TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Letters To The Editor

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 10, 2008

Time To Think Of Rail

It has been mentioned for many years the inevitable would happen on Interstate 4 because it is too heavily traveled and, with weather anomalies, the accidents will occur.

Our condolences to all the victims and their families for the deaths and injuries to all the persons involved Wednesday.

It is a day to understand the implications and the remedies desired in the prevention of other tragedies in the near future.

The need for train systems from all locations in Florida is resonating more each day. The Tampa-to-Orlando railway is pivotal for the reality of this necessary mass transit system. Central Florida with its many commuters daily on that I-4 corridor is the primary focus for the need of a train railway along it to transport people safely.

One which is efficient and independent of any fossil fuel will be the best. It can be done with minimal costs and taxation to the residents.

MARIO RIVERA

Winter Haven

Taxpayers On The Hook

Regarding "State Must Cover Local Losses To Restore Confidence In Risk Pool" (Our Opinion, Jan. 4):

Money lost in the investment pools should be borne by the party that was paid the fees for managing the pool. Hillsborough County lost the money by approving of Blackrock and Lehman Bros. to dump inappropriate investments into the pool. Therefore any investment losses that the county cannot collect from Blackrock or Lehman by a lawsuit for inappropriate investments should be borne by the managing party that permitted the investment.

There is no miracle money in the state to bail out anybody. This is taxpayer's money and must come from the taxpayer. Lehman needed a place to dump its exposure to subprime mortgages and the county fund manager's greed for greater returns was blinded to the risk.

Goldman Sachs admits making a fortune dumping these products on unsuspecting investors resulting in multimillion dollar bonuses for its executives trading these products short. In effect, are you asking the state taxpayers to pay for these bonuses and keep the county fund whole after their indiscretions?

LOU CHRISTODOULOU

Apollo Beach

No Easy Solution

Give me a break! Would we restore confidence by calling a state emergency? I think not. Would we restore confidence if we answered all the questions that have been left unanswered and fixed all the problems so it may not happen any time too soon? I think yes.

How could the state purchase over $800 million in subprime mortgages when everyone in the country is familiar with the foreclosure problem; yet it was done by the highest levels of state government. Shame on us.

How could the editorial ask the citizens to bail them out of bad investments with more of our tax dollars?

Someone is always looking for the easy way out.

Wouldn't we all like a little bail out of investments gone bad? Maybe Governor Crist can send us some of those tax dollars, too?

THOMAS A. WALZ

Sun City Center

Time And Money Saved

Regarding "County Welcomes TaxWatch's Free Audit" (Metro, Jan. 4):

While reading this article, I realized why people are losing faith in our elected officials. Rose Ferlita votes "no" to a free audit because she associates a price to dedicating time with the auditors. In the business world this is called a soft cost because it has no real calculable value and is more of a time management issue. County Administrator Pat Bean backed up Ferlita by arguing they only saved $2.5 million on the last audit instead of the $22 million TaxWatch says the county saved.

We in the South Shore community - part of Ferlita's district - with kids on waiting lists to play youth sports will settle for the $2.5 million for a new park. Get with it, commissioner!

DEAN L. WALTERS

Ruskin

Terrorized By Celebrants

Regarding "Fireworks Ring In The New Year ... Noisily" (Letters, Jan. 5):

Please add my voice to the chorus of those pleading with the city and county to do something about the fireworks terrorizing so many neighborhoods during the holidays. It's like living in a war zone with battles raging all around.

For years we've resigned ourselves to putting up with hours of New Year's Eve explosions, but this year the "fun" began on Christmas Eve. Every year seems worse than the last, as those of us who do not explode fireworks in the streets huddle inside trying to comfort terrified children and pets for hours on end. It's exhausting and demoralizing to lose much-needed sleep while a few neighbors are allowed to run amok with illegal fireworks.

M.T. RAMOS

Tampa

Learning From Seattle

I totally agree with Peggy Warren-Stipe's Jan. 7 letter, "Cameras Could Improve Safety." I did a Google search for Seattle traffic light cameras and found some very interesting reading that should be published in The Tampa Tribune for all to see. The figures in Warren Stipe's letter were astounding - and could be another source of revenue for our community.

Living near the intersection of Fowler Avenue and 56th Street, we see people speeding through the intersection on a regular basis. Even HARTline and school buses are offenders. Calling the school bus garage gets a response of "So what?" ( I can only say I'm glad my children were not passengers on the Hillsborough County school buses).

It would not take much to implement this program, and the real benefit would be reducing traffic accidents, personal injuries, reducing property damage which would result in reduced insurance costs and increased productivity for businesses due to fewer employee injuries suffered in accidents).

JO ANN SANDERSON

Temple Terrace

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT