Best of luck to the Rays on the stadium idea. They’re gonna need it | Column, Jan. 25
Just wondering if the Rays’ push for a stadium in Tampa is just a ploy to move them to Orlando. The new owners, of course, know that the public money will never appear in Hillsborough, but now they can say, “Well, we tried.” Say hello to the Orlando Dreamers!
Tomas Negron, San Antonio
Best of luck to the Rays on the stadium idea. They’re gonna need it | Column, Jan. 25
For many years, we have had wealthy Rays’ team owners begging for money to build them a new home. The team is valued at about $1.7 billion, while many Rays fans struggle to pay their own rent.
Unlike Marie Antoinette saying “let them eat cake” (I know, she supposedly didn’t really say that), this is more like Marie saying:
“Hey, you commoners, I think it would be just splendid if you were to give me $500 million+ so that I can build my new palace. Once built, I shall allow you access to events. Of course, there will be a fee for entry, but you will be able to buy over-priced cake, oh, and beer. Don’t forget money for parking”.
If a new stadium is such a good deal, why can’t they find enough private investors? Alternatively, if they really want to partner with local governments/taxpayers, we should own it in proportion to our share of funding, including all revenues and benefits from the property, such as our share of gate revenue for all events, parking, concessions, etc.
I’m not convinced we should use public money on a stadium. Why not affordable housing and better street drainage? But if people want a stadium, we should get the benefits of it, not just that the teams stayed here.
William Nye, Clearwater
What about Rays stadium parking? | Jan. 25
Baseball games (or anything like them) require tens of thousands of people to enter a stadium at the same time and leave at the same time. Without efficient mass transit, this is pretty much impossible. Our area has negligible mass transit and has no serious plans to build much more. Let the cities with long-established train and subway systems — New York, Boston, San Francisco, etc. — have the sports teams and rock concerts.
Pete Wilford, Holiday
Pinellas proposes closing, consolidating 6 schools | Jan. 22
I praise the Pinellas County school system for being cost-effective by combining schools that are under 50% full. This is a major cost reduction and allows the other properties to be sold rather than given away to a for-profit charter school. This is truly a win-win situation.
Holly Haley, New Port Richey
Florida needs small modular nuclear reactors | Column, Jan. 18
I applaud this guest columnist and every other person who demands investment in clean energy, but why do articles about nuclear energy leave out the same key element? While the consensus opinion about the harmful effects of greenhouse gases is nearly universal, no one ever addresses the plans to deal with the truckloads of nuclear waste produced to provide this “cleaner” energy.
The hazardous waste is always the first thing I think of, as well as the amount of water and other resources each reactor will consume. It would be much easier to listen to these arguments if more of this information were included.
James Jones, Tampa
Can Florida’s high school graduates answer these simple questions? | Letters, Jan. 25
With reference to the letter regarding Tampa Bay school districts’ excellent high school graduation rates. The letter writer asked whether the graduates could answer some basic questions, including what is the square root of nine, which is the largest continent, and who wrote Hamlet?
I concur that these are questions that not all graduates and the general public can answer. However, I want you to know that my students who study for the Literacy and Civics portion of the nation’s official citizenship test know these history, government, and geography answers, and maybe the other answers too.
My point is that high school graduates should pass the citizenship test (128 questions) as part of the graduation requirement. If applicants for naturalization need to know this information, so should all high school graduates, though I have found many highly “educated” American-born citizens do not. Thank you to the letter writer. I’m adding his questions to my own “what all Americans should know” collection.
Eileen OSullivan Smith, Oldsmar
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