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Wednesday's letters: How home rule can help fight Red Tide

 
Published Sept. 19, 2018

Red Tide on march | Sept. 18

How home rule can help fight Red Tide

At the end of 2005, as Red Tide ravaged the beaches and intracoastal waterways of Southwest Florida, volunteers from the Suncoast Sierra Club formed a coastal task force to begin dealing with the harmful algal bloom. A first step in the fight for better water quality was to reduce nitrogen-heavy fertilizers used on St. Augustine turf lawns throughout the state. Our initial focus was on Southwest Florida cities and counties and in January 2010, after five years of community meetings and education, we helped enable the passage of the Pinellas County fertilizer ordinance with its June 1 through Sept. 30 point-of-sale ban on nitrogen-based fertilizers. After the Pinellas County Commission passed it, the municipalities in Pinellas followed suit. Other cities and counties in Southwest Florida passed similar restrictions. Why? Because of the science-based evidence presented by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the hearty support of the business and tourist community, and the continued focus on the importance of water protection as the bedrock issue for all of us. In 2011 the Republican-majority Legislature and governor brought these local government protections to a screeching halt by preempting passage of any more local fertilizer ordinances. The state assault on local home rule had begun.

Although the organism that makes up Red Tide occurs naturally, the scientific link between land-based human inputs coupled with high storm and rainfall activity points directly to fertilizer and other nitrogen runoff as a primary driver of harmful algal blooms. Imagine if each county could craft an ordinance that addresses its particular need to protect the water that provides jobs, recreation, human health and unique Florida wildlife? To make that happen we need to change the leadership in Tallahassee.

Cathy Harrelson, St. Petersburg

Prisons cost state more than money | Romano column, Sept. 18

What prisons teach our kids

This is an excellent column, but I would add that the "more than money" includes the cost to our state's moral standing. How can we expect our children to grow into responsible, caring adults when we treat human beings in our care with such disrespect and cruelty?

Susan Burnore, St. Petersburg

Florence leaves rising rivers, long recovery | Sept. 18

Storm looting is still looting

The conversations at a recent social gathering of friends and family concentrated on Hurricane Florence. While the majority of the initial conversations were on thoughts and prayers of so many, the late stages were on two other topics. First, what should have happened to those who refused to evacuate? Why should so many first responders and volunteers have to chance losing their lives to help those that decided to stay at the risks of their own lives? I know, it is because it is their job to protect the public while putting their lives in danger.

Next, there was the topic of the looters that stripped the shelves of two Family Dollar Stores. The consensus was that (1) these criminals knew that they would not be caught and even if they were arrested, there would be little or no punishment and (2) they felt that they were "entitled" due to their poor living conditions. Family Dollar Stores, in general, try to fill a need of those whose incomes are on the lower end. If I were in upper management of this corporation, I would shut down both stores and make sure to place the blame at the feet of those who stole.

Tom Craig, Riverview