Email to the Largo Mayor and CommissionTo the Largo Commissioners, PINAWOR is an educational-motivational non-profit group for aspiring and published authors, one of the oldest in the state of Florida. Our goals are to improve writers' skills and help as many members as possible get their work published. We currently have 120 members. Please look at our website at Pinowar.org for more information about our organization. For nineteen years, since June 1991, we have been meeting each Saturday from 9:30 to noon at the Highland Recreation Complex, where we provide an important creative literary outlet for citizens from all over Pinellas County. For that time, we have depended on the facilities and appreciated the staff at the Complex. Our new rental contract and payment are due10/01/10. To our great consternation, it shows a 100% increase in our rate, from $10.00 per hour to $20.00. We understand that the recent downturn in the economy has put stress on city and county budgets, but, because we are a not-for-profit organization, the $2,600 per year is far out of our budget range. We have never had that much money in our treasury and do not have it now. We had no warning that this change was coming so that we might have prepared for it, and we are concerned that our group, which has been in existence for over 23 years, may be in danger of having to disband. Many of our members are senior citizens on fixed incomes who cannot afford to pay more than the $25.00 yearly dues. We respectfully request that you reconsider the rental charges to us at this facility. Our weekly meetings are an important activity to many of our local residents. Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, Pete Kaszyk
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Mr. Kaszyk: Your e-mail has been received and is being forwarded to the City Commission as you requested during our telephone conversation.
Shirley Frick
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