March 29, 2024

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Letters to the Editor - October 2010

| 10/1/2010

Oil Spill
I commend Florida Trend for its coverage of the oil spill and the lasting economic and environmental impact it will have on Florida ["Oil Spill Update," August; "The Spill," July]. I also want to thank you for singling out two individuals from within the State University System of Florida who are working hard on this effort.

Such a fluid, daily news issue as the largest oil spill threat in Florida’s history has clearly demonstrated the important role of data collection, analysis and research, all of which our universities bring to bear.

In addition, we commend University of South Florida’s Dr. Ralph Wilcox and Dr. Bill Hogarth, who are providing the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) with leadership and administrative support; Florida Atlantic University’s Dr. Shirley Pomponi, who is chair of the FIO Council; and Florida State University’s Dr. Ross Ellington, chair of the State University System’s Oil Spill Academic Task Force.

The FIO has been tapped to receive, administer and supervise $10 million from BP for the academic research and recovery scientific issues. Every university in the system with marine science assets and expertise will be tapped as we maximize the grant funds.

In essence, this catastrophe has created a “marine science cluster” that demonstrates the power of academic collaboration as we assist in the state’s work to help Florida recover.

Frank T. Brogan
Chancellor, State University System
Tallahassee

 


 

Specialty Plates
In “Plate Tectonics” [August], you reported that, “in the wake of the fee increases, a number of Florida charities saw their receipts from specialty plate sales decline” and that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports a 64% decline in new sales of specialty plates. You went on to report that “most non-profits didn’t get hammered” and “some non-profit groups saw increases.”

These statements alone are accurate, but if you are going to tell the story of the fee increase’s impact, please tell the whole story.

To begin with, the extended lifespan of a metal license plate has nothing to do with how much money a non-profit organization gets from the sale of a specialty license plate. Whether someone paid the DMV a $12 plate fee (before September 2009) or a $28 plate fee (after September 2009), customers who purchase the Fish Florida license plate pay an additional $22, tax-deductible donation to our organization. And since Fish Florida’s specialty license plate went on sale in March 2004, as of September 2009, none of our license plates were due to be replaced, even under the old “six-year plate terms.”

Biennial registrations also cannot account for the decline in new plate issuances. If someone biennially renewed a plate in August 2009, it was counted as one registration in 2009 and one in 2010. And the specialty plate organization received one annual use fee from that registration in 2009 and one in 2010.

For the period you reference, January-April 2009 vs. January-April 2010, Fish Florida new plate issues were down.

If you would like to follow DMV spokesman David Westberry’s advice and “just follow the money,” here is what you will find for Fish Florida. Our total income (January-April 2009 vs. January-April 2010) is down 3.8%. That 3.8% would have provided two college scholarships plus 260 rods and reels for foster children plus a summer fishing clinic for 400 Jacksonville students plus a Hooked On Fishing Not On Drugs after-school program for 84 inner-city Miami children.

The Legislature and the DMV were wrong to increase fees on a purchase that is voluntary. The fee increases are hurting us all.

Lara Kramer
Fish Florida
Hollywood

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