October 2003 Archives

By Vincent Safuto staff writer

October 18, 2003

Last year, I wrote a column that criticized President Bush's call for Americans to donate two years of their lives to volunteer work. ("Volunteer suggestion impractical," March 12, 2002).

Not surprisingly, I was toasted to a very well-done crisp for daring to suggest that people should expect payment for their labors, and that some people in our country have bills to pay, so working for nothing is not very practical.

In a recent article, Rep. Mark Foley took on AmeriCorps, the volunteer program originated by Bill Clinton and supported by Bush. Indeed, the president has asked Congress to fund 25,000 more members — above the 50,000 slots it is supposed to have, and I salute him for that.

But the president has run into opposition on Capitol Hill from his own party, including Foley, a Republican from West Palm Beach

The reason, Foley noted in the article in the Oct. 7 Press Journal, is that AmeriCorps pays the people who do the work in the community.

"'The notion of having to pay people to volunteer in America kind of smacks against the tenets of how this nation was founded,'" Foley said. "'Volunteerism is not for a personal financial reward. It's for a spirit of helping your community.'"

That's all well and good, congressman, but not all of us are pulling down $154,000, plus benefits, to sit around and jabber about the wonders of other people working for nothing. Members of Congress — and corporate CEOs — love to brag about how they're not in it for the money. They say they're serving the public — or the customers or the shareholders — but how many of them are handing back their paychecks?

Even those who proclaim they are working for free have independent means of wealth and, thus, have the luxury of claiming the moral high ground over those of us who work for pay. I don't see Foley giving his paycheck back.

No one's getting rich working for AmeriCorps. "Full-time members who complete a year of service get a $4,725 education grant," Joel Eskovitz noted in his article.

They're using that money because corporate America, which causes many of the problems AmeriCorps volunteers are trying to solve, is too busy gorging its executives with obscene pay packages, exporting jobs overseas and doling out campaign contributions to the likes of Foley to even concern itself with those who are less fortunate.

To the average member of Congress, $4,725 may be one night's work on the handshake line at a fund-raiser or an afternoon's work on a paragraph to be inserted into a bill for a "good friend," but to a struggling student it may mean the difference between getting an education and having to skip another semester.

Most of us live in the real world, not in the fabulous land of Beltway make-believe, and have to work for a living. If Foley has a problem with that, maybe it's time for him to come down off his high horse, join the peasants and stop tearing down efforts to make life better for the American people.

Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at ( Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com).


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By Vincent Safuto staff writer

October 11, 2003

A recent arrival to my home mailbox was the latest issue of "Contact," which calls itself a publication "for the friends of Palm Beach Community College."

It immediately brought back the fond memories of the place that helped me on the road to where I am today, and helped countless others to achieve their goals and dreams.

It's a shame that 35,000 of our fellow Floridians recently found themselves denied access to community college education, thanks to budget cuts. When political and business leaders yammer about the importance of education, but slam the schoolhouse door in the faces of those who seek knowledge, that's utter hypocrisy and bad for our future.

Some folks laughed when I announced my plans to attend community college in the late 1980s, but I learned the importance of making one's decisions, no matter what some others say.

I heard endlessly that blue-collar postal workers had no need for education, and that it might even hurt my advancement chances in the post office. Promotion boards, I was warned, looked down on people who were attending college because it showed divided loyalties.

One supervisor said Henry Ford once noted that workers needed only to know two things: what time to report to work and where to report. Education would give a worker ideas and expectations beyond his social level, my boss said.

But many other people encouraged my ambitions, and community college was where desire and opportunity came together.

Like many adults, I worried about returning to school. But from the first summer-session class, I knew I had found a second home. At school, I wasn't a tick mark on a manager's clipboard, but a real person to be taught and guided, and the dedicated staff and faculty gave their help willingly and enthusiastically. It was the best time I had in my life.

The college newspaper was where I learned that I wanted to be in the news business. Our paper got attention and even drew an attempt to shut it down. That's when you know a school newspaper is effective: when the administration tries to make it go away.

People aren't supposed to get as teary-eyed over two-year colleges as they are over their four-year "alma mater," but Palm Beach Community College was more than just some buildings; it was where I saw what could be done with my life.

Graduation was a bittersweet experience. I went on to even more interesting and exciting experiences at Florida Atlantic University, but I can never forget where it all began.

Community colleges are often derided as "the 13th grade," or as trade or vocational schools, but they are the key to our community's, state's and nation's economic future. As a steppingstone to universities, they play an important role in preparing students for higher-level educational endeavors.

Instead of starving them of funds and treating them like drains on society, Florida should support its community colleges and view them as resources, and an integral part of individuals' and society's future success.



Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at (Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com).


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By Vincent Safuto staff writer

October 4, 2003

A recent conversation in the break room here at the Press Journal centered on the attraction Florida seems to hold for many.

I can't speak for others, but I know why I came to this state in 1986. Two words: affordable housing.

After my Marine Corps service, I landed a job at the post office in Hicksville, N.Y. While living with my parents in Queens was tolerable, I wanted my own apartment, but there was little rental housing available on Long Island, and most landlords did not want to rent to a single man in his early 20s.

I managed to rent a couple of places eventually, though I really wanted to buy a house.

But buying a home in the early- to mid-1980s on Long Island was not likely for me, especially on a postal salary of about $24,000.

You could get a "handyman special" for about $200,000, and one wag joked that about all you could do with one of those was hire a bulldozer and cart away the wreckage.

The cost of owning a home, once you managed to get the mortgage, was even more discouraging. Property taxes were very high and electricity rates were shocking.

The general advice was that a married couple should live in a parent's basement and save very aggressively for 20 years, and then they might have the down payment for a little house somewhere.

Various politicians and activists moaned about the affordable housing situation, but Long Island's towns and villages saw such housing as a threat to their property values and fought to prevent new construction of homes, condos and apartments, saying it would change their communities too much.

Newspapers would write about the affordable housing issue, and the Treasure Coast was one area constantly mentioned as a place for young Long Islanders to move to so they could have a piece of the American Dream.

I finally decided that almost anywhere in the country was preferable to Long Island, and in 1985 began making my plans. I transferred in the post office to West Palm Beach, and found apartments affordable on my salary. Several months after my arrival, I was able to buy a small home, and had money left over for things like a new car and a college education.

Just before I left Long Island, Levitt began building new homes there, and its ads announced that affordable housing had returned to the area.

The houses were priced at $99,990, but when you added in the bare options needed to make the place livable, you were looking at more than $160,000. But then what was left of your disposable income would end up in the hands of the tax collector and the dreaded Long Island Lighting Co.

I never regretted coming to Florida, and while the occasional hurricane is a worry, I feel fortunate that I can afford to have a little house for the cats and me, and still have money left over at the end of the month.

If that's the American Dream, count me in.

Vincent F. Safuto is a copy editor for the Press Journal. Reach him at ( Vincent.Safuto@scripps.com).

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