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Today's Letters: It's wrong to ruin protected land

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published April 5, 2007

The county has proposed using the land that was leveled for an over-priced water blending plant - land within the boundaries of Brooker Creek Preserve - as an alternative site for the much-needed north county ball fields.

With that logic, they could go tear up any piece of protected land and then say "Oops" and use it for development.

Just too convenient and, as others have said, "Two wrongs do not make a right, no matter how it is presented."

The county needs to bite the bullet here and buy some land, tear down the concrete that is already there, and build the ball fields that their constituents need.

And with property taxes as they are, especially in the affluent areas of the north county, I don't want to hear about financial woes. Not having enough money to do the right thing just doesn't cut it with me anymore.

Jane Williams, Clearwater

No development on preserved land

Every time you introduce a new activity in heretofore designated "preserved lands," you require parking for automobiles. (By the way, this includes Brooker Creek Preserve if no athletic fields were constructed.)

I just returned from San Francisco, where the issue du jour on the San Francisco Chronicle front page was the hullabaloo raised by the "public" over a proposal to close the famous Golden Gate Park to all automobiles on either a Saturday or Sunday. It seems that the "public" is demanding that the SUVs and Hummers have access to a park that is being overrun with people. It is sad that the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted is being ruined by too many people and not enough new parks of that stature to lessen the load on Golden Gate Park.

We in Tampa Bay are not very far from this condition. There are already lines of cars almost to Alt. U.S. 19 waiting to get into Honeymoon Island State Park. Yet, I am told that our state wants more revenue from admissions. More revenue for what purpose? To expand the bureaucratic staff? To build more parking lots and erase fragile lands in doing so?

I stood on the concession deck recently at Honeymoon Island, where my view was blocked by a "temporary" tent erected for a wedding reception. The neat rows of cabanas for rent lining the beach smacked of a concessionaire attitude run amok.

How long will it be before the Ferris wheel returns and a new generation of nitwits will appear, demanding that a boat ramp and marina be constructed? Is it any wonder that people are described as "environmental whackos" that actually want to prevent the drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge? You can deal me in with that crowd any time.

Oh yes, and there is the issue of Saemangyuem, a 90,000-acre estuary in South Korea that is a major migratory flyway for birds, where developers want to drain the wetlands to create a huge city with more than 600 holes of golf. There goes the natural neighborhood!

Richard M. Selleg, Palm Harbor

Heed utilities warnings or else

Pinellas County Utilities (PCU) recently prepared our neighborhood in Palm Harbor for the future addition of reclaimed water. PCU installed a "backflow preventer" at the water meter and left a goodie bag and information package at my front door. This information outlined "A change in your plumbing system" and included a free hose bibb y-splitter, etc.

I filed this package away without reading it as I was not too interested, at the time, in reclaimed water.

Wrong thing to do! Since then, water leaks have begun to appear inside my house. First I noticed water dripping from my clothes washer. I tightened the two hose connections and hoped for the best.

Then, I noticed after hot water usage, that the pressure relief valve on top of my water heater would open and release a little squirt of water onto the floor. By calling the tank manufacturer, I was informed the valve was probably not faulty and the leaks were probably being caused by the changes made by PCU and its back-flow preventer.

PCU switching from an open system to a new closed system (needed for the future recycled water) caused me time, worry and expense.

It seems their old open system would absorb the normal pressure build-up caused by water expansion when cold water is heated in the hot water tank. Now with the closed system, the normal pressure build-up has nowhere to go, thereby causing the two types of water leaks I noticed.

When I called PCU, I was reminded of the info package left at my door. I finally read this information and as suggested installed the free plastic hose splitter and the free pressure relief valve. This seems to have stopped the inside leaks but now the outside relief valve drips water, as it was designed to. I always thought water drips were bad. Oh well!

I am going to buy a water expansion tank and mount it myself on top of my water heater so I don't have to bother with the outside valve dripping and leaving my hose bibb in a required open position.

I do think PCU should have followed up the info package left at my door with a "important" letter for those dummies, like myself, who failed to read it.

Hopefully, my water leakage experiences will save others the worry and possible expense of calling a plumber to fix their leaks.

P.S. Inside the free relief valve package supplied by PCU was a manufacturer's warning: "This product contains chemicals known ... to cause cancer and birth defects ... ." I can't win!

Henry Russell, Palm Harbor

Well said column on God, politics

Re: God is mentioned a lot, but should stay out of politics, Jack Bray guest column, April 2.

Clearly stated and well said.

God bless.

Greg Tyillian, Clearwater

Your voice counts

You may submit a letter to the editor for possible publication through our Web site at www.tampabay.com/letters, or by faxing it to (727) 445-4119, or by mailing it to Letters, 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. You must include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length.

[Last modified April 4, 2007, 21:48:17]