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Tuesday's letters: On big projects, take sea level rise into consideration

 
Published July 25, 2016

Welcome to … | July 24

Take sea level rise into account

A better question than what to call the downtown Tampa real estate project may be: Is it really a good idea?

I hope the Tampa Bay Times will consider the impact of these development projects collectively. In isolation, they may sound beneficial to the public. But can we take a more critical look at erecting more massive concrete structures on a peninsula near the water?

When covering development projects — such as Jeff Vinik's, Madeira Beach's hotels, Safety Harbor's residential complex, Apollo Beach's, etc. — projections of sea level rise and population growth should be part of the assessment.

What happens 50 years from now if projections of 2 feet of sea level rise come true? And what happens to these densely populated projects if a major flood or a hurricane hits the Tampa Bay area directly?

Just because Tallahassee doesn't worry about global warming doesn't mean that we can afford to do the same locally.

Joe Weinzettle, Tarpon

Ailes ousted as head of Fox News | July 22

Destructive influence

Dr. Frankenstein is gone, but his monster remains. Roger Ailes has gone the way of many a misogynist elephant, to the well-deserved happy hunting grounds of forced retirement. But his creation, Fox News, is on the loose and still out of control.

My father lives in Sun City Center. He has lost many friends who just parrot back to him whatever they hear on Fox. He has told me countless times that these people are good people, but they just keep repeating the same right-wing talking points. They are unable to have any kind of real discussion using actual facts and statistics.

A close friend, a Ted Cruz supporter, contacted me this week. He said that he did not like Donald Trump because he was not conservative enough. However, he is going to vote for him anyway because electing Hillary Clinton would lead to a "radical communist takeover of our government."

My friend, a very bright man who is generally reasonable when discussing things other than national politics, only watches Fox News. Furthermore, he thinks that watching any other news source is counterproductive since "they only lie" and, unless it is on Fox, it is by definition untrue.

Fox News is the driving force behind what I call "the great brainwashing of America." I hope that eventually Americans will see Fox News for what it is: biased propaganda.

Jack Bernard, Peachtree City, Ga.

Republicans' brand is fear | July 22, commentary

Leadership failure

Connie Schultz gave the impression that anyone worried about ISIS or other terrorists is a paranoid fool or a politician with an agenda. I wonder what family and friends of those killed in Orlando's Pulse nightclub would have to say about her article.

Schultz was correct that leadership should be arresting fear or hate. Our current leadership has failed in this regard terribly. There has been too little, too late done to fight ISIS or even to fully recognize the threat.

Equally troubling is the divide our president seems content to spread between whites and blacks. By his saying that statistics show there is a white policing problem and inviting Black Lives Matter members to the White House, he doesn't bring peace or people together. He just feeds the distrust.

Steve Tierney, Riverview

DNC emails show hostility toward Sanders July 24

Self-inflicted wounds

If you can't win a fair election, get out of politics. Hillary Clinton cannot blame the Republicans; these are more self-inflected wounds.

Then add the broken criminal justice system involving her emails and the corruption of accepting large amounts of money, and remember what the country went through the last time there was a Clinton in the White House.

If 80 percent of Americans do not trust her, this is probably why she lost last time. Enough is enough. Neither Donald Trump nor Clinton are deserving of being president. To remedy this, the Democratic National Convention needs to nominate Bernie Sanders for president.

Robbin Near, Seminole

Campaign 2016

Flawed candidates

I am a lifelong Republican and I agree with Donald Trump that our political system is broken. But the Republicans bragged about being a party of "no" and now complain the system doesn't work. Huh?

And I agree with Trump that Hillary Clinton is a flawed candidate. But isn't Trump equally flawed? Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter for Trump's The Art of the Deal, calls Trump a "human black hole" who only thinks of himself, cannot stay focused and is a pathological liar.

Furthermore, the Republican convention was an arena filled with angry speakers and angry people. Sorry, but that's not my America.

Alan Raun, Largo

Making best of a bad choice

How sad is it when the strongest argument for Donald Trump is "at least he's not Hillary Clinton," and the strongest argument for Clinton is "at least she's not Trump"?

Warren Klein, Oldsmar

Payday loans: lifeline of last resort | July 24

Health care scandal

I was quite saddened reading your article on payday loans. It was not because someone needed a loan for some justifiable and reasonable reason like a car or home repair, but that they needed $400 for insulin.

How can we continue to allow drug companies to charge these outlandish prices? As a registered nurse it makes me sick to see people having to resort to payday loans just to get the medicine they need.

Claudia Amsler, Brooksville