Re: 2 mayors: Airport's noise will rattle cities, story, April 28.
Referring to the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport noise issue, County Commissioner Susan Latvala is quoted as saying, "I know a lot of people out there. I have never had anyone mention (the noise problem) to me." As unlikely as that is, let me claim to be the first.
If I were to do this at 4:45 in the morning, I would have to speak over the roar of jet engines. There seems to be no serious effort to address this quality of life issue that concerns the vast majority of the population in northern Pinellas County. A noise abatement task force has met only once. The issues raised by the Safety Harbor task force representative remain unsatisfactorily answered.
Why can't nonemergency traffic be restricted to sane hours? Why can't air traffic be directed over the bay? Just saying, "It's impossible," without explanation, doesn't make it so.
A reasonable solution would be to hold up funding for airport expansion until county officials realize that their constituents are tired of the noisy intrusion in their lives, and enact remedies quickly, before it gets much worse.
-- Lawrence Kendron, Safety Harbor
Runway plan hurts quality of life
Re: 2 mayors: Airport's noise will rattle cities, story, April 28.
County Commissioner Susan Latvala said that she had not heard anyone from the general public mention a noise problem. Well, let me be the first.
One day last week, beginning at approximately 7:30 a.m. through 9 a.m., there was an average of one jet every seven minutes flying over my house. Not all days are this busy, but it is nonetheless a daily occurrence.
Ms. Latvala also mentioned that planes coming in and out sometimes make noise; these planes always make noise.
When we moved to Oldsmar five years ago, one of the benefits of living here was not being in the flight path of constant jet departures. Things have changed dramatically and, with the expansion of the airport, will only get worse.
I understand that the airport needs to be profitable, but the value of life for surrounding residents deserves equal weight when evaluating what is best for our communities.
-- Alice Collins, Oldsmar
Arrest at airport shows security worked
Re: Security breach at airport is alarming, editorial, April 23.
What's alarming here is the way the Times' editorial is misleading its readership. What actually happened at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport was:
1. An intruder climbed a fence to gain entry to a posted "NO ENTRY" area, thus breaking the law.
2. An alert airport worker - on a very dark night - observed the intruder entering an airplane.
3. The alert airport worker called the authorities.
4. The authorities responded by assembling the trained personnel to deal with the situation.
5. The intruder was apprehended, arrested and dealt with accordingly.
The system worked. To quote the editorial, "Duh."
Rather than criticize the airport and those working there, the Times should be reporting to Secretary Tom Ridge on just how well the Homeland Security program is working at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International.
-- Bob Gates, St. Petersburg
Forced annexation ignores rights
Re: Forced annexation legislation, Senate Bill 490.
Forced annexation legislation is mean-spirited. Not one excuse to force city government on people is more important than the rights of the people. Legislators who support the doctrine that government has rights instead of individuals are a disgrace to the ideology of this nation. The importance of the rights of individuals separates this nation from many other nations.
City politicians follow different doctrines. Government scholars define municipal government as a utilitarian form of government akin to socialism. Jeremy Bentham originated the term "utilitarian" since he was one of the founders of utilitarianism. He characterized natural rights as "rhetorical nonsense" in one of his writings. Forced annexation fits city philosophies.
No doubt the Florida League of Cities is one of the leaders of the conspiracy to oust county government and force city government on individuals who do not want to be annexed. Cities consider pretty maps and garbage collection more important than individual rights and freedom to choose government. Additional excuses are used to justify a tax grab.
Unscrupulous tactics are used by cities to annex and create enclaves. City annexation managers buy land with taxpayers' money, annex the land and then sell the land just to create enclaves and create more contiguous property for more annexations. Annexing parks, school property, etc., provides major steppingstones for additional annexations. Some states are taking steps to stop these devious manipulations.
I am more than $50,000 richer today because I moved out of a city in this county 41 years ago. Fees and taxes have been about $290 less each year compared to the adjacent city. By applying 6 percent interest compounded annually, my savings have been significant. Forced annexation can have a major financial impact.
Forced annexation is government at its worst. This kind of legislation is government that is by government, for government. Government should be by the people and for the people.
-- W.C. Snipes, unincorporated area, Clearwater
Motorists don't understand roundabout
Re: Beach roundabout still causing problems, letter, May 1.
If drivers in the outside lane realized that they were supposed to exit the traffic circle, then there wouldn't be a risk of collisions with drivers in the inside lane exiting the circle.
This could be easily remedied by installing a small curb leading the right lane to exit the circle and preventing cars from continuing around the circle while in the outside lane.
Anywhere else I've navigated a traffic circle, you use the outside lane to go one exit, and the inside lane to go more than one exit. Everyone seems to understand this anywhere else I've navigated traffic circles. This way, anyone can exit the inside lane at any time with no accidents.
For some reason, it's a free-for-all at Clearwater Beach. Perhaps the real problem is ignorant and aggressive drivers. My opinion is that it is too easy to get a driver's license in this state. In another state, I had to parallel park my car in the driver's license bureau parking lot before ever getting near the test course. I guess the logic is that if you cannot park a car, you have no business driving one.
-- Georgine Johns, Largo
[Last modified May 6, 2003, 03:17:18]
