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Welfare Reform
My compliments and thanks for a penetrating and thoughtful editorial on welfare reform [FT, Sept. 1996]. It is so very easy for most to feel that there are simplistic solutions to that vexing problem. It is a tragedy that our political leaders have taken advantage of the general public's lack of real knowledge of the problem and have taken the expedient way of making up a solution which will shortly return to haunt them when the full effects of this "reform" take effect. Few realize that much-maligned social workers have for decades urged reforms which would really have made a change for the better. These include: provisions for adequate medical care; training for available jobs; arrangements for good transportation for work and training; and relaxation of the rule applied by many states to receipt of AFDC, which prevented marriage for single AFDC mothers. Any meaningful reform program will be very costly - and I doubt the Congress or any state legislature is willing to fund it. And the idea that states can administer welfare programs with greater efficiency without federal oversight is pure fiction. At the age of 82, I well remember days before there were any federal programs to meet the needs of the poor, and I can tell you it was not a pretty sight in Depression years.
Douglas Smith
Tallahassee
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College Tuition
As a member of the Council of 100 and chairman of the Florida Prepaid College Board, I read the editorial "Florida's Forgotten Ones" [FT, August 1996], which highlighted the council's semi-annual meeting focusing on the status of children in Florida, with great interest.
You are absolutely correct that many of our "problem children" require long-term investments. The primary purpose of the Florida Prepaid College Program is to provide an incentive for families to engage in financial planning that will improve the lives of their children with a college education without burdensome debt. With over 376,000 prepaid contracts, generating nearly $2 billion in assets and a $200 million surplus, the program has been very successful.
In your editorial, you cite a foundation started by Barnett Banks called "Take Stock In Children," based upon a Pinellas County model. What you fail to mention is that the Pinellas County model and Take Stock In Children are both participants in the Florida Prepaid College Foundation's Project STARS [Scholarships and Tuitions for At-Risk Students], a program providing prepaid college contracts as scholarships to economically disadvantaged, at-risk students of primarily middle school age. Funds contributed by private organizations are matched with state funds to provide these scholarships. Students are expected to stay in school with satisfactory academic progress and remain drug-free and crime-free in order to receive the scholarship upon graduation from high school.
In addition to the foundations you mention, organizations in 35 counties responded to this initiative by pledging nearly $7 million to STARS, even though the Florida Legislature in 1996 appropriated only $1 million in matching funds.
Through 1995, approximately 2,500 at-risk students have been served, but the real testament to this project's success is that less than 1% of these students have been terminated from the program.
Stanley G. Tate
Chairman, Florida Prepaid College Board
North Miami
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Growth Management
Your August 1996 article by John M. Godfrey on the Florida economy has a major omission. It fails to mention the supposed scourge of business and industry - growth management. If Florida's economy is flourishing, how can growth management be thwarting the state's economic endeavors? Clearly, something is going right, and I believe growth management has an important, but often overlooked, role in making this happen.
I recall your December 1994 article which loudly trumpeted the failures of growth management for not stopping, among other things, urban sprawl. The 1994 article also failed to mention any success stories. This recent article on economic development may just be the growth management success story.
Growth management is working. The best example of this is that our business climate continues to be attractive because of our high quality of life, which is enhanced by comprehensive land use planning that guides, but does not prevent, growth into appropriate areas. Such areas usually have an infrastructure already in place and an absence of sensitive natural resources. Growth management also holds development to a higher standard called for by the public. That frequently means business pays its fair share of infrastructure costs that would otherwise be borne totally by the public at large.
I look at our growth management system in the same light as others see medical care. It is complicated. It can be expensive. It can be cumbersome. Yet, it is also very necessary. Most of us understand the necessity of good, preventive and early health care. If you go without it, you will suffer the consequences. The same happens in growth management. Responsible efforts now, pay dividends later. I guess it would be hard to believe that the growth management advocates have been right all along. Now it seems even the economists are saying it.
Charles G. Pattison
Director, Division of Resource Planning and Management Department of Community Affairs, Tallahassee
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Service Secrets
The September cover story, "Secrets of Service," was excellent. Every consumer has a different perception of service quality and every provider decides upon a level of service to offer consumers.
It was disappointing that the article and sidebar executives' comments excluded any reference to the non-profit association community.
You could have mentioned service levels in trade and professional associations. These groups exist to serve members. Because dues are paid voluntarily, the renewal and retention process is a reflection of member satisfaction.
While most of the executives you interviewed belong to or serve on the leadership of associations and chambers, none of them mentioned quality service in membership organizations.
Robert C. Harris Harris Management Group Tallahassee Insurance Rates My family settled on Tampa Bay 150 years ago but later moved up the hill to avoid hurricane damage. Since 1925, our sturdy, simple house has suffered no hurricane damage. Yet, after Andrew, our insurance rate jumped 58%.
"The Next Big Blow" [FT, July 1996] notes that insurance for new waterfront houses is underpriced. I agree. And I believe that the converse is also true: Insurance for sturdy houses built on high-and-dry land is overpriced. I believe this underpricing and overpricing add up to a transfer of wealth from my family and others who built prudently in high-and-dry areas, to those building riskily on waterfronts.
I understand insurance companies did not sponsor this transfer; after Andrew, they attempted to cut coverage to waterfront houses, reassess risks, and adjust rates. But the Florida press stepped forward to portray this free market price adjustment as cruel abandonment of waterfront owners. Florida politicians prevented it. This left insurance companies no way to balance waterfront losses other than to overcharge other (high-dry) customers. Thus, Florida press and politicians force Florida's prudent many to subsidize its risky, but apparently politically powerful, few. Welfare for the rich. Now, as each new waterfront house is constructed, future hurricane loss expectations increase, and with them every Floridian's insurance cost.
Early M. Sorenson, P.E.
Clearwater
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State Universities
Regarding your article
"College On A Budget," in the August issue, I must correct an inaccuracy in your subhead. You wrote that "Florida's vast state university system struggles with its deficit." In fact, the State University System of Florida operates on a cash basis. We do not now, nor have we ever, operated with a deficit.
You probably refer to concerns about the adequacy of state funding to provide educational opportunity for hundreds of thousands of new high school graduates in the years ahead. That may constitute a potential shortfall, but not a budget deficit.
James F. Heekin, Jr.
Chairman, Florida Board of Regents
Orlando
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Clarifications & Corrections
Bob Andelman should have been cited as co-author with Albert Dunlap of "Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great," excerpted in September's Florida Trend.
Cummins Southeastern Power is a distributor of Cummins Engines, not a subsidiary. With 1995 revenue of $72.7 million, it ranks 172nd among Florida's private companies.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
