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Letter to the editor

Today's Letters: Many homeless lack capacity for choice

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published December 26, 2007

It is time for homeless to choose Dec. 9

This guest column, written by St. Petersburg City Council member Bill Foster, tells us more about him than about the homeless people he criticizes.

He faults those who become homeless as a result of poor life choices. It is apparent that he has no experience with mental illness in any of its manifestations, such as alcohol or drug abuse. These people lack the capacity to make choices like those of us not afflicted.

They will not be welcome at shelters if they are impaired, but there is no move afoot by the city of St. Petersburg to provide shelter and treatment for them. Maybe Foster should promote such a plan.

Carol Abernathy, St. Petersburg

The homeless in St. Petersburg

They're less fortunate

As I read the varied letters regarding homelessness in St. Petersburg, my heart is heavy and full of sorrow. I read letters condemning the homeless, relegating them to a separate tier of humanity.

There but for the grace of God go I! We have the obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves. It does not matter why the person is on the street. They are, in fact, on the street and they need to eat. They need a blanket, they need an ear to listen to their stories, they need a friendly smile.

In many of the letters, I read that these "people" do not take advantage of the social services available to them.

In this time of budget crunches and the great ME attitude, the social services available have shrunk tremendously.

The next time you see someone on the street, smile, look them in the eyes, and wish them a happy holiday. If you have it, share a dollar or two.

Mark Grantham, Gulfport

Stepping over problem

What a wonderful city we live in here in St. Petersburg. As our property taxes soar and budgets for our city programs are cut, we are still able to find it in our hearts (and budget) to build a new tent city. It's a safe place for the homeless to find shelter, eat, enroll in programs, to get help finding work.

And still the streets and sidewalks are littered with sleeping bags, buggies and folks who just don't want "that kind of help." So, the city just steps around them. I guess that's what you do when you aren't confident in your beliefs. Don't rock the boat. And don't enforce city codes, like no sleeping on sidewalks.

In the meantime, fellow residents and downtown business owners, our tax dollars have been spent on trying to appease someone. Let's just watch the tourists slip away and the condos become rentals. Watch your fellow residents with businesses downtown close up shop. Then sit back and watch the sun set on good ol' downtown St. Pete. At least the homeless are happy and undisturbed.

Shannon West, downtown business owner (for now), St. Petersburg

SPC dual enrollment

Program has failings

When you spread the news about this particular program, you need to warn people to be very careful.

Indeed, they really do need to learn more about it, but what they need to learn is that many of the counselors at both the high schools and the college are incompetent bureaucrats and do not set the program up properly. As a result, participation in the program can be very damaging to the student. It can actually get them kicked out of school.

Three years ago, my daughter was an honor student at Osceola High School. She applied and was accepted into the dual enrollment program. She followed the advice of her counselors at both schools in setting up her schedule. At first, everything went well. However, in the middle of her senior year at Osceola, the college told her she had a problem. She had been registered for the wrong class and she was being dropped from the class.

The high school counselor took no responsibility for getting it set up incorrectly. In fact, they told her it was then a problem because without the college class, she was enrolled improperly at the high school. Because class assignment dates had passed, she could not enroll in any other high school classes. Since she was in violation of "enrollment policy," she was "administratively disenrolled" from public high school. They kicked her out of school because of their own incompetence and a bureaucratic inability to correct the problem.

Before the media push this program very much, they need to investigate how well it really works. And you won't find much in the way of statistics on their failures. Bureaucratically, anybody who leaves school before graduation is classified as a dropout. It is no wonder that Pinellas County schools have one of the worst dropout rates in the nation.My daughter didn't drop out. She was kicked out. She immediately got her GED and got on with her life, but she missed graduation and the prom. And, of course, she no longer qualified for Bright Futures Scholarship money.

And you wonder why so many kids just don't give a damn anymore.

Robert Davis, Seminole

Curfews for kids work

It is way past time for the St. Petersburg. City Council to mandate curfews in the city. The underage hoodlums here know they have more rights than the citizens and challenge the police to do anything to try to control them.

With all the talk about affordable housing, I have a three-bedroom block home with new paint, carpet and appliances in Midtown where the single mother who rented it stayed three weeks before the local teenagers frightened her away. The street looks nice during the day except for the trash thrown on the sidewalks. Then around 10 p.m. they congregate on the sidewalk playing loud music and using foul language. My neighbor tells me they shoot guns. We have called the police, who say their hands are tied because they are on public property, sidewalks, in front of our houses.

We do not go to BayWalk after 9 p.m. due to the little underage gangs that hang out on the streets outside.

I hope all of you will seriously consider the fact that crime is substantially reduced in areas with curfews and urge the city to take steps to use this tool to improve St. Petersburg.

Valetia Gladding, St. Petersburg

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[Last modified December 25, 2007, 20:31:48]