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Letter to the editor

Slow going as FAST moves to specifics

For starters, new bus shelters can take months because six locations where they are needed are on private property. Access for low-income families to the voluntary pre-K program is another issue.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published May 4, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The nearly 1,200 people who packed Holy Family Catholic Church last week heard pledges from Pinellas County education and transportation officials.

Authorities promised to work for accessible prekindergarten programs for low-income children, a central transportation clearinghouse for the sick and elderly, new bus shelters and fare concessions near a hospital bus stop.

Thursday's assembly was an impressive showing organized by Faith and Action for Strength Together, an interfaith coalition that represents people of various ages, races and economic backgrounds.

Now comes the hard part.

FAST asked for six new bus shelters throughout the county. Roger Sweeney, executive director of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, supports building them, although he said every one of the suggested new spots is on private property.

The coalition wants shelters at these six stops: one each at 18th Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street S; 118th Street N and Ulmerton Road, Largo; Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and Belcher Road, Clearwater; and Otis C. Green Drive and Betty Lane, Clearwater; and two at 11th Avenue and 34th Street S, in front of Gibbs High School.

Sweeney must get easements from the owners before applying for building permits, and "they can take their time, and they can say, "No,' " he said in a telephone interview Monday. "Even though we're a governmental agency, we still have to obtain permits. It all depends on that private property easement."

On public property, Sweeney said, he can expedite the erection of shelters. Obtaining building permits takes about a month, and construction takes about another 30 days.

FAST representatives and Sweeney met several times over the past several months, negotiating late-night bus service for shift workers, which required additional vehicles and drivers.

Sweeney also agreed to look into easing fares for people who leave Mease Countryside Hospital and want to catch the southbound bus. Doing so requires them to cross six lanes of traffic on McMullen-Booth Road or take the northbound bus to its terminus, then pay an additional fare to drive south.

"That is an issue that we need to know a little more about," Sweeney said. Affected riders may be able to save money by purchasing daily, weekly or monthly passes.

Janet Chapman, executive director of the county's Early Learning Coalition, also met several times with FAST representatives, discussing the fine points of Florida's new voluntary prekindergarten programs.

FAST members' primary concern was that low-income children would be left out of high-quality curricula, Chapman said. "I think that their concerns are well-grounded," she said.

State guidelines call for 540 hours of pre-K studies per academic year, an average of three hours per day. Working parents expressed anxiety about transporting their children to and from pre-K classes to day care, but Chapman said many pre-K programs will offer varying degrees of flexibility.

"It doesn't have to be three hours, and it doesn't have to occur in isolation," she said. "We have no control over how they want to configure their program." Some may offer three hours a day; others, four or five. "With a six-hour day, you'd have a very sleepy little 4-year-old."

Families whose children now are in daylong care programs may get a financial break if the day care center qualifies to offer prekindergarten classes. In those cases, the state will pay for the hours of pre-K instruction, and "parents should be seeing an overall reduction in the overall cost of care," Chapman said.

Before Thursday's meeting, FAST got assurances from Brian Smith, the county planning director, to work through the Area Agency on Aging and the Metropolitan Planning Organization to create a central transportation clearinghouse for older people.

FAST has been broadening its base since it loosely organized in the summer of 2003, with help from the Direct Action and Research Training Network. DART, which is based in Miami, is a national web of grass roots, faith-based community organizations that focus on issues of poverty and injustice. It initially supplied a professional organizer, Haley Grossman, whose salary now is paid through the congregations in FAST. She has an office at Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Gulfport.

The Rev. Clarence Williams, pastor of Greater Mount Zion AME Church and a co-leader of FAST, said he was pleased with the outcome of Thursday's assembly. The large turnout, he said, represented the "home court advantage of a football team or a basketball team" with public officials.

"One congregation can certainly get things done," he said, but there is strength in numbers. FAST encompasses 25 diverse religious entities from throughout the county, and Williams said "there were pastors there and congregants there (on Thursday) who were not part of our covenant assembly. We're hoping that it will build. We certainly make no restrictions on the religious faith of the congregations."

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 00:57:19]