St. Pete’s Field of Dreams

Hines-Rays plan is a good deal for St. Petersburg | Column, Feb. 18

Before moving to St. Petersburg, I worked in economic development for more than two decades in Iowa, home of the iconic baseball movie “Field of Dreams.’’ There, we hosted triple A baseball and I witnessed how baseball unites a community, raises its profile and helps drive economic development that attracts new families, jobs and businesses.

Now St. Petersburg has a remarkable opportunity to build its own field of dreams. The Hines-Rays Historic Gas Plant Development proposal includes an intimate, innovative new ballpark ensuring the Tampa Bay Rays are here to stay, and a mixed-use development that honors the past and positions us well for the future. It’s a home run for St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay region that will bring more than $6 billion in private investment.

The development will help us advance from singles and doubles to consistent home runs in economic development. The Rays are one of just 30 Major League Baseball franchises, which are significant attractors generating national attention. The combination of the new ballpark with the planned development will dramatically increase that attention from families and businesses seeking to relocate and will help us meet some of our most pressing challenges. The proposal includes 1.4 million square feet of badly needed new office space and 1,200 affordable housing units.

This is a model public-private partnership with economic benefits that will ripple throughout St. Petersburg and beyond, and it’s essential that we keep the Rays and remain a Major League Baseball city.

Mike Swesey, St. Petersburg

The writer is president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corp.

Communism for kindergartners

Will lessons on communism be on the curriculum for kindergartners? | Feb. 16

Before Florida Republicans start trying to teach anyone about communism, they need to quit spewing lies about it. As long as they continue accusing Democrats of being Communists (big C), they clearly don’t know what they are talking about.

There are no communist (small c) countries. In a communist country the workers would be in control, and they are not in any Communist country. Communist (big C) countries are ruled by dictators. That makes them a lot like fascists, and they really belong on the right end of the political spectrum, not the left.

Unlike the Democratic Party, the Republic Party has a lot in common with the Chinese Communist Party. They both are authoritarian. They both suppress and punish legitimate opposition. They act in secret. They oppress minorities. They control public discourse and suppress free speech. They suppress freedom of religion and freedom of the press. The oppose due process. They invade private life.

Republicans really should be careful who they call Communists. Of course the whole point of this law is so they can teach our children that Democrats are Communists, when they are not.

Joe Crites, Clearwater

Small landlords can’t compete

A private equity firm built a rental empire | Feb. 18

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The problem is that major private equity firms like Progress Residential force small landlords out of the market. Small landlords cannot attain enough capital to effectively compete with large private equity companies. In addition, private buyers who need to attain a mortgage cannot compete with the all cash offers from firms like Progress Residential. Banks nowadays tend to bundle homes in foreclosure and sell the bundle to private equity companies. The net result of private equity companies controlling the housing market is higher home prices and higher rents.

Patrick T. Dowd, New Port Richey,

Founders intent

Christian nation? Historians say it misreads founders’ intent | Feb. 18

When the “new world” was being settled, groups of people were fleeing Europe for freedoms — from religious zealots insisting everyone become members of the king’s church/religion; from oppressive religious beliefs and schisms; and for the right to worship as they desired.

Our founders were not intent on establishing a “Christian” nation. They wanted one where anyone could worship — or not worship. Thomas Jefferson even created his own bible by cutting apart the book and choosing which verses he liked and discarded the rest.

The U.S. has become a nation of people from all parts of the earth, the melting pot of peoples. The intent was to form a nation of freedom and laws, not a nation for Christians only.

Carol Hess, Hudson

America, a Christian nation

Christian nation? Historians say it misreads founders’ intent | Feb. 18

Regarding the Sunday letter to the editor about the U.S. being a Christian nation. One of the nice things about this country is you can think and believe anything you want. What you can’t do is force others to think and live like you, which, unfortunately, seems to be the trend with some people these days. They want to dictate how we think, how we live and what we can and cannot read. America the country is not a Christian nation, nor will it ever be officially. We have freedom of religion here. Period. Full stop.

Robert J. Emery, Tampa

No solutions in blaming

Vaccine hesitancy grows and so do measles outbreaks | Feb. 21

I expect better than finger pointing from my local newspaper. Vaccine hesitancy predated COVID-19 and was chiefly propelled by left-leaning personalities. Scholarly analyses and even self-admission reveal that vacillating official sources, sometime errant and not based in science, under successive administrations, undermined public confidence in their recommendations before COVID-19 vaccines were available. Many vaccine experts believe that mandates were counterproductive.

The Times Editorial Board bases its indictment of Republicans on a differential in polled vaccine attitudes. Alike, Democrats claimed they would better observe social distancing. Research shows no difference from their Republican neighbors in hosting family and friend gatherings (micro super-spreaders extrapolated).

Routinizing medical care; restoring funding for innovation in vaccine development; acknowledging that the abatement of COVID-19 resulted from a combination of natural and artificial immunity and that we did too little to protect the old and unhealthy; and treating people like adults by objectively sharing pros and cons rather than guilt tripping those with reservations, all seem a better use of this newspaper’s editorial influence.

Pat Byrne, Seminole

A property tax idea

Florida property taxes should be more transparent for new homeowners | Column, Feb. 17

I want to thank Pinellas County Property Appraiser Mike Twitty for the great column. He was correct about disclosures within the sales contracts about just market value being adjusted upon a change of ownership. It can be easily missed.

This is understandable. Most home buyers trust that their Realtor will be their guide to educating them regarding the contract language. Certainly, the online listing programs like Zillow will not do this. Unfortunately, unlike attorneys who exclusively work for clients, most real estate agents, unless employed exclusively to represent a buyer, are not required to follow fiduciary duties, such as undivided loyalty, confidentiality and full disclosure.

It would be nice if all Realtors, however, made a simple explanation about the new expectations for property taxes such as a written statement that said something like: “Hillsborough County has a millage rate for property tax purposes of 1.47% this year. This rate is applied to the new assessed value of a property after the sale to determine the amount of taxes owed. This means a $250,000 assessed home value multiplied by 1.47%. equals $3,675 in annual property taxes.”

Tom Feaster, Tampa

The writer has been a Florida licensed real estate broker since 1980 and is a Florida Supreme Court certified circuit civil mediator who specializes in real estate.

Which wolf wins?

I was told this tribal saying some years ago. It seems very wise and applicable today. Each time I read it I am reminded of a candidate running for office this year. Here it is:

There are two wolves fighting inside all of us. The first one is bad, the second one is good. Which wolf will win?

The one we feed.

Peter Castelli, Tampa