Letters to the Editor, July 19

Marco’s impaired waterways

Marco is to be congratulated! We set an all-time record for nitrogen in our waterways for 2018. Five years in a row for increasing nitrogen content in our waterways! They don’t test for phosphorous as it is illegal for use on Marco Island but is spread every single day by our own city reuse water.

Background nitrogen level is less than any of our waterways so we are only making it worse!

The Jolley Bridge samples are the lowest of our samples! This means that Naples, Okeechobee, Goodland, Isles of Capri and Lightning are not the primary cause of Marco’s impaired waterways.

Nitrogen is a proven nutrient for blue green algae blooms and our neighbors to the north in Sarasota county are dealing with flesh eating bacterial outbreaks.

Is that what we want? When are we going to stop kicking the can down the road and blaming it on things beyond our control?

When are we going to get rid of controllable nitrogen nutrients on Marco Island?

Reuse water and landscape fertilizer are controllable sources for both nitrogen and phosphorous. Yet we do nothing to control the amount of these nutrients deposited on our island and then easily runoff into our canals with each tidal flow change and rainstorm.

The Council turned down the opportunity to contract with Universtity Of Florida to study the sources for our water pollution. They repeatedly turned down spending and extra $15,000 to test monthly instead of quarterly. We still test quarterly and then review the results five months later which is like driving a car while looking in the rear view mirror.

Council members are anxious to spend over $10 million on new parks but won’t raise sewer rates by a quarter of that to clean up the reuse water.

Yet they knowingly put Marco’s beaches and aquatic sea life at risk of being closed off.

Contact our City Council members that are supposed to be acting on our behalf!

David Rasmussen, Marco Island

Coal, Pence and clean air

This quote is from a message sent by the League of Conservation Voters, which only costs $5 to join:

"Mike Pence just went on CNN to claim that the U.S. has the cleanest air and water in the world. That's an outright lie. ...

"This is urgent: His lie is attempting to justify the EPA's plan to gut and bury President Obama's Clean Power Plan — allowing outdated coal plants to continue emitting massive levels of carbon and other pollutants.

"It's not that the Trump administration just doesn't get it — they are acting negligently in defense of big polluters."

The erosion of our environment is not happenstance. The Republicans simply don't seem to care about something that is as vital to mankind's survival as clean air and clean water.

Rather, it is the approval of their fat cat corporate donor class that matters because that's where the vice president's money — his political fuel — comes from. Sadly, it's about personal enrichment.

David Fetzer, East Naples

Golden Gate golf course

Time for a county-owned golf course.

Now that the county is going ahead with the purchase of the Golden Gate golf course, they should start to make plans to rehabilitate the course. This facility will break even or show a profit if properly managed and maintained.

There are many residents who will use the course if the fees are reasonable. Maybe a discounted rate for residents and or annual memberships for discounts, but the key is course condition and playing enjoyment. I have played the course many times and the layout is very good, so the condition is all that needs to be addressed.

Keep it a golf course. We have enough parks.

Joe Arciere, East Naples

Summer off in government?

It was disappointing to see the Marco Island City Council lumped in with our more highly compensated colleagues in Collier County in terms of making citizens endure what your editorial called “extended hiatuses” in our “summer off.” We do not take the summer off.

Yes, we have one regular meeting per month, instead of two, in July, August, November and December. But just this month alone, we also have a budget workshop and a strategic planning meeting.

Marco Island may have a reputation as a sleepy island, but the elected officials are very much awake and listening to citizens in public meetings.

Larry Honig, Marco Island City Council member