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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2001
As chairman of the Lealman fire commissioners, I am extremely concerned about overspending by the county commissioners with the Penny for Pinellas tax money. I have served as an elected official to this district for eight years now, and to the best of my knowledge this fire district has never received one red cent of this money.
Recently, the Lealman fire commissioners requested that the county commissioners, through the County Fire Authority, grant the Lealman Fire District funds from the Penny for Pinellas to help build a new structure for Station 18. The current building is literally falling down around our ears. We want to rebuild Station 18 on the northeast corner of Lealman Park where we can be more accessible to our community in emergency situations. We are in concert with the county to build a community center there also. This is something this community needs and deserves.
It's very disheartening when we are given a nod of assurance and told we have a certain amount of money to spend, only to find out our project may be among those cut out because of overcommitments and excessive spending by our county government. The residents, firefighters, paramedics and this fire commissioner have all waited too long for a new station to get dumped at the last minute.
The Lealman Fire Department's Stations 18 and 19 had an average of 18 calls per day in 1999, increasing to 24 calls per day in 2000. That's busy! I think these hard-working firefighters and paramedics deserve a heck of a lot more than we've given them in the past.
I am sure there are other areas throughout this county that have projects pending, just as we do in Lealman. It's time the residents of Pinellas demanded more accountability and full disclosure from the people we elected. It's time we put our foot down to excessive spending and overcommitment with our Penny for Pinellas tax. It's ours, and it's time we get straight answers as to why the money isn't being used in our neighborhoods.Linda L. Campbell, chairman, Board of Fire Commissioners, Lealman Fire/Rescue District
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Good public transportation lacking
Re: Plans to raze Baptist church.
Some may see plans to replace the Baptist church in downtown St. Petersburg with a parking lot as symbolic of the rampant growth of materialism and the decline of spiritual values in our society. But on a more practical note, there is one good reason why downtown St. Petersburg is growing into one gigantic parking lot: the absence of a viable public transit system that runs when and as often as customers need. No doubt a number of St. Peter's visitors could use existing transit and even more could be accommodated with upgraded service.
New York has some of the most congested traffic in the nation but it also has an A-1 public transit service, and so historic churches continue to flourish in its downtown. Not everyone needs to make every trip in a private vehicle. But until our community demands better bus service, look for more historic treasures to be demolished for more empty lots.
John Royse, St. Petersburg