Letters to the editor of Gainesville Sun for July 31, 2021

Ignore the consequences

Alachua County Commissioners Chuck Chestnut, Marihelen Wheeler, and Anna Prizzia abandoned us (88,000 Gainesville Regional Utilities customers), our children, and our grandchildren by voting in favor of the proposed GRU solar farm near Archer to refuse. They ignored the dire consequences of the climate crisis that we see today in catastrophic fires, agricultural disasters from droughts and floods that killed many people.

By voting for the dozen of neighboring NIMBY landowners, the commissioners practically accepted their position that the climate crisis was not their problem. They get their electricity from Clay Electric, which draws electricity from two huge coal-fired power stations on the St. Johns River near Palatka.

With proper landscaping and buffer zones, fair and sensible people could conclude that any perceived aesthetic damage to the adjacent landowners was small compared to the damage that thousands of GRU customers will suffer from higher electricity prices due to higher fossil fuel costs, and, more importantly, severe damage when Alachua County suffers an extreme weather event.

Harvey Goldstein, Gainesville

Further letters:

Mandate masks

This is the time to let our school board members know that the variant is changing everything. Mask requirement is the way to protect our children!

The school board meets on August 3rd. An e-mail to the members asking for masking requirements will change the lives of the children of Alachua County.

Reisas and Paul George, Gainesville

Replace grass

I support the project to flip Florida Yards (see the TV series “Flip My Florida Yard”). How about “Flip My Florida City”?

As I was driving maintenance on Northwest 34th Street in Gainesville, I saw truckloads of normal turf being laid. I would have loved to see Florida-friendly ground covers that look more interesting than grass and also require less maintenance.

Daniel Cromer, Gainesville

Lack of evidence

Edward Harmon’s recent column praising Ron DeSantis makes many claims without evidence.

For example, he suggests that many moved to Florida because of its conservative politics. I moved to Florida mainly because of the weather. In fact, almost everyone I know from New York and New Jersey who moved here because of the weather did and kept their liberal views.

The columnist states that DeSantis listens to average Floridians (without specifying how that was determined) as opposed to the National Education Association and the Black Lives Matter crowd, suggesting that these Florida groups are not made up of your average Floridians exist. He also complains about the fact that 31% of voters see the 2020 election as a fraud but fail to mention it because politicians like Donald Trump and DeSantis say they were fraudulent.

He commends DeSantis for how he handled the COVID epidemic, while most experts on the issue have criticized him and the Delta strain sparked a disproportionate surge in new cases in Florida. Eventually, DeSantis is commended for trying to make voting more difficult without the columnist providing any data that there was a problem with the Floridians voting in the last election.

Albert Meyer, Gainesville

New name

The Washington, DC-based professional football team is looking for a new name after rejecting the Redskins nickname, which has been used for generations. Given the practice of naming sports teams based on local residents or characteristics, I suggest that the team be called the Crats.

The capital is full of bureaucrats, democrats, technocrats, autocrats, republicates, and just about every other kind of “scratch” you can think of. Your mascot could then be a waffle.

Lloyd Baldwin, Branford

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The post Letters to the editor of Gainesville Sun for July 31, 2021 first appeared on Daily Florida Press.

from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/letters-to-the-editor-of-gainesville-sun-for-july-31-2021/