smattering of wonderful restaurants and retail establishments are surrounded by non-retail establishments such as associations, law offices, accountants, office parks and even an oil-change shop.  But, visionary public officials would realize that we need a level of retail density in the area that attracts and engages strolling shoppers.   

How can they help achieve that vision?  Re-write our local building code so that it embraces flexibility in retail design and makes it easier and faster to get building permits.  Usher in a cultural change so that Tallahassee’s permitting bureaucracy looks for a way to say “yes” instead of tolerating a bureaucracy that loves to say “no.”  And, expand to the Midtown area the successful grant programs, such as the ones used by Tallahassee’s Community Redevelopment Agency. These are programs that help finance new retail construction and façade improvements.    

And then, of course, the issue of parking simply must be addressed. There isn’t nearly enough of it, even for existing businesses. A plan for a garage was shouted down by nearby residents who want their cake – a quiet walkable area – and eat it, too (preferably at a place they can walk to).  

The irony? A central parking facility encourages walking by getting people out of their cars and onto the sidewalks. And perhaps a surge in retail activity would make it easier for business owners to survive new traffic patterns rather than take it in the teeth while lipstick is put on the pig. 

Tallahasseeans often look longingly north to the bustling downtown across the Georgia state line. But downtown Thomasville isn’t a destination because of cobblestone streets and fancy light fixtures. It works because of a healthy glut of retail. Parking is easy. Shopping is prolific. It’s safe and easy and thriving …. that’s what real placemaking looks like. 

The intersection of local government and private business is never simple. But it’s time for Tallahassee to run some new plays – and one of them should be to develop a strategy specifically designed to grow retail. Midtown seems as good of a place as any to start. 

In other words, let’s take a sharp turn toward a business-first approach to placemaking. 

Lost in the national discussion over affordable housing is this: Fully 25 percent of the cost of a new home goes to regulations.  

One quarter.  

It’s essentially a regressive tax on housing that impacts starter and luxury homes alike. 

In Florida, the median price of a new home is a bit higher than the national average – a little over $400,000 — so more than $100,000 of that goes to government regulation. 

Sure, the home building market needs regulation, for safety, to protect the environment. But $100,000 for every $400,000 home? It’s excessive and a sign that the bureaucracy is out of control.  

How come all we ever hear about is “greedy developers” and “unscrupulous contractors” when, by far, the entity making the most money of a new home is the government? 

Red Tape Florida is always fascinated, and disappointed, when groups advocating for affordable housing – such as the Capital Area Justice Ministry – fail to include reducing government regulation in their often-voluminous list of recommendations. 

Are these groups really trying to address affordable housing or are they just pushing a narrow ideology. 

It should be no surprise to anyone that the affordable housing crisis is particularly acute in Tallahassee – it’s one of the most difficult places in the country to build a house.  

And that’s reflected in the numbers. Tallahassee-Leon’s new housing permits totaled just 517 in 2024 LINK COMING. Comparing that to the two counties that rank just above Leon in population is, well, embarrassing. Escambia County had more than double the permits at 1,200 and St. John’s had 2,746, five times Leon’s new home construction. 

Surely we all remember Economics 101 and the price curve, based on supply and demand. 

These numbers make it easy to argue that something is suppressing Tallahassee’s housing supply, which the law of supply and demand tells us will increase prices every time. 

It’s RedTapeFlorida.com’s contention that, in Leon County at least, that “something” is excessive red tape and regulation. 

When someone wants to include that as a part of their affordable housing platform, perhaps they will get a more friendly reception. In the meantime, RedTapeFlorida.com will continue its mission of making housing more affordable by shining a light on the good, bad and ugly of local and state government red tape.