Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Your letters: Let's partner with city to make Mahaffey strong

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published March 12, 2008

Arts center idea falters March 9, story

I think it premature to state that the vision for the Mahaffey Theater and this Center for the Arts "is seemingly coming apart at the seams." There are challenges to be sure, but I believe the St. Petersburg City Council and Mayor Rick Baker made a wise investment for the community, taking a long-term view.

I have attended both Ten Tenors and Lord of the Dance shows recently, and both were solid productions, albeit with smaller audiences than desirable. That the Dali Museum is coming, but not until 2010, should be viewed as a positive addition to the complex.

I can't quantify the competitive effects of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center or Ruth Eckerd Hall, but in the 1990s when I was president of the Mahaffey Theater Foundation, focus groups were done, which reflected that people in Pinellas County recognized the Mahaffey name, that it was a theater located on a beautiful waterfront, but there was an inability to pinpoint its exact location. These groups included people who had attended the Mahaffey and enjoyed the experience.

Fast forward and you now have an evolving city with a diversity of arts and cultural offerings that grows and matures with time. As chairman of the Florida Orchestra's board, I admittedly have every reason to want the Mahaffey Theater to enjoy maximum success as the orchestra rehearses and performs there and has a strong base of patrons. But more important, it is true that our cultural base and development add to the city's quality of life and economic well-being. Many residents and businesses have stepped forward over the years to bring the Mahaffey to its current level of excellence, making it an undeniable asset to the community.

News stories have focused on the Mahaffey before, and not always in the most positive manner. I would encourage the Times to join others to see that the city's vision of an active cultural community becomes a strong reality and that the Mahaffey is an integral part of our living and active arts choices. To the newspaper's credit, it has maintained arts and music reviewers when other media have dropped them.

We should join the city in working at making the Mahaffey Theater a place filled with a spectrum of arts and cultural activities that attracts a variety of people. Problem-solving is the endgame rather than just recognizing challenges.

James R. Gillespie, St. Petersburg

Merge fire services

Chicken Little is alive and well. Seminole and the Suncoast Fire District are loudly proclaiming personnel cuts arising from budget shortfalls. Suncoast is (again) asking for a substantial fee increase. Well, the sky doesn't need to fall - even a little.

Pinellas County has at least 18 separate fire departments and districts. Duplication abounds. For example, Seminole and the Suncoast Fire District have firehouses, equipment and personnel within six-tenths of a mile from each other. Having 18 departments means 18 fire chiefs and administrative staffs and their costs.

Use of fire equipment for non-emergency reasons is not only prevalent, but quite expensive and unnecessary. (I rarely go to my grocery store and not find a firetruck parked in the lot while the firefighters shop. Why can't one person use a car and not incur the expense of several firefighters shopping and operating an expensive firetruck?)

Surely our county's elected leaders could affect consolidation of fire departments to achieve significant budget savings without any need to reduce services, as we did years ago with ambulance service.

Needless to say, those who protest the loudest about budget cuts (and personnel services) are the chiefs, whose jobs remain secure under today's duplicative and redundant organizations. If local leaders are unwilling or unable to act, then a legislator should introduce appropriate legislation to force a move that can only result in improved financing and efficiency.

Charles Peters, Seminole

"Gotcha" guy strikes again March 5, story

Audacity is needed

The audacity of a taxpaying citizen who engages in our democracy and exercises his right, his responsibility, and, moreover, his duty to hold those who wish to be stewards of our tax dollars and policy, accountable to the rules and/or laws. Where does he think he lives - America?

More interesting were some of the reactions of the would-be leaders, the last one being of considerable concern:

"I don't believe this."

"I'm just shocked way beyond belief."

"Tell Maurice Wappler to mind his own business."

Wappler's approach may be terse, but I submit that if more citizens were to mind "our" business and pay closer attention to "our" process, and those who espouse to govern it, "our" local, state and federal government organizations might be in better shape than they are today.

Norm Roche, Clearwater

Cell phone morons March 9, letter

Don't drive and dial

My wife and I may have seen an example of the letter writer's "peeve" some weeks ago.

Approaching a traffic light, we noticed the driver on our right had her sun visor down, though it was an overcast day. It seems she had a mirror on the visor and, yes, she was applying eye makeup of some sort.

By the time we were approaching the next light, she was still applying makeup - and dialing her cell phone.

I quickly got out of her vicinity (in case she made a turn without using the turn indicator), so I didn't see if she, perhaps, also lit a cigarette.

Yes, Florida needs stricter cell phone - or maybe driver - regulations.

R.J. Radford, Clearwater

Share your views

We invite readers to write to us. Letters for publication should be addressed to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. They can be sent by fax to (727) 893-8675or through our Web site at www.sptimes.com/letters/. They should be brief and must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Please include a handwritten signature when possible. Letters may be edited for clarity, taste and length. We regret that not all letters can be published.

[Last modified March 11, 2008, 23:02:20]