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Today's Letters: Beware of bicyclists

Recently there was an article about bicycles taking over the streets, where one rides in the bicycle lane with a co-rider in the street interfering with traffic.

A much more serious thing is happening on the sidewalks downtown. I'm a senior who walks every night downtown and almost every night a bike rider comes up behind me and speeds past me startling me and nearly knocking me down.

There is a law, "no bicycles or skateboards on the sidewalks," but I see it posted only at Central and Fourth Street and nowhere else. It definitely is not enforced. Are we waiting for an elderly person to come out of a restaurant and get run over?

The riders do not just ride on the sidewalk, they speed on the sidewalk, and if you're walking you better move - bike riders definitely have the right of way. Please, can something be done before someone gets seriously hurt?

Joe Caimano, St. Petersburg

Dancer: 'Why take it away from us?' Dec. 26, story

It's a 'numbers dance'

The dancer in the Neighborhood Times article on tea dances held at the Coliseum asked a very good question, "Why take it away from us?"

The article points to the numbers: 1. Only 150 in attendance at tea dances, and 2. $28,390 annual net loss. Should the City Council kill this program deemed important to many of our senior citizens? Perhaps we should look at other services like public transportation. If PSTA doesn't make a profit, should we curtail or eliminate buses?

The front page of the Times continues the "numbers dance" with discussion of the proposed new Rays baseball stadium. "The Rays will invest heavily in the project, but ... also need help from the state and local taxpayers." I understand we still owe $100-million on air-conditioned Tropicana Field. This $450-million "fan-friendly and environmentally conscious" stadium sounds like a boondoggle. Citizens be alert!

Larry Rudy, St. Petersburg

Melee at BayWalk

Movies part of problem

It is apparent to me that those who invest millions of dollars in constructing malls have not taken the time to survey all the malls in the country to find out if having a movie theater within the complex is an asset or a liability.

Many malls throughout the country with theaters have problems with teens and young adults when certain types of movies are shown.

BayWalk is an excellent area during the daytime hours, but when night falls the shoppers are weary of walking in the area or when dining in a fine restaurant and walking out to find numerous teens and young adults between them and their vehicles.

Some theaters in the malls have raised their ticket prices in an attempt to discourage young people from attending.

Is BayWalk still a nice place to shop and dine? Yes. Do the theater owners have a responsibility to assist in keeping the area safe? Yes.

Van E. Vergetis, Holiday

Thugs call city 'Da Burg'

St. Petersburg has been renamed by the gang-banger thugs. On MySpace they call it Da Burg and they flash their guns dripping with blood.

There used to be some areas that were risky to walk around at night in St. Petersburg. Now you risk your life by being outside at night past 10 p.m. in Da Burg alone. Why not do a story about the gang-bangers who have taken over the city?

The drawbridges that separate Da Burg from the beaches are a great deterrent, for now at least.

Who are these killers who live among us? They are in our neighborhoods with their guns as we hide in our toasty houses afraid to empty the trash or walk our dogs after dark. The Sunshine State has been turned into the Gunshine State and Da Burg is a huge part of the problem. We can't fix it until we admit it, discuss it and then take action.

Lynn-Marie Carty, St. Petersburg

Unwelcome at tent city?

I have closely followed the coverage of the tent city and Pinellas Hope, the new location for the area's homeless to supposedly receive social services and a place to live as they try to re-enter society and get off the streets. This is of particular interest to me because I have a small warehouse/workshop near the current Pinellas Hope location.

Recently, a homeless man I know told me about how he was turned away from Pinellas Hope, not just once, but twice. It wasn't because of his background or anything like that, because he didn't even get that far. On Dec. 17, he went directly to the site where Pinellas Hope is located, off 126th Avenue and 49th Street. At that time, he was turned away with no explanation, except for being told they weren't taking in people at that time and to "come back on the 20th." He was upset about that, but went back on the 20th, only to be told that the actual date he should come back was the 21st. Then he was told that he could not just walk in, because they "don't take people off the street," and that he had to be referred there by either the charity or the police.

Everyone I have told about this is absolutely stunned to hear that Pinellas Hope doesn't "take people off the street." In fact, the reaction I get in telling this story is that it sounds like a bad joke. Everything I have read in the Times about this organization and its experiment in dealing with the area's homeless situation led me to believe that taking in people off the streets is exactly what they would be doing. The homeless man I am describing is practically a poster child for the kind of person they are supposedly there to help: a disabled veteran, who only wants a place to stay long enough to get food stamps and the other social services available, and to get assisted housing that would be available to him in a fairly short time, if only he could provide a stable address.

How many other legitimate homeless people have been turned away in this manner? Where are they expected to go? Why does it take a "referral" or the involvement of the police for someone to get into Pinellas Hope?

Michael Krotz, St. Petersburg

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[Last modified January 1, 2008, 22:44:53]