Help choose Letter of the Month
Letters to the editor offer a significant contribution to the discussion of public policy and life in Tampa Bay. To recognize some of that work by our most engaged readers, the Times will select a letter of the month and the writers will be recognized at the end of the year.
Help us choose from the nominations for letter of the month for November by visiting the website listed below by Friday. Read through the three letters and vote on the ballot at the bottom of the Web page. We will choose the finalists each month based on relevance on topical issues, persuasiveness and writing style. The writer's opinion does not need to match the editorial board's opinion on the issue to be nominated. But clarity of thinking, brevity and a sense of humor certainly help.
To see the three November nominees and vote, go to www.tampabay.com/opinion.
Quality of life
Neighbors working together
It was not until after I graduated from college that I began to pay attention to all the violence, drug activity and prostitution that had begun plaguing my neighborhood. The very same streets that I played on as a child had become sites for a myriad of crimes. Many have attributed this decline in "quality neighborhoods" to the increasing number of renters who have begun moving into vacated homes. The negative connotation is that renters are not as invested in their communities as homeowners are.
In my neighborhood, Lakewood Terrace, homeowners have either moved into nursing homes or passed away, leaving us with a depleted neighborhood association. We have struggled to find effective ways to make renters want to take pride in their homes and actively become a part of the neighborhood.
I didn't want to be a spectator; I wanted to be a participator. I went to St. Petersburg City Council member Karl Nurse and requested that something be done to help reorganize the Lakewood Terrace Neighborhood Association and restore it to its former glory. He put me in contact with longtime community activist Edna Barnes, who assisted me in organizing an inaugural fall picnic.
On Nov. 21, association members joined other neighbors for a picnic at the Lakewood Terrace Neighborhood Park. Roughly 30 to 40 neighbors gathered to celebrate with free food, drinks and entertainment, all thanks to the labors of community leaders and a mini-grant from the city. Attendees ranged from age 1 to 85. This picnic brought out homeowners as well as renters, resulting in five new association memberships.
For me, the most affecting part of the picnic was seeing our neighborhood patrol officer, Dennis Kelly, play football with myself and a group of young men from the area. Officer Kelly stayed throughout the picnic and gave neighbors an update on what was going on as it relates to crime. Police reports have declined from 350 to 90 calls a month, much of which is credited to a greater police presence and a stronger neighborhood watch.
It's my opinion that we fail to recognize the good things that are being done in the city. It warmed my heart to see our community putting the "neighbor" back into the "hood."
Corey Givens Jr., St. Petersburg
Bright Futures
Keep talent in Florida
The Bright Futures program is one of Florida's greatest assets and must be preserved. It provides an extensive, merit-based reward to our young people to achieve higher education.
The governor should forget low taxes. This is the program that should direct Florida's economic future. Raising the performance criteria — such as with higher grades and better SAT scores — is not the best cost-cutting measure the state could have pursued. It limits access to an affordable education. Instead, I propose moving toward a more contractual opportunity for scholarship.
Students who are granted this reward literally owe the state working years for education years. I cannot tell you how many Bright Futures alumni (including myself) have left Florida for job opportunities elsewhere after the Sunshine State generously educated us.
Education debts to the state could be repaid on a year-for-year working agreement or a full payback of scholarship received to leave Florida (like a student loan). This contractual agreement benefits us all as it builds an educated, working population rather than exporting subsidized degrees to other states that have better job opportunities.
David Babb, San Francisco
Campaign 2016
Carson doesn't know
Ben Carson said that the pyramids were built to store grain. He said he doesn't know what the wet foot/dry foot policy for Cuba is. He said Chinese fighters are in Syria. He said he doesn't know whom he would pick for his coalition to fight ISIS. He said he watched TV and people in New Jersey were celebrating the fall of the twin towers. Ben Carson is not misunderstood. Ben Carson is a mistake.
Richard Gentile, Tampa
Rubio skimped on his FIU teaching | Nov. 24
Worth the money
This front-page article questioned the value FIU is getting for paying Marco Rubio $23,448 last year for a part-time teaching job. While the article acknowledged that "students and teaching colleagues raved about Rubio's work in the classroom," the Times went on to question his commitment since he did not grade papers or develop reading lists.
Does the Times really believe that having a U.S. senator and presidential candidate teach a class is not worth at least $25,000, even if that's all he does? I can't wait to read the companion article that explores the $325,000 fee, plus expenses, that FIU would have to pay Hillary Clinton to make one speech.
Scott Stolz, Tarpon Springs