The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 298

Opi nion sei The Orlando Sentinel, Sunday, February 5, 1995 K-1 1 3 Portion of $97.5 million should go to our counties Improved fire safety means a better city Don Boyett OUR COUNTY gas tax dollars to state taxes and send them to Tallahassee, rather than Washington. Without the interference, more roads would be built. If bad decisions were made, then the makers would be closer to the people, thus more answerable. When I laid out my idea to Phil Penland, the Altamonte city manager refined it a step further. Why send all the money to Tallahassee? he asked.

Why not a portion to the counties and the cities where the money was collected? Hey, that's an even better idea. The notion hasn't a chance, of course. The authority to spend money is power. People in Congress, liberal or conservative, aren't about to let go of power. But think for a moment what that statement really means the money decisions made nearer home would bring power closer to the people.

Isn't that what was behind the Founding Fathers's The gasoline-buying public if getting a raw deal under the pre-sent system. Logic would dictate that if more is being sold in a area, that area will need the most roads. But that isn't the way it works. Road building is dictated, by who has the most clout inr? Washington. Why, for example, should gasoline taxes collected iit Seminole County be used to sub- sidize a commuter train on Long Island? u'v Penland is correct.

The best decisions, whether er for roads, schools, libraries, whatever, are those made nearest the people. He wonders if cities ought not allocate sidewalk mon ey to neighborhoods and let neighbors decide where they be built. The walks probably more likely would be where they arer, needed, he guesses. Shifting road-building decisions out of Washington is, at best, a dream. But isn't it a nice one? Area politicians are in a sweat over what to do with $97.5 million Congress allocated for a magnetically levitated train that has been scrubbed.

One faction wants it used to complete the Eastern Beltway from Sanford to Interstate 4. Others suggest it go toward a light rail commuter system. Still others suggest spending it for more buses, a wider 1-4 or a dozen other uses. There has even been the suggestion that (gasp) it be applied to the national debt. Might I raise a question at this point and then suggest another system that would cut out a lot of the argument: Why do gasoline taxes go to Washington in the first place? Except for those built on some federal lands military, national forests and the like the federal government builds no roads.

The states propose interstate and federal highway additions and repairs, then build them once the feds, in a politically charged atmosphere, approve the money. The only role the federal government ought to have is to make sure highways meet with highways at state lines, and that certain minimum safety and building standards are established. That could be handled by one very small office. No need for the legions of federal highway engineers who do nothing but pore over and quibble with plans drawn by state engineers. In short, convert those federal There's a note of excitement in Peter Gianelli's voice.

His company, Emerson International, owns and manages several hundred thousand square feet of office spjtce in Altamonte Springs, anU is about to build more thfln 1 million feet of residential and office space there. His excitement, though, is no over the new endeavor. It is triggered by a raise in his city's fire insurance rating. Jtr. Gianelli hasn't put a pencil to it just yet, but already he knows the Feb.

1 change will save his company thousands of dollars each year in fire insurance premiums. Yet evSn that is not the peak of his exftitement. Rather, it's because of what was done to se-cue those lower rates. the city provides a higher level of safety for its people, he sayjs; that's providing a higher quality of life and that's quite a sales tool when it comes to marketing space. What has Mr.

Gianelli so upbeat is Altamonte's going from Class 5 to Class 3 in its fire rating's of Feb. 1. Fire insurance premiums on commercial property drop by 5 percent to 11.5 percent. One example: A state's cities have. It is not often that developers are so ecstatic about the city in which they operate.

Mr. Gianelli is correct, though. The real importance to this rating change is that people's lives and property are at less risk now because of what has been done to achieve the new rating. And as he says, it is further evidence of a quality city. What is especially impressive is that the city did not set out deliberately to improve the fire rating, or, as Fire Chief Tom Seigfried puts it, to "buy a rating" by loading up on expensive equipment.

It came about through a collection of improvements. A big factor was the water system; it provides excellent pressure in all neighborhoods. And there is the city's aggressive fire sprinkler policy; in some instances even homes must have them. Fire equipment, staffing and training also contributed. It has been an evolutionary process, says Mr.

Seigfried. The big payoff should come as Altamonte redevelops its central core. Dawn St. Clair, manager of the city's downtown redevelopment agency, says the change should be a big plus in selling redevelopment there especially the factors behind that fire premium reduction. Already, Altamonte has the best commercial-residential ratio in the county.

This is just one more step to make that even healthier. And it proves just once again that there is no magic in building a quality city. It is accomplished the old-fashioned way one quality step at a time. Sill 'Q teU YOUNG PEOPLE ARE THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW THE. LEADER OF TDPAtf COULPNY iJt A lC IT restaurant might save more than $12,000 a year.

Because of huge home losses to storms in Florida, rates on 1 If 'I ft single-family residences won't be affected as much just yet. i 1 icjiurj Most communities in Central Florida have Class 4 and Class 0k 1 5 ratings. In this area, only Orlando is lower, and by Novem ber Altamonte is expected to raw equal that city's Class 2 rating, which only 2 percent of the R'fcP571 Quick quiz: How much do you know about Seminole's past? feWiiwiWt -1" i 0J: 4. AlJn wrturpnnnot- oii-it to Orlando editors C) Sending gifts newspaper Seminole's Past departs from its usual format this Seminole County residents must scrutinize decisions whose editorials endorsed the county split. 14) As the first courthouse, county commissioners: A) Leased the Forrest Lake, a resort hotel on Lake Monroe.

''4 B) Briefly leased the Welborne Building at Park Avenue and Commercial Street in downtown San-. ford until moving into the former Elks Building next door. C) Leased the PICO (Plant Investment Company) Block on Sanford's West First Street. 15) Trustees for Rollins College had their first meeting: A) In Longwood. B) In Oviedo.

C) In Sanford. ffl 16) Early cattlemen were called Crackers because: Seminole's past 150 YEARS RECENT Orange County civil court decision found that Seminole County Commissioner Win Adams misused his family's company funds for personal gain. The Christian Coalition endorsed and gave a victory to Mr. Adams. I hope that, in future elections, the group will remember that candidates should obey all 10 commandments, not just agree with their particular interpretation of one commandment.

Seminole County residents now must scrutinize every decision made by Mr. Adams. He's already tried to spend our tax money on a personal computer. What's next? AlFiala OVIEDO A) Their bullwhips made a loud snapping noise. B) They carried thin bread to eat on the prairie.

C) Many moved to Florida after San Francisco was leveled by an earthquake in the late 1800s. i1 Hno nfTjinmimnH's fnnnHprs wasr Al Peter Demens. an exoatriate nobleman who had been on the losing end of a political feud in Czarist Russia. TViq tViiivl urifo nf pnilrnnH man Hpnrv Flairlpp "i Mary Lily Kenan. C) Schoolteacher Elizabeth Long, whose father do- nated land for a schoolhouse, city hall and three M--5r churches.

Tuscawilla streets are too regulated for mall traffic REGARDING THE proposed mall near Oviedo, and Winter Springs' objection to an entrance from Winter Springs Boulevard on the grounds that it will increase traffic through the Tuscawilla subdivision: I doubt very much that anyone would shortcut through Tuscawilla. The maximum speed limit is 30 mph. Most of it is 25 mph. No passing is allowed, and radar traps are everywhere. The only increase in traffic would be from the Tuscawilla residents traveling to arid from the mall.

Come on, folks. Stop nitpicking and jet's get on with the building. We will all benefit byife 2 Jean Sargeant 2 OVIEDO week for a pop quiz on local lore. By Jim Robison OF THE SENTINEL STAFF One hundred fifty years ago, most of the land south of Lake Monroe was palmetto wilderness, marshes and pine woods. Mellonville was the seat of government for settlers scattered from what is now the southern tip of Flagler County to south of Lake Tohopekaliga, and east from Lake Apopka to the Atlantic Ocean.

The land that would become Seminole County in 1913 was part of a new county named Orange when the territorial legislature on Jan. 30, 1845, swatted away the old name of Mosquito. Between now and March 3, when Florida celebrates a century and a half of statehood, is a perfect time to bone up on local lore. So, here's a quiz to get things started: 1) The origin of the name Mellonville is: A) Capt. Charles Mellon, a young officer killed by Seminoles during a Feb.

8, 1837, raid on Camp Monroe. B) A Florida tribal word for "long water." C) Seminole words meaning, roughly, a place where watermelons grow. 2) The United States acquired Florida from the Spanish in: A) 1821. B) 1845. Q1887.

3) Until 1845, the land that would become the Central Florida counties of Orange, Osceola, Brevard, Lake, Volusia and Seminole counties was part of what vast county? A) Mosquito County. B) Dade County. C) Sumter County. 4) Tuskawilla began as: A) The starting point for the Sanford Florida Railroad. B) A trading post with steamer wharfs where settlers exchanged the meat, hides and bird plumes for hardware or other goods they couldn't make themselves.

The site of Seminole leader Osceola's village. 5) What was the first name of the community later developed by Bostonians along lakes Orienta and Adelaide and renamed Altamonte Springs? A) Disston City. B) Snowville. C) Allendale. 6) Henry S.

Sanford lost his fortune by investing in Florida. How did he become rich? A) He inherited his father's manufacturing companies. B) He persuaded Hamilton Disston to buy his 18) Oviedo traces one of its founding families: u- swampland along Lake Monroe. C) He won it in a poker game with Jacob Summer-lin. 7) Upsala was founded: A) By Swedish sugar cane planters.

B) By Swedish immigrants, some of whom came to work at Henry Sanford's groves. C) By Swedish aristocrats as a winter resort town. 8) The word "Seminole" evolved from: A) The name Southeastern tribes used for a tall warrior. B) Creek and Spanish words for the "wild" or "abandoned" and used to describe those who fled to Florida. C) The Muskogee language word for a red water snake.

9) What direction does the St. Johns River flow? A) North B) South C) East 10) U.S. Highway 17-92 and U.S. 441 generally follow a road for mule teams first laid out by: A) Gen. Andrew Jackson B) Gen.

Ulysses S. Grant C) Gen. Zachary Taylor 11) During the Civil War, Florida cattlemen: A) Sold cattle to the Union army and became wealthy. B) Sold cattle to the Confederate army but lost money because the South's currency was worthless at the end of the war. C) Stopped raising cattle to protest the war.

12) The primary investor behind the South Florida Railroad was: A) Standard Oil B) The Boston Daily Herald newspaper The French Navy pension fund. 13) Seminole County's first residents celebrated their independence from Orange County by: A) Firing an old cannon that exploded when overloaded. B) Inviting Orange County commissioners to a A) To Joseph Tate, the oldest son of a horse thief aA, hanged in Sanford. Tate started life over under a new name. ss B) To Narcissa Melissa Lawton, who homesteaded with her sons after they lost their Georgia plantation after the Civil War.

C) To Thomas Tilbee Shey, the county's first con- ijk.ij' gressman. 19) Casselberry was once called: A) Concord, a pioneer settlement between lakes Concord and Ellen. B) North Fern Park, for its ferneries. C) Hainesville, for the family owners of two ferner- ies. 20) Winter Springs has been called all of these, ex- The Orlando Sentinel cept one: A) The village of North Orlando.

B) Clifton Springs. C) Clay Springs. LISA F. LOCHRIDGE, County Editor JIM ROBISON, Assistant County Editor EDITORIAL OFFICES CASSELBERRY 4580 S. U.S.

Hwy. 17-92, 32707; 830-2450 SANFORD 541 N. Palmetto Suite 105, 32771; 322-3513 CARALYN BESS, Advertising Manager ADVERTISING OFFICES 4580 S. U.S. Hwy.

17-92, Casselbeny, 830-2400 CLASSIFIED-WANT ADS 1-800-669-5757 CIRCULATION South Seminole, 420-5353 Sanford, 1-800-359-5353 Answers: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)" 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) a 20) (If you got 0-8 correct, go back to Ohio; 9-15 correct con- aider yourself well-versed in area history; 16-20 correct, you-must be a Don Boyett!) -me mm.