Highs and lows across Tampa Bay | Editorial
Watson Haynes’ legacy. Every community needs one — a towering leader of conscience who brings justice, hope and ambition to the voiceless. And for decades in Pinellas County, that person was the Rev. Watson Haynes II, the longtime president of the Pinellas County Urban League, who died this past week at the age of 69. The St. Petersburg native grew up in the former Gas Plant neighborhood, one of seven children of a single mother determined, as the Times once described, “that her children would amount to something.” Haynes did his mother right, as class president at St. Petersburg High School, as a chaplain and minister and as president and chief executive Pinellas Urban League since 2012. St. Petersburg has made headlines for years as a growing city more diverse and vibrant by the day. That happened not by accident, but through the toil of people like Haynes, whom St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch rightly lauded as “a counselor, adviser, peacemaker and bridgebuilder.” His legacy is a testament to what principle and commitment can accomplish, and his loss should inspire the next generation to carry on Haynes’ invaluable work.
Improve bus stops. Greater use of mass transit is essential for communities to improve commutes, reduce congestion, control heat-trapping emissions and lower transportation costs. But among the many ways that Hillsborough County’s transit system falls short is the untold number of bus stops that don’t meet standards for people with disabilities. As of 2019, there were 327 bus stops in Hillsborough that did not meet the minimum accessibility standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That’s about one in every eight bus stops, the Times’ Olivia George reported, and three years later, the extent of progress remains unclear. To its credit, as George reported, the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority is currently working on a more thorough, updated study. Officials need to complete those findings, and get to work on improving curb cuts, sidewalks and other features. Funding is always an issue; what’s important here is making better and safer access for the disabled a priority. In fact, it should be part of a larger effort to make bus stops better shelters so that waiting for the bus in semi-tropical Florida is not such an ordeal.
Your cigarette litter. The city of St. Petersburg’s Health, Energy, Resilience and Sustainability Committee made the right decision Thursday by unanimously approving a proposal to ban smoking in city parks and beaches. If approved by the City Council in September, enforcement would begin on Jan. 1. This is a long-overdue step in cleaning up our public spaces. Cigarette butts account for 40% of the waste recovered in cities and on beaches in international clean-up campaigns, according to environmental groups. Aside from polluting our beaches and parks, discarded cigarettes are an eyesore and a health hazard for children and wildlife. The measure would prohibit smoking in all areas of public beaches and public parks within the city, and violations could result in fines of up to $500. The council and police need to send a message: Nobody wants your old tobacco butts. This isn’t about being a nanny state but saying enough to a public nuisance.
Burn waste elsewhere. Let’s put common sense into law: No incinerators near neighborhoods. That should be the guiding ethos as Hillsborough County commissioners consider changes to their development rules. The idea surfaced this week in the aftermath of the commission killing an application for two log-burning incinerators in the semi-rural suburb of Lutz. While that project appears dead, commissioners now want to consider restricting where incinerators can locate in the future. County development rules still allow agricultural uses to include home-based businesses and an incinerator or composting facility for yard waste. Commissioners want to review the land development code to consider restricting some of those uses on agricultural land in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. Any potential changes likely won’t be considered until next year. But the commission deserves credit for learning from Lutz and working to get ahead of another problem.
Editorials are the institutional voice of the Tampa Bay Times. The members of the Editorial Board are Editor of Editorials Graham Brink, Sherri Day, Sebastian Dortch, John Hill, Jim Verhulst and Chairman and CEO Conan Gallaty. Follow @TBTimes_Opinion on Twitter for more opinion news.
