Indian River County Commission must stop quality-of-life hemorrhaging
Regarding Laurence Reisman’s column, “Optimism in growth dashed as quality Indian River County planning director leaves,” Reisman cited the recent resignation of Planning and Development Services Director Andy Sobczak. Sobczak was the fourth planning director to leave in five years.
Never mind Denmark, something is rotten in Indian River County. One or two planning directors leaving in five years or less is coincidental. Four leaving in five years equates to a common denominator.
Our county is in a critical stage right now. Our lagoon is in drastic need of rehabilitation. Our population density, zoning, boundaries, traffic, parking and quality of life will also soon be greatly impacted. The University of Florida has conducted a study that assures our county will increase by about 50,000 people in the next 25 years.
In the past three years, our population has already increased by 10,000 people. That makes the planning director’s job that much more critical, so we need one who will stay a while to see the work through completion with continuity of care.
Reisman exposed the garden-variety types of various personnel, policy, direction and opinion differences between Sobczak and his superiors. Personality conflicts can and do happen, but with such regularity of contention, I believe it is time for the county commissioners to take charge, investigate and finally fix the dysfunctional and disruptive turmoil that is impacting not just county employees, but all county residents by ripple effect before even considering hiring a new director.
Stop the hemorrhaging before replacing the bandage. As our lagoon deteriorates, our county density continues to rapidly expand, and maintaining our community character and quality of life becomes more precarious, time is running out.
Douglas Wrenn, Vero Beach
DeSantis should honor parks whistleblower, preserve remaining natural habitat
Florida Department of Environmental Protection efforts to sneak golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels into Florida state parks without public discussion reminds me of the song written and sung by Florida folk singer Bob Rafkin: “Somethin’ wrong is goin’ on, from the earth to the sky, and we sit and wonder why!”
Instead of firing him, Gov. Ron DeSantis should give James Gaddis, senior park planner, a hero’s award and promote him for exposing this furtive attempt to hide the major degradation of 26 of our state parks. We need more people like Gaddis to bravely inform us of such shenanigans.
Give the James Gaddis Hero Award to folks who inform the public of efforts to subvert our rare, preserved environmental lands for other purposes, especially when secretly planned to obtain financial benefit at the expense of our environment and our appreciation of nature. This makes one wonder what else is going on behind closed doors?
Commercialization is a persistent threat to our local conservation areas, state and national parks. We must educate everyone about the value of Florida’s natural habitats, which are being lost to development every day. Just look around our county!
Natural areas are essential to our enjoyment and well-being, and provide our water supply, flood control and recreation. We must be vigilant to stop our parks from being paved over, leading to tremendous loss of natural habitat.
Park and conservation lands house rare and unique plants, birds and other animal species, like our beautiful Florida scrub jay, found only in this state, that exist in high and dry scrub habitat, which is prime development land.
We need to protect our remaining aquatic and terrestrial environments to save Florida’s native plants and animals. Like those species, humans also need green spaces, not just golf courses, pickleball courts, and hotels.
Richard Baker, Sebastian
Praise Stuart commissioners for not funding Brightline black hole
It’s crucial to identify which commissioners are prudent with public funds and which are willing to invest your hard-earned tax dollars in one of the riskiest, unproven business models today.
Let’s not allow reckless decisions to jeopardize our financial stability. Supporting a company that is unlikely to ever repay its loans is not just a financial risk, but a clear mismanagement of public funds.To illustrate this, consider Brightline’s refinanced $5.35 billion debt with interest rates up to 12%. I used a 7% interest rate over 30 years. The monthly payments alone are $35,593,683, or annually, $427,124,200 to service the debt. That means over 30 years, the total cost of that debt would exceed $11.5 billion, with over half of that amount going toward interest payments.
Brightline’s ridership for the first half of this year was 1,401,077 at an average ticket price of $55. Brightline is on track to bring in $189,600,000 of ticket and ancillary revenue for 2024. To reiterate, Brightline needs around $427,000,000 annually to service its debt. Plus, Brightline still needs to cover its operational and maintenance expenses.Given these numbers, it’s hard to fathom whether Brightline will ever generate the revenue required to meet these obligations. Instead, this project will likely become a perpetual drain on public resources, diverting funds from essential services such as health care, education and infrastructure.Public officials must act in the best interest of their constituents, and funneling millions of taxpayer dollars into a venture with seemingly no realistic chance of success violates that trust. I urge commissioners to prioritize responsible, transparent use of public funds, as commissioners Christopher Collins, Laura Giobbi and Sean Reed have done.
The people deserve better than to watch their money disappear into a financial black hole.
KC Ingram Mullen, Palm City
Why trust Trump, who relies on Loomer lies?
During his nationally televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris Sept. 10, Donald Trump did the unthinkable: Using an ugly racial stereotype, he claimed Haitian immigrants of Springfield, Ohio — in the United States legally —were eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs.
Apparently, Trump said this to exaggerate the U.S. immigration problem and mischaracterize the economy, which has seen inflation fall from a high of 9.1% in June 2022 to 2.9% currently.
Using a racist lie for political purposes is more than just dirty politics as usual. It’s beyond the pale of human decency, a moral line Trump crosses frequently (presumably with approval from his staunchest supporters).
This reprehensible lie is attributable to Laura Loomer, a far-right “media influencer” who’s made a number of racist comments and false claims, including that 9/11 was an “inside job” (suggesting incorrectly that the United States was somehow involved in the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Loomer, who’s become a de facto Trump campaign adviser, is responsible for spreading noxious lies about vaccine inoculations, creating clouds of doubt about the time-tested efficacy of critically important vaccines that have saved tens of millions of lives. While civility and decorum have never been a hallmark of political campaigns, Trump continues to sink to new lows by repeating Loomer’s vicious lies. For reasons I don’t understand, many gullible Trump supporters believe this partisan swill.
Former Trump spokesperson Sarah Matthews told The Hill: Loomer “is the type of person who could potentially have the ear of the leader of the free world, someone who traffics in conspiracy theories (and) says racist, awful, vile things.” If re-elected, Matthews knows Trump “would create a staff of ‘yes men and women.’ ”
USA TODAY columnist Nancy Armour is correct: Many Americans “have lost their damned minds.”
Cray Little, Vero Beach
Where was fail-safe after demise of Pan Am pension fund?
My husband worked for Pan Am (remember them?) for 26 years, from 1966-1991. Pan Am went out of business in December 1991.
The Lockerbie terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight No. 103 in 1988 did a lot of damage financially to Pan Am. The powers that be of the company asked the federal government for permission to use the pension fund to keep them afloat. Granted.
In 1991, Pan Am was taken over by Delta Airlines. Whoever didn’t get absorbed by Delta and didn’t “retire” lost everything; my husband included.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 did not protect the employees of Pam Am. I always wondered why the government allowed this use of the pension fund. No compensation.
After devoting 26 years to Pan Am, my husband had to start all over again. No help from that Act. Where’s the justice in that?
Jane Klein Port St. Lucie
Rehabilitating convicts, even if expensive, better than alternative
We hear about the crime problem from people encouraging a 16th century solution.
At present, crime has been dropping for several years as a result of the lowest unemployment in some time. But now let’s talk about causes and solutions.
First, is about our outdated criminal justice penal systems starting with for-profit prisons.
Suppose an 18-year-old boy does something stupid and receives as a result a four-year sentence, during which he ends up in a cell looking like a dog kennel with up to three other inmates, who could be hardened criminals. Some may even have mental problems.
What can this young man learn from these circumstances?
In some other countries, they have a modern approach where he can get a high school diploma, some training in a trade or even college courses.
This has been proven to be working. We also need a transitional program for reentering back to freedom after release, most for-profit prisons would rather have them back inside as they are customers and the government pays the bill. So why rehabilitate anyone?
When released, they are often set free with only a change of clothes, a few dollars, and nowhere to call their home. There is no car, no job. What are the odds of them doing well or prospering?
There are many things we could do to prevent young people from taking a path that leads to more crime. Obviously, this will cost taxpayers dollars up front, but saves money in the long run. We can start by investing more, such as in housing and even recreational activities. Prison time is known to cost more than Harvard or Yale.
How about working with parents and giving them financial aid where practical?
Politicians need to step up now. Do they care? This is doable if we choose.
Charles Davis, Stuart
Taxpayers should say ‘no’ to Harris’ ‘freebies’
See what inflation does?
There was a time when Tammany Hall could buy your vote for a few beers or take the cash up to $10. That inspired many to vote early and always in the benefactor’s favor.
Vice President Kamala Harris is blatantly offering up to $25,000 toward a first-time buyer of a new home and $10,000 in tax credits.
Then there’s also the child credit promise of $6,000 per new child. Who could say no?
The taxpayer should. You and your old child will pick up the bill.
Jim Grant, Jensen Beach
Improve memories when hearing attacks on Trump, MAGA
Most, if not all, of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when John F. Kennedy was shot, when the Twin Towers were attacked, when Ronald Reagan was shot and, in the future, probably events surrounding assassination attempts on Donald Trump.
When we look back on recent history, we see the Democratic Party using the same tactics on Republican candidates decade after decade. Barry Goldwater was painted as a warmonger. The Democrats used the strategy called the Big Lie established by Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man. It is the same strategy Dems are using today by accusing Trump of being a warmonger, a threat to democracy, Vladimir Putin’s pal, and so on (spurring crazies to act?).
They labeled Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian hoax. After millions spent and the election Joe Biden won, we are supported by the fact it was not a hoax — which we knew all along. It is/was the real deal. Only it is much worse now. Succinctly, it means to accuse your opponent of what you are doing.
Reading “Lessons My Father Taught Me” by Michael Reagan, we see repeated attacks by the party now referred to as Democratic/Socialists as Bernie Sanders, AOC, Elizabeth Warren and the rest of the flock are currently known. (It ain’t your father’s or JFK’s party any longer.)
We give lip service to support for Israel, but we all saw Kamala Harris snub Benjamin Netanyahu when he addressed our Congress. Yet, we know Trump’s role in the Abraham Accords and its goal of ending the conflict and to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Reagan was belittled for everything, yet his era is known as the third longest peacetime economic expansion in U.S. history.
So maybe we need to analyze more seriously the charges we hear nowadays against Republicans and MAGA and improve our memories.
Audrey Taggart, Hobe Sound