Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Cash, cronyism influence decisions

As an active participant in the opposition to a rezoning in our neighborhood, I have gained some insight into what is driving the recent decisions from our County Commission: cash and cronyism.

There are a couple of power brokers in the county who control significant inflows to the incumbent commissioners' campaigns. Our commissioners are engaged in the pay-to-play game. They are under the influence and addicted to "bundled" donations. Bundled donations are coordinated efforts to circumvent the legal limit of $500 - like the $5,000 that Commissioner Susan Latvala received from the lap-dance lobby.

I was at the hearing when power-broker attorney Tim Johnson persuaded the commission to accept his eviction plan. It is one thing when pay-to-play drives commercial and corporate decisions, but quite another when it is at the root of evicting someone from their home. While I respect private property rights of park owners, mobile home owners have paid the mortgages of the park owners, sometimes for decades, and they deserve to be treated differently from someone illegally parked.

The commission's rush to appease its largest contributors in its race to capitalize on the real estate bubble is wrecking the lives of some of our most vulnerable residents. It is only a matter of time before judgment-impaired commissioners, drunk on large campaign contributions, begin condemning properties for the benefit of developer friends.

Ruth Eckerd should coordinate for traffic

I am a frustrated commuter.

While driving home recently, northbound on McMullen-Booth Road, I was stuck in a traffic jam caused by an event at Ruth Eckerd Hall that could have been almost entirely prevented. I am writing out of pure frustration. I know there are much more pressing events we should be concerned about. That doesn't make these day-to-day frustrations any less irritating.

The traffic was backed up from Ruth Eckerd Hall to the south end of the Bayside Bridge, and this is not the first time this has occurred.

It seems that during tourist season, Ruth Eckerd runs midweek shows during afternoon drive time. This would be okay were it not for the person they have controlling the traffic signal at the intersection of their venue and McMullen-Booth Road. Consistently, the individual controlling the signal will stop northbound traffic to allow left turns into and out of the Ruth Eckerd access road.

Again, this would be okay, but the traffic is stopped every time one car is waiting to make the turn. Consequently, in many cases only a handful of northbound motorists get to make it through the light while it is green. And the result is a several-miles backup that could easily be avoided.

Perhaps they could adjust the performance start times. I suspect that is not a workable solution for them. So, first and foremost, they should amend their policy of giving priority to the Ruth Eckerd Hall traffic. Their plan needs to allow for more northbound traffic to flow through longer green lights.

Additionally, there are several other traffic control processes that are already in place but not used by Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Most of the people commuting home at night also passed by Ruth Eckerd Hall in the morning. A traffic sign in the southbound lanes on the morning of events alerting drivers to expect delays on their afternoon commute would, at the very least, allow people the option to take another route home. This is not some revolutionary new idea on my part; it is already being done to advise drivers of construction delays.

The Tampa Bay area has a great new traffic advisory service, 511TampaBay. Currently, Ruth Eckerd Hall is not notifying 511TampaBay of its event schedule and resulting traffic congestion.

All major radio stations in the area have rush-hour traffic reports. None is reporting delays as a result of Ruth Eckerd Hall events scheduled during the afternoon drive.

For these last two, I would think it should be a relatively easy and painless task for someone at Ruth Eckerd Hall to put the word out.

Ruth Eckerd Hall, as a responsible corporate citizen of this community, should have some recognition of the impact of its actions.

Why is Bayway replacement delayed?

The need for replacement of the Pinellas Bayway bridge has been thoroughly researched several times. That need continues to grow with the passage of time and ever more traffic. Let's hear the DOT's answers to the following questions:

Why were DOT's expected bridge costs so far below the bid of two years ago?

Why were they unable to predict that bridge-building costs would only go up?

Why would they want to wait still another year to bid the project? It's almost certain to cost even more. Wouldn't income from tolls have brought in enough during time of construction (three years), to pay for the unexpectedly high bid of two years ago?

DOT says they sometimes accept higher-than-expected bids but opted to throw this one out. Why? Is there pressure by opponents of the bridge to delay its construction as long as possible?

Daily photos something to brag about

My 7-year-old grandson in Warwick, R.I., and I thank you so very much for printing such beautiful and educational pictures at the top of each day's Classified section the past year. I have cut them out and placed them in 61/2-by-41/2 "brag" albums.

Not only can my grandson learn about where I live, but he is able to take the albums to "show and tell" at school so his classmates become informed of the differences in nature between the state of Rhode Island and the state of Florida.

Please keep printing these wonderful pictures during the coming year. Thanks from both of us.

Welcome gloves from helping hands

You get dozens of letters about bad guys. Here is one about a good guy.

I was recently on Tyrone Boulevard at a stoplight, on my motorcycle. It was chilly and I was rubbing and shaking my hands to warm them while waiting at the light. A man in the adjacent lane honked and held out a pair of gloves. He drove off before I could pay him.

I have been in a warm glow all week as a result of this spontaneous act of kindness. Thank you for the nice gloves and for the wonderful feeling.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:55:16]