I bought my first lottery ticket, and I'm trying to figure out
why.
It wasn't to support schools. 30% goes to education, if any trickles out of Tallahassee. I write checks directly to the PTAs to support schools. It's tax deductible, all of it goes to the school, and is used where it's need it most.
20 cents goes to jobs, advertising, and kickbacks (profit) to the vendors that sell lottery tickets. I didn't buy that ticket to support bigger government, either.
I hand money to certain people willingly, but healthy adults should support themselves. Why should I give 50 cents to some poor sucker that'll sit on a beach the rest of his/her life? I didn't buy the ticket to support the few that win.
So why did I buy that lottery ticket?
To some, the lottery represents hope to make it big; Hope to break out of dreary lifestyles. Hope for that yearlong trip, or to pay off debts already piled high. Hope to hob-knob with the influential. Or better yet, to become one of the jet set.
Some buy lottery tickets because it's a great way to blow a buck. I can't argue here. I blow my dough on chocolate and caffeine, and I don't need either one. That's not why I bought that lottery ticket, though.
I bought my ticket out of frustration with government, with voters, with the community. Frustration over the bickering that keeps us from moving forward.
You've played that game, "If I win the lottery" Here's my list when I win:
$2 million lets me name the indoor pool and sports complex we'll build if Tampa wins the Olympic bid. We need this building for graduations, competitions, and large community events. My problem is this facility, planned for Depot Avenue, is in the WRONG place. I don't want to name it; I want to move it. We have 3 pools in the vicinity, and none serving the rest of the county. Given our rate of new-pool-building, we're not going to get another one in my lifetime. I'll spend $2 million to move this complex to a location big enough for playing fields to go with it.
$10 million might build EXPO, the children's museum that's been looking for a home. It belongs downtown where the Olympic facility's supposed to go.
We need a new high school south of Archer Road and west of I-75. Bill Cake, School board member, wishfully sited this location while discussing the less-than-ideal 9th-grade centers, and lack of funding to do much else.
$20 million might build a basic, college-prep school. Lets build it next to that Olympic Center to maximize the use of facilities-much the way Westwood, Littlewood, and Westide parks share. We'll cut transportation needs way down by putting kids next to facilities they use.
And we need a few more community parks. Kanapaha Park is by far the most used county park, serving over 50,000 people in the urban fringe. That's inexcusable.
A chunk of change needs to go to programming. The whole point of facilities is to improve the well being of our citizens through activities that bring us together. But it takes planning and staff to run elder-outreach, teen programs, and adult leagues.
Why doesn't a community as well rounded and progressive as ours already have these things? Our budgets put inordinent amounts into "justice" and "general government." Instead of investing in ourselves, we're protecting us from each other, and covering the butts of governmental officials and staff.
Further, our county budget is $500 per person lower than the average Florida county budget. Property taxes are not the culprit. We're not getting our share of state and national grants, and we're not collecting enough "fees for services."
But more than this, we can't agree. We don't trust or look out for each other. The state doesn't trust school boards to know what's best for our kids and withholds dollars. Schools don't react or rezone to accommodate new growth other governmental entities thrust into them.
We fight over shared services, jobs and businesses, pollution, recreation, and annexation.
We need a common vision, a standard for the quality of life we expect. And then we need to exceed that vision. We need to work together as one community, to give and take fairly. Our governments must work better internally and with each other, and in a timely manner.
So I bought my lottery ticket because I'm frustrated with the very governments that support it and are supported by it.
I guess I feel better, but I'll never know
if my ticket won. I washed my jeans-with my ticket in the pocket.