“City of Tampa Sucks,” Says Commissioner Wostal

TAMPA — County Commissioner Joshua Wostal took a strange detour during last week’s Commission meeting to air his grievances with Tampa. “City of Tampa sucks, I’m just saying,” Wostal said.

“I actually received four times more votes than any of the Tampa City Council at-large members and three times the votes of the City of Tampa Mayor,” Wostal insisted, complaining about pushback from City of Tampa representatives on transportation issues. “It’s disrespectful,” he said of any implication that he doesn’t represent City of Tampa residents well.

“Wait!! What??” wrote former City Councilman Joseph Citro. “Did I just hear Hillsborough County Commissioner Josh Wostal say the City of Tampa SUCKS?”

Wostol’s tirade about the City of Tampa came during discussion of a $3.7 million proposal to provide electric infrastructure for the Regency Cove manufactured home community. Regency Cove residents were hit hard by Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year, and the proposed spending is intended to prevent them from being permanently displaced from their homes.

Wostal began by addressing the agenda item directly. “I actually myself spent a copious amount of time with TECO on the phone, adopting them as my own employees,” said Wostal, “specifically about the troubles that Regency Cove was going through and making sure that their reps were out there quickly.”

But then he drifted from the topic, turning instead to the TPO (Transportation Planning Organization), where city and county representatives sit together.

“One thing that frustrates me on the TPO meetings that I actually took time to go and just take a look at, is hearing from —and I'm not surprised to hear, and by the way good job, I didn’t even see this item on on the meeting — I'm not surprised to hear that the City of Tampa doesn't have a program to help this community because City of Tampa sucks. I’m just saying,” said Wostal.

It’s not clear exactly how the TPO ties in with this request for county approval of electrical infrastructure funding at Regency Cove. On the proposal itself, Wostal eventually offered his conditional approval. “I do believe that this is a good item. It’s a difficult situation, but there’s few instances when I believe the government should actually be spending people’s money, and that is in times of natural disaster,” said Wostal.

Commissioner Harry Cohen, who was previously a member of the Tampa City Council, responded to Wostal’s comments about Tampa, saying “I wouldn’t agree with Commissioner Wostal’s characterization of the City of Tampa.” Cohen’s wry comment elicited a laugh from the audience. Current representatives of the City of Tampa have not commented directly on Wostal’s complaints.