After-School Care on Thin Ice

In the morning, I read a news article about the costs of remodeling 195 skyboxes at the Bucs football stadium,  to the tune of $2.3 million.  Apparently the skybox owners have  ice machines that are broken and worn carptet, which is totally unacceptable.

In the evening, I attended a meeting in which Mark Thornton, director of the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department, stated that the taxpayers of Hillsborough County had to live within their means.  That means that ALL of the after-school programs at the county recreation centers are to be closed.

Now, I realize that the money for the remodeling and the after-school programs come out of different "pots" of Hillsborough County's money, but if all of us have to make scarifices because of the economy, shouldn't the skybox owners also make scarifices?

If the Glazers take the money to remodel the skyboxes, how about then donating  an equal amount to keep the after-school programs open?

E-mail the Bucs at http://www.buccaneers.com/footer/customer-service-form.html. Tell them that everyone has to make scarifices — and if that means, heaven forbid, that they buy ice machines out of their own change, and suffer with worn carpet a little longer so that the tax money can be used to keep after-school programs open for their future fans, then so be it.

Spread the word.  Have your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors e-mail or call:  (813) 870-2700 and tell them that children are more important that ice machines.