Today's Letters: Make recycling empty bottles easier

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published June 23, 2007

I read with great interest Judy Stark's June 16 article on bottled water and was shocked to learn how few empty ones are recycled.

Nowadays it seems that every other person is walking with a bottle of water in one hand and talking on a cell phone with the other. I am not one of those people, so I never gave a thought as to how they dispose of the plastics.

Many grocery stores have boxes for recycling plastic bags. Why can't they have a box for plastic bottles where people can drop their empties instead of in the trash containers? We take all our recyclables to the Dunedin drop-off, as they have dumpsters for everything except chemicals, electrical items and garbage. There is no charge and we feel rewarded in doing our part.

Lettie Cseh, Dunedin

Put a deposit on containers

I was riding to the club one night with some friends when one of the boys tossed his empty soda bottle out the car window. After some objections to his crime, he replied, "Hey, it'll give the prisoners something to do."

There are many problems with this crass point of view. Mosquitoes or the diseases they transmit might find a nice home inside that bottle. Aluminum cans or the glass from broken bottles that pollute our roads and campsites could cut wildlife or barefoot children. A glass bottle could also magnify sunlight and start a potentially deadly brush fire. To avoid these and many other tragedies, government and taxpayers have to spend money to clean up the litter. Consequently, all taxpayers benefit from a cleaner environment. I propose that we, the residents of the state of Florida, push our representatives for a container deposit law.

Florida's hot climate leads us to drink in bulk. Countless numbers of cans and beer bottles are consumed away from home. Sadly, many of these beverage containers are also left behind as litter. If those containers could be exchanged for money, then litterers wouldn't want to toss them out the car window and trash collectors would suddenly become treasure hunters. Imagine Florida's homeless people cleaning up this litter and getting paid when they drop it off for recycling.

Beverage-container laws put value on these bottles by charging you 5 to 10 cents extra per bottle or can when you buy them. This money is then refunded when you bring the empties back to the grocery or convenience store. In some states, the unredeemed bottle-deposit money is put into a fund that provides grants for curbside recycling programs, cleanup and other related causes. All the containers that are returned to the point of purchase will be picked up by the distributors that produced them. They will then use this plastic, aluminum and glass for recycling. They might even invent a 100 percent recyclable bottle that looks spectacular, keeps a beer cold for hours and can drive you home.

We need to look at what's working in other states to better tailor this law for Florida. Almost a third of the population of the United States live in states with container-deposit laws. These states are California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Vermont.

Everybody wins with container-deposit laws. They give jobs to the homeless. They lessen the amount of trash that has to be collected and then buried or incinerated. They allow our state government to spend less money on garbage collection. They diminish litter and bad prison jokes. They spur recycling and innovation. They reduce injuries. They could make Florida even more beautiful.

Michael Kramer, Wesley Chapel

Time to call off the lawn police June 2, letter

Water is too cheap

What we really need is water police.

There are miles of well-watered gutters and driveways. Even paved streets get their share of water from misdirected sprinkler heads. There are "everlasting puddles" where the irrigation system has a leak. And watch the sprinklers come on even when it rains because the person responsible for the sprinklers did not bother to turn the sprinkler off. Water waste galore.

And do we have to have "wall-to-wall" water-guzzling lawns? There are native grasses and groundcovers that grow with very little water. Water is not appreciated - water is too cheap.

Renate Danielson, St. Petersburg

Senate bill seeks higher fuel economy June 13, story

What are they waiting for?

In reference to the Senate's energy bill, auto executives from the Big Three U.S. automakers argue that requirements to increase automobile fuel economy to a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 "may not be achievable."

I have been driving my Honda CRX since I bought it new in 1989. It gets, on average, 45 miles per gallon. My daily ride to work includes equal parts highway and city miles. If automakers could design a vehicle 18 years ago that gets this kind of mileage, what have they all been doing since?

And if the Big Three are so entrenched in the status quo that they can't see fit to design cars that achieve an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, it's time for a new automaker. The talent and money are out there. They just have to find each other. And they can find each other in the United States.

Meanwhile, my mechanic says he can keep my car running indefinitely. I hope he's right.

Cindy Maxwell, Clearwater

Ethanol requires much closer look June 19, editorial

Unintended consequences

This is one of those rare times that I can totally agree on a St. Petersburg Times editorial. I have been in the food business for 40 years. The last several years, corn has held steady in a price range of $1.50 to $2 per bushel. Now, with the push by the president and Congress to develop more and more ethanol from corn, the price has doubled to around $4 per bushel. The farmers are getting rich growing corn now, and why would you want to grow anything else if you were a farmer?

Ethanol is not going to save the public any money on the price of gas, plus now we will have the unintended consequences of higher and higher food prices at the grocery stores and restaurants.

Where are the economic advisers to the president and Congress when they jump on a popular bandwagon such as trying to solve our energy problem? Don't they know that corn feeds the nation and the world? What do they think is going to happen to the price of beef, pork, poultry, eggs, milk, cheese, etc. if the producers of these products have a huge increase in the cost of their feed for these animals (a big part of which is corn)?

So now we will not only have high prices at the gas pump but high prices in the grocery store and in my favorite form of entertainment - eating out in restaurants. Gee, thanks a lot, all you do-gooder environmentalists, tree-huggers, global-warming nut cakes - and especially the politicians, who should know better.

John Keglovich, St. Petersburg

Park could pay for itself, committee says June 16, story

Senseless spending

This article says a review committee is considering the construction of a $40-million amateur sports complex in eastern Hillsborough County. This committee's findings will be presented to the County Commission on Aug. 15 for approval. The article further states that JES Properties of Oldsmar is planning to build a 617-home residential community in the area. Steve Rogers, a real estate asset manager for JES, is quoted as saying, "Maybe the park going up would increase the value of the property and increase retail in the area."

In the Tampa & State section on the same date is an article titled Tax cuts to hurt all over, which says that the proposed property tax cuts will make less revenue available for parks, fire stations, libraries and bus service (and, ultimately, our school system).

Where are the priorities of the County Commission in considering building an unnecessary sports complex when shortage of funds will cut vital services to our community? Isn't there anyone in our local governing bodies who actually cares about the welfare of the people of Hillsborough County and the use of our tax monies?

Anne Zolt, Sun City Center

Salaries could use a cut

Now that the state Legislature has passed the tax relief act and the governor has approved it, the citizens must vote on it. Gov. Crist was expressly charged with providing Florida homeowners with some tax relief, as he ran in last year's election on the political promise to cut property taxes. The governor and several other involved in the special session have maintained that essential services such as fire protection, police security and educational personnel would not be affected by such tax relief.

Even prior to the state action, however, several local officials and County Commissioner Susan Latvala objected to the state property tax reduction proposal. These local objectors have used the very scare tactics expressly excluded from consideration by the governor in order to influence either the legislators or the homeowners. The cutting of fire, police, or educational personnel (indispensable employees with rather low salaries) would endanger our residents and further provoke them to leave the state. Instead, the local government officials and employees could take cuts in salaries. By accepting salary cuts, the county commissioners would demonstrate their commitment to both the governor and the citizens they represent.

The county TV channel has identified a date for county budget deliberations, June 26. Get involved and inform the commissioners and county staff of your priorities. If you remain silent, our budget may not fund your desired services.

Judith Carberry, Ozona

Making us proud

I am tired of Floridians bashing the Legislature over the outcome of the special session to control property taxes. People need to give credit to these hard-working politicians for an ingenious piece of legislation.

With just a few days of brainstorming they have solved two of the biggest issues for Floridians: property taxes and immigration. By eliminating $7.1-billion from the schools' budget they have ensured that, over the next few years, Florida will be able to generate a home-grown, undereducated labor pool that will gladly take all those jobs that currently only immigrants (legal and illegal) will do. Once we fill all those low-paid jobs with our own children there will be no reason for immigrants to come to Florida.

As if that alone wasn't a job well done, they threw in $200 relief on our property taxes as well. That'll take the pressure off when you're writing that check for $5, 000, $6, 000 or more.

Makes you proud to be a Floridian when you have politicians like this taking care of our future.

Ian Porter, Brandon

Tax bill is good for us all

I was under the impression that newspapers were to report the facts and not their personal opinion.

Why don't you put the entire bill that our governor signed in the paper, so the people can read it for themselves?

I'm sure when they read the entire bill, they will understand this will be a good thing for Florida. If this doesn't pass in January, Florida will be like it was in the 1970s: in a deep recession, property not worth anything. We now have abundance of foreclosures and there will be plenty more. People have just walked away and moved to other states.

I for one will leave Florida; wages don't meet the cost to live here.

As for firemen and police, has any company in this nation raised benefits 166 percent in the past few years? None that I know of.

There is too much waste going on and I for one hope the property tax bill passes. The cap will prevent increases, and will give the average working-class homeowner a chance to survive.

People really need to read and vote yes, so everyone will benefit.

S. Selvaggio, Dunedin

City to blame for high pension costs June 19, letter

Support your firefighters

While we are all wondering what will happen next with these tax reforms, many are quite unaware of what our city governments do and how they spend their money.

St. Petersburg's mayor and City Council vote themselves 38 percent raises during a City Council meeting in the wee hours of the morning when no one else from the general public is in attendance.

St. Petersburg City Council members (a part-time position) are eligible for a pension after only two years of a four-year term. This also includes medical benefits. Where else does a part-time employee receive such benefits?

In reference to the letter, not only is the firefighters' pension plan underfunded, but these same council members would receive more out of their pension in four years than I would as a 15-year veteran firefighter.

What John Q. Public does not know is that many St. Petersburg firefighters belong to specialty teams such as Technical Rescue, Urban Search and Rescue, Hazardous Materials Response Team as well as the Dive Team. This is in addition to our regular daily responsibilities as firefighters. We respond and assist in other communities, cities and states, yet this doesn't count toward our pensions. Our Certified Driver Engineers also do their jobs without just compensation in our pension benefits, yet most other cities reward their employees for this commitment, dedication, certifications and education to serve the citizens, by including these additional tasks in their respective pension plans which are paid for by those cities as well as medical benefits.

The firefighters of St. Petersburg contribute 7.5 percent of their top pay in addition to paying for their medical benefits. We have also offered to pay an additional 1 percent into our pension to improve the plan. We do not get a cost of living increase when we do in fact collect our benefits, which we have paid into.

We are having major staffing issues right now. What more can we cut, and at what cost, and to whom?

On Sept. 11, 2001, we lost 343 firefighters. Recently we lost nine firefighters in South Carolina, so that two citizens could be saved.

Please keep them and their families in your prayers, and please support your firefighters and police officers.

Mitch Incorvaia, past treasurer, St. Petersburg Association of Firefighters, Local 747, Tarpon Springs

1% mortgage - from joy to time bomb June 20, story

Mortgage problems myriad

As a mortgage planner and adviser, I read your story with great interest. The story explains the problem with the refinance that Denith Harrigan did, and how his current mortgage is putting him into a difficult financial situation. However, I do not believe that your article went nearly far enough back in his history to see where the problems really started.

According to your article, Harrigan is on a fixed income of $2, 100 per month. That comes to a total of $25, 200 per year. The copy of the letter you showed with the article stated that he had a current mortgage balance of $180, 412 when he started doing research for his refinance.

My first question is: How did he get a $180, 000-plus mortgage in the first place with an income of only $2, 100 per month?

The basic rule of thumb has been that you should not get a mortgage for more than three times your yearly gross salary. Even at four times his yearly gross salary, Harrigan should not have had a mortgage for more than $100, 000 to start with.

The bank I work for has never done negative-amortization loans, and never will. We believe that they hold inherent risks to the client, and we will not put our clients into a negative financial situation.

So, where is the real blame? First, blame needs to be pointed at the out-of-state mortgage broker who put Harrigan into his current loan. Second, blame needs to be pointed at whoever gave him his loan for $180, 000 in the first place. Then Harrigan needs to accept part of the blame for putting himself into a larger debt than he should ever have taken on.

Mortgage brokers get paid based on how much profit they generate by closing a loan. That's why every person looking for a mortgage should go to the bank first - the banker will tell you the truth, and isn't paid based on giving you a higher or lower rate or charging you points that go into their pockets. A good banker who also holds a license through the Florida Department of Financial Services is your best bet.

Sean Schreiber, St. Petersburg

Americans aren't measuring up June 19

Selling exercise short

I do not agree with Paul Krugman's view that Americans are shorter than Europeans because we have turned into a "Fast Food Nation." I do agree that nutrition is an important aspect of growth, but so is physical activity.

The Dutch, with the world's tallest people, are far more physically active, riding bicycles rather than driving cars for their daily routine.

Virginia T. Hokes, Tampa

[Last modified June 22, 2007, 23:22:24]