Foolhardy to stop development
Consideration is being given by the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to stopping all development city-wide until all infrastructure is rebuilt.
That’s a foolhardy and downright bad idea and one that simply places blame where it doesn’t belong.
The wastewater treatment plants are currently operating at only about 75% of their capacity and new projects downtown has accounted for far less than 5,000 new households out of a total of about 180,000 total households. So, it’s clear that supposed overcapacity from new construction isn’t the cause of the problem.
The problem is simply that the system is aging. It’s been neglected for 75-plus years. It’s failing. So let’s fix it.
Blaming new construction and talk of a city-wide moratorium may be politically expedient, but it’s untrue, unproductive, and will do nothing to fix the problem. Moreover, it would severely damage the city’s economy.
The City Commission should act reasonably to address the problem rather than focusing on misplaced blame. Let’s come up with the money to repair the system. Then let’s aggressively act to fix it. But let’s not enact a city-wide construction moratorium.
Steve Halmos, Fort Lauderdale
Building moratorium = less affordable housing
If you think housing is unaffordable now, wait and see what would happen with a building moratorium being proposed by some of my Fort Lauderdale neighbors.
We have an issue with affordable and workforce housing in our community. Stopping development, and therefore decreasing future “supply” of housing, will only cause existing units to increase in price — further exasperating the issue of affordability.
Not to mention those developments can help pay for some of the improvements that are needed with fees and future revenues.
Florida is projected to continue to grow by 900-plus people every day in 2020, with many moving to South Florida. We need to be prepared with the supply to meet that demand — otherwise, prices will skyrocket even higher.
Randall Vitale, Fort Lauderdale
Trump is religious right’s Trojan Horse
Trump In her op-ed, author Bernadette Tasy makes me wonder if the subject of her Master’s thesis was about suspending critical thought for the sake of religious dogma.
In her piece oozing in self victimization, she claims that President Trump has “long been a fierce advocate of people of faith”.
Her naivete clouds her vision to see that separating migrant children from their parents, excusing neo-Nazi’s, cheating on his wives, paying off a porn star, and lying over 15,000 times and counting is not exactly “Christ like”.
Even Christianity Today had the clarity to acknowledge how “profoundly immoral” Trump is advocating his removal from office.
Bernadette let’s face it, Trump is your Trojan Horse and it’s all about him wanting your vote, nothing more.
Dean Lazarus, Pompano Beach
‘Cowboys’ in police cars
It was very upsetting to read the article of the off-duty police officer going 91 mph on the highway.
I remember the exhaustive investigation the Sun Sentinel did in 2012 and, if I remember correctly, it was a female police officer who got in trouble for chasing and ticketing another police car. Are they back on the same track again?
That officer was all but ostracized for her civil awareness and confronting an all too reckless and prevalent occurrence.
Seems some police feel they are above the laws they are sworn to protect. Thanks for the report. I hope it does something to bring awareness to these “cowboys” in police cars.
Gabriel Brillante, Boca Raton
