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Today's Letters: Look at what this tax has provided

Re: Penny for Pinellas

As co-chairs of the Pinellas County Environmental Science Forum, a group of citizens and scientists formed to advise Pinellas County on pressing environmental issues, we urge you to support the Penny for Pinellas.

These funds will provide more than $73-million for environmental restoration and protection in Pinellas. Leveraging these dollars to receive matching grants could result in many millions more for the betterment of our environment.

Both of us have dedicated our professional and personal lives to protecting and preserving the environment, and we believe that passing the Penny is critical to continuing the county's long-standing commitment to environmental preservation.

While not all residents may agree with every county plan, the revenue the Penny brings to our community for libraries, fire stations, disaster preparedness, road improvements - as well as environment restoration and protection - is far too significant to jeopardize because of narrow disagreements. Let's not cut off our nose to spite our face.

While we work toward resolving countywide environmental land management issues through the Environmental Science Forum and other venues, please remember the important things the Penny is doing for the entire environment as you go to the polls on Tuesday.

Holly Greening and Darden Rice, co-chairs, Pinellas County Environmental Science Forum

Message needs to be sent again 

Re: Penny for Pinellas

We have had enough of our state, county and local government agencies receiving double-digit tax increases year after year without regard to those who have to pay them. Apparently, the November election did not send a clear enough message.

We have another opportunity. Vote no on any proposal that increases taxes. That's simple enough. Just vote "No"! Then, just like in the Verizon commercial, we can ask, "Can you hear me now?"

Albert Brendel, Clearwater

Let's take a look at bigger picture

On March 5, I opened the St. Petersburg Times and read the opinion sections in both the A section and the regional section. The majority of the letters to the editor were about tax revolts, be it the Penny for Pinellas sales tax referendum or the property tax problems with the state.

Everyone thought things needed to be done. Everyone was looking at the government for solutions.

Yet everyone seems to be missing the bigger problem that has been plaguing the nation and Florida for the last several years. Income levels are shrinking for middle-class citizens. Wage disparity is atrocious. Florida citizens may feel burdened by taxes, but why aren't they looking at their employers as villains as much as they are the government?

True, the Tampa Bay area doesn't have the large corporate bases compared to other parts of the country. But even with retail jobs at Home Depot and Wal-Mart, the pay rate favors the corporate executives, not the workers. All the while, both companies report billions of dollars in revenue and profits.

Even with entities such as Nielsen Media Research or the call centers for different financial services that reside in the bay area, how much was your bonus last year compared to the president of your company?

Florida has always gone the cheap route with regards to our standards. Costs were routinely small so smaller incomes and wages were appropriate. Retirees could flock here and live life fine and well.

Yet times change, and it's high time people look at the bigger picture.

John Fontana, Palm Harbor

Preservation is worth the price

Can the children in the East Lake area get their ballfields and can Brooker Creek Preserve be preserved? I think most everyone would like to see the children get their ballfields, but I think most of us know ballfields don't fit in preserves.

The Pinellas County Environmental Science Forum recommended that the county not lease land for the sport fields but said the county should find another site for the ballfields. I hope our county government will heed this sound advice and find a better site for the ballfields. I also hope it will deliver on its promise to protect all of our preserves with a new county ordinance for the preserves.

As a 55-year-old Tampa Bay native, I feel very passionate about our preserves for all that they give back to us in so many ways. I am thankful that back in the 1970s and '80s the Pinellas County government had the vision that would lead to the creation of the Brooker Creek Preserve.

In addition to saving a piece of real Florida, there were some practical reasons for preserving this property, such as using the area with its many wetlands for water storage to prevent saltwater intrusion into the Keystone well fields. Imagine what it would be like with 100,000 more residents in the East Lake area if this land had not been preserved.

I have been a volunteer for 10 years working in the Ozona Preserve, helping to restore the native biodiversity. I have a lot of good reasons why I volunteer, but the best reason I can give is it's for the children. Don't forget this truth: "We have borrowed the future from our children." Preserves are habitats for native animals, plants and our well-being in the present and, most important, the future.

Tuesday I will be voting for the Penny for Pinellas extension because the penny has and will fund many important environmental projects along with other much-needed capital improvements. Some of the penny funds will be used for improving the water quality of Lake Seminole and Lake Tarpon and addressing other runoff water pollution issues in the county. There is some land inside and around Brooker Creek Preserve that could be purchased with the Penny.

I think many residents of the county are upset about the proposed projects that don't belong in Brooker Creek or any of our preserves, and I urge those who are reading this to let our county government know you want it not to break their promise to protect our preserves.

I also hope that we don't cut our noses off to spite our faces by not voting yes for the Penny.

Reggie Hall, Ozona

When is enough really enough? 

Re: Penny for Pinellas

This tax has been in place for 17 years now and has provided some very good amenities to our citizens. The Pinellas Trail and the Bayside Bridge are among the good projects accomplished with the 1 percent of additional sales tax. But has the time come to vote down this tax?

When is enough really enough?

Dunedin has received nearly $45-million since the inception of the Penny, yet some of our streets still flood during a heavy shower due to inadequate stormwater removal. Isn't this what the Penny was supposed to fix? But we do have a nearly $10-million community center and may have a piece of art that is scheduled to cost $100,000 to be erected in front of it. This seems to be a city with too much money and its priorities misplaced.

This is the irresponsible spending that is being discussed in Tallahassee. Hopefully, Tallahassee will put in place a spending cap of 3 percent on the local city and county governments.

We need the basics from the government, not entertainment. Take care of our streets, sewers, sidewalks, police, firefighters and other essential items that we cannot provide for ourselves. When this approach is taken, the 3 percent spending limit will be adequate.

Please remember, this tax is very regressive. For most of us, this additional tax will not affect our lives in any way. It probably represents a few hundred dollars per year. But for those at the lower levels of income, this would be a significant savings to pay for groceries, the light bill, etc.

I believe the time has come to get rid of this tax.

Dave Carson, Dunedin

[Last modified March 11, 2007, 22:27:47]