Temple Terrace Reacts to USF Funding Threats

was wearing a USF polo shirt at today’s .

Lentsch, who owns  and is president of the chamber, said he wants to support in the wake of reports that the institution is facing steep budget cuts under a proposal in the Florida Senate. If the plan is accepted, USF's funding would drop to $74 million from the current level of $178 million.

“USF is our neighbor,” Lentsch told chamber members. He said he would be at the corner of 56th Street and Fowler Avenue at 4 p.m. Friday waving USF signs, and anyone is invited to wear their USF gear and join him.

“I ask you to come and support USF with me,” he said at the luncheon. “I'll have signs for people to hold.”

Resident  said he is “worked up” over the .

He wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Scott Tuesday via Scott’s website form. He asked Patch to post it in hopes that others would write to Scott and other state leaders.

“I have had it with our state being run by a bunch of unethical bums,” Robe said.

Here is his letter to Scott:

Hello Governor Scott,

I am a Florida taxpayer, a computer engineer, and a father of 4 children, three in college and one in 4th grade. Two of my kids and many of their friends go to USF here in Tampa Bay. Many of my friends here in Temple Terrace work at USF.

Please give Senator JD Alexander a call and make a public statement as leader of Florida condemning the crazy garbage he is trying to pull on USF and its students. If anything gets to your desk concerning this, I strongly encorgage you to veto it. Florida is again a national laughstock as Alexander abuses his powers, using the intimidation of a massive funding cut to USF as part of his USF Poly Tech split games.

Come on, the USF President, administration, professors, students and tuition paying parents are working to build a world-class university. We need to be helping USF and its students, not hurting them. These kids need degrees and jobs.

I read that these cuts are based on some delusional idea of splitting the Lakeland campus off before it even gets a real start. If they split off from USF, I feel sorry for those students and their parents in Lakeland, who deserve degrees from a strong, united USF system. They will instead have weaker degrees which will hurt their employment opportunities for the rest of their lives.

I don't know much else about him, but please stand up against this bully Alexander for the USF parents out here who are scrapping along in this sucky economy.

Thank you,

Jamie Robe