Letters to the Editors

Why are elections scheduled so few can vote in them?

I absolutely must respond to the guest column by Deborah Clark, Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections (The right touch will make voting more user-friendly, March 11). The statements Ms. Clark made about the electronic machines seizing public interest and getting more of the public to vote are almost ludicrous. Knowing she meant well, I'm not here to berate her (well, not too much); but it just isn't going to happen.

The voting system is set up for one group of our nation's populace and one group only: the elderly semiretired or fully retired. Only! Why else the particularly discriminatory setups of day, locations and times in practice today?

Voting day is on a Tuesday -- wonderful! Good thing every younger working couple has off every Tuesday! Oh, hey, just vote during lunch hour. Sure, if you work right next door to your precinct's voting location.

Hey, just vote after work. Sure! Right after picking up the kids, attempting to feed them some decent dinner, getting them to their additional school activities or making sure that your babysitter even shows so you can go to vote -- and all of this after your required overtime now that one-third of your company's work force has been laid off.

Face it, folks. No section of your government wants the younger working class to vote -- neither locally nor nationally. If they did, there would have been changes long ago. Wouldn't the voting be on a Saturday or a Sunday instead of somewhere in the middle of a week? A few more locations, or the ability to vote outside of your precinct when you are working miles and miles away?

But for the real proof. We can already file our yearly taxes electronically. Think on this. This money we pay, the same money without which this country could not even operate one single day, we can file and pay electronically, any day of the week, and at a convenient time. But you can't vote that way. You might want to start asking yourselves why.

There are reasons. But, truth be known, government institutions do not want input from younger voters. It's as simple as that. But before you rant and rave about this, from either side of the fence, you still should ask yourselves why.
-- Clint B. Fowler, Clearwater

Be sure to tell both sides of the issue

I received the charter amendment brochure from the city of Tarpon Springs "Research and Information Office." This brochure states as an introduction, "Voters will be asked to approve six referendum items on the ballot." It also states that this brochure is "intended as an educational tool so that voters may be well informed on the issues."

Last time I checked, voters were asked to decide, not to just approve. Last time I checked, "well informed" meant knowing both sides of the issue, not just the opinion of the Research and Information Office.

Let me guess: The city manager and commissioners are the Research and Information Office! This is the most one-sided piece of propaganda I have seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. Last time I checked, I am an American living in a democratic society. Voters, please educate yourselves on the pros and cons of each issue before you decide.
-- Sophia Konstantin, Tarpon Springs

Never will a mall be as lovely as a tree

Re: Before you can shop, trees must drop, story, March 4.

At one level, I am glad the Clearwater Mall will have a new life, but on another level I am very distressed to read that so many trees will have to die to accomplish this revival.

Certainly, a new mall will be an improvement over the present vast asphalt wasteland of the old Clearwater Mall.

In an age when developers take the path of least resistance to gain the maximum profit, I do not believe enough consideration is given to existing objects of nature, be they trees, ponds, coastline, etc.

Many of these trees were here long before the last mall and could be still standing long after this mall dies. The designers of this mall should be required to do more than "save most of the significant stands of trees." There should be more respect for the trees. There already is a gross imbalance between the amount of blacktop and significant greenery in Pinellas County.
-- John Wynne, Dunedin

Take down old malls, not old trees

Clearwater needs more shopping malls like a hole in the head. Cutting big old trees down should be a felony; this could be considered an act of terrorism.

If the Clearwater commission does not have what it takes to stop this foolishness, the voters should get off their duffs and do it for them!
-- Harold Mierkey, Largo

Commission should not raise gas tax

Re: Traffic planning at a crossroads, story, March 4.

Keep senior citizens off the roads during rush hour. There is no reason retirees need to be out in the busy morning hours when people are trying to get their kids to school, and trying to get to work.

All too often, I've seen the senior citizens in the "fast" lane on Park Boulevard or Ulmerton Road at 8:00 in the morning, traveling at a ridiculously slow speed and tying up traffic. Where do they have to go that's so important?

Retirees should have consideration for working people and stay off the roads until after 9 a.m. It's hard enough raising a family these days, with mothers having to work in order to make ends meet.

It must have been nice back in the old days when women could stay home if they chose and kids weren't forced into day care.

Now, on top of their having to pay staggering day care expenses, the County Commission is considering raising the gas tax. Hopefully, county administrator Steve Spratt has enough sense not to let that happen.
-- Cheryl Finnerty, Seminole

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