Today's Letters: Development will be harmful to city

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published June 6, 2007

The Dade City Commission will vote Tuesday, June 12, regarding annexation of 60 acres south of the city. The developer wants to put 360 units on this property. Approximately 30 percent of the parcels are wetlands, resulting in the remaining land having nearly 9 units per acre. The county zoning maximum is 5.8 per acre.

The impact of this development upon the city will be extensive. First, the entrance will be on U.S. 301, accessible from the north only, the exit will be right turn only onto U.S. 301. This clearly will result in hundreds more cars making U-turns. This is presently the most congested section of road in the town.

The development will not be able to contain its runoff in holding ponds, thus requiring the city to pump extensive volumes of water into a system that presently is overloaded and has in the past flooded sewage into Hester Lake, and ultimately into the Withlacoochee River.

The developer, out of the goodness of his heart, has persuaded the city to "give" more than 3 acres to the development, thus relieving the city of any potential liability. Potential value of this gift is possibly over $1-million.

It appears that one cannot only get the keys to the city, but a gold MasterCard at the same time.

Patrick Lawhead, Dade City

Self-reliance is vital for future

As I gear up for our eighth Toys for Tots community campaign, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I expect we shall meet our goal of providing toys, and other needs and services, to a record number of needy kids. But, on the other hand, I am haunted by the nagging feeling that we, as a community, are not doing nearly enough to face the disquieting problems confronted by the families of our poverty-bound children.

It is an inconvenient truth that each year Toys for Tots needs to increase the number of toys we collect and distribute by 10 percent. The sad fact is, even in good times, the number of Pasco children living in abject poverty continues to grow each year.

But what if times steadily, or quickly, got worse? What if our society (country) became unstable? Could we adapt and overcome? Would we? I submit that we are indeed a fragile society, and it would take very little to start us in a downturn spiral of instability, followed by chaos.

All this leads me to my somewhat labored point. At the American Dream (TAD) Congress, our sixth, we will consider how communities can work toward becoming more self-sufficient and self-reliant. We will closely examine two noteworthy programs that address this important question. The first program is locally based here in east Pasco County. Morning Star Fishermen teach people not how to fish, but how they can successfully grow and harvest their own food supply. By helping communities to build and manage fish farms, their remarkable program encourages self-sustaining behavior. (www.morningstar fishermen.org.)

The other program is located in suburban Miami. Roots in the City encourages local community residents to transform under-utilized public lands into pastoral public parks and luscious fruit-bearing gardens. Both programs encourage the local residents to invest their time and energy into self-sustaining community activities. (www.rootsinthecity.net)

Additionally we will hear from Ardian Zika, a vice president at Wachovia bank. He will share the powerful personal story of how he came to America and found the dream that all Americans seek and share.

Of course, the main reason for our yearly gathering remains unambiguous. The American Dream Congress intends to bring our caring community leaders together to discuss the current status of our most precious asset, our Pasco children. As in past Congresses, delegates will engage in dialogue, sharing skills and network. Our TAD Congress goal is to bring Pasco's concerned community citizens, our hard-working child care practitioners, and many of our gifted students together.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday June 12 at the west campus of Pasco-Hernando Community College. I hope to see you there.

Bob Loring, East Pasco Toys for Tots

Take a breath; it's just a newspaper

Bravo and three cheers to Carol Johnson for her reply to the letter printed May 31 from a writer whose blood pressure must surely have gone up over his anger at having to pick up an unwanted weekly newspaper from his yard. I imagine the writer's blood pressure must have gone up further when he called the Sheriff's Office and the responding officer apparently didn't grasp the magnitude of the abuse that the writer felt that he was suffering under.

The writer should take Ms. Johnson's advice before he causes himself to have a heart attack over a mere inconvenience. Now that would be a real honest-to-gosh problem.

So, sit down, take a deep breath, kiss your wife and marvel at the coming sunrise and enjoy the start of a new day.

Robin Adkisson-Jackson, Port Richey

[Last modified June 5, 2007, 23:15:17]