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North Pinellas letters: With budget surplus, can county fix road now?

 
Published July 24, 2014

Fix roads with budget surplus

I read in the Times that Pinellas County has a surplus in the budget. Maybe now, after almost eight years of pleading and letter writing and going to meetings, we can finally get our street flooding problem taken care of.

We have been jerked around so many times, promised we were on the docket only to be told time and time again that the money was used elsewhere. Now once again, after numerous calls and emails, we are on the agenda. One lame excuse after another.

The road is so bad it is caving in at places and we have potholes and eroded spots that hold the rainwater for days afterward — a health hazard with all these mosquitoes and the many diseases they carry.

Marianne Gaeta, Palm Harbor

Pranksters need to respect police

I think it's a crying shame that a prankster on Clearwater Beach gets the glory and the police officer just doing her job gets the reprimand. The boys knew exactly what they were doing and walked away all smiles. Yes, the officer could have had better language, but I'm sure we all would have used strong words in that situation.

This is what is wrong with our system today. Those boys should have been given a citation. We all need to have more respect for our police officers. Their lives are on the line every day and we should not be playing jokes on them.

Gerri Jaeger, Clearwater

Don't sell land for quick profit

In addition to my addiction to reading the Tampa Bay Times each morning, I sometimes read articles in smaller newspapers. A letter to the editor I recently read while scanning the East Lake/Oldsmar Beacon made a huge impact. The article was written by Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni from Treasure Island, who I do not know. But I believe his letter should have been front page news in large print in the Times.

In simple language he reminded the reader of important facts regarding the county's 1976 purchase of the Cross Bar land and the Al Bar land purchase in 1990. These properties are in Pasco County.

The reason these vital lands were purchased was to ensure Pinellas County "would always and forever have an independent source of drinking water" since the properties sit on the Floridan aquifer.

It appears it was suggested by some to sell the property for a "one-time injection of cash" into the Pinellas County general fund.

Our taxpayers in Pinellas County are the rightful owners of these lands, and their voices need to be loud and clear. One-time fixes to increase our county's budget is a poor business plan. The individuals who came up with the idea to sell this property need to look elsewhere for cash.

Michele Shriver, Palm Harbor