Candidates respond
Letters to the EditorPublished March 2, 2005
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letters were received from Robin Saenger, candidate for Tarpon Springs City Commission Seat 1, and Matt King, candidate for Seat 2, in Tuesday's election, in response to the St. Petersburg Times editorial recommendation of their opponents, Frank DiDonato and David Archie.
>-- Robin Saenger
In the spirit of term limits, I'm optimistic that the voters of Tarpon Springs will endorse my new ideas over my opponent's nine years on the City Commission. To the voters of Tarpon Springs, I make these pledges:
I pledge to listen to your input and respond positively to it. I pledge to ask questions and get definite answers before votes are taken and decisions are made. I pledge to make city government more open. You have a right to know about development options such as an offer to develop parks rather than large box stores. Major decisions on development should be presented to you for your input. Much of the Wal-Mart controversy could have been avoided if the public had been consulted. I pledge to see that government secrecy ends.
The commission may make decisions on the redevelopment of the Stauffer Chemical Superfund site. I pledge to you that any vote I make on that issue will protect residents from assuming any future liability and the corresponding tax increases liability would bring.
The commission will make decisions regarding an alternative water project designed to limit water cost increases. The goal of cheap water is desirable, but before we jump into the water, I pledge to get answers on the impact of saltwater intrusion, impact on private wells, the potential for sinkholes and the danger of using contaminated wells for the project. I pledge to weigh the costs as well as the benefits.
This next commission will make many decisions on the use of your tax dollars. I pledge to eliminate waste, demand accountability and seek savings through greater efficiency. For example, I will never waste $24,000 to purchase a five-minute "award" video. Tarpon Springs deserves to win awards; we don't need to buy them.
I pledge to encourage cultural- and eco-tourism. We should better publicize our waterways, parks, Sponge Docks, antiques and artistic creativity. We have a hometown advantage in our people and natural resources. We need to publicize it better.
Support me with your vote so I can keep my pledge to support you.
-- Matt King
It is true that growth is not the only issue to consider in this election, but it is the most basic and fundamental, and therefore the most important.
I made Tarpon Springs my home close to three years ago because I saw in Tarpon something that is all but extinct in this state: a little piece of Old Florida saved from adulteration by its strong identity and community.
It is true I am a new resident of Tarpon Springs, but what is often overlooked are my ties to this area. My family has lived in the Tampa Bay area since the 1830s. I have a strong affection and concern for this part of the state. That affection is rooted in more than merely my own life; it comes from a sense of tradition and pride that has been passed down to me from five generations prior and has instilled in me a fondness for a simpler time and a better life than people make for themselves now.
These things give me a sense of identity and an understanding of where I came from. This understanding of personal origins is facilitated by a close-knit community with enduring institutions that instills tradition and perpetuates personal and local histories. I want my children to have the same opportunities I had, to know where they came from and to belong to something bigger than themselves - their community - but I am afraid they may not.
It is things like these that are missing in life today. I want Tarpon Springs to stay the small town of friends and neighbors that it was and can still be, and not become a huge mass of anonymous and indifferent co-inhabitants who care only for themselves and know only of themselves.
To achieve this goal, it is important that development be controlled and managed. That is not to say that growth should be avoided altogether, but growth should complement the inherent assets of our city and not change and corrupt it into something unrecognizable to the people who love it and the people who call it home.