Big bad Brightline? Trim, cut Vero Beach Twin Pairs? Breeze happy; Trump, Biden | Letters

Balanced approach needed in weighing proposed State Road 60 narrowing

As a 63-year Vero Beach native, I have seen the traffic grow and change over the years. Citizens are right to be concerned about the impact of reducing two travel lanes on State Road 60, especially if there are no plans to add new lanes in other areas.

Before the Vero Beach City Council addresses a reduction in the number of lanes on SR60 from six to four, it needs to determine which east-west roadway will be widened by two lanes. Should 16th Street be widened to four lanes (and extended to 58th Avenue)? If not 16th Street, should the city council propose two more lanes be added to 21st or 23rd streets? (If that is the council's idea, can the speed also be increased to 35 mph?)

My point is, before we reduce traffic flow on the state highway downtown, let's figure out which city street drivers should use to transit between U.S. 1 and Interstate 95. If the advocates for Twin Pairs lane reduction or the city council believe it is 16th, 21st or 23rd streets that will be four lanes, then the city should do that road expansion project first.

Overall, I believe that it is important to have a balanced approach to transportation planning in Vero Beach. We need to consider the needs of all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and businesses. But we also need to be realistic about the impacts and whether we want commuter traffic to be forced from the state road (Twin Pairs) to the parallel residential streets.

I hope citizens will carefully consider the adverse impact and all of the ramifications before making a decision about the proposed lane reduction. Because everyone will be affected by the lane reduction, fellow citizens should express their concerns to the Vero Beach City Council and the Florida Department of Transportation.

Blades Robinson, Vero Beach

Use common sense when dictating Twin Pairs fate

We would like to express our absolute opposition to the latest misguided effort to narrow the Twin Pairs through downtown Vero Beach.

A decision to move forward with this terrible idea could take decades to undo.

Traffic will only continue to increase, as does population, and residential neighborhoods will be only one of the many victims of this effort.

Please let common sense prevail.

Michael & Suzanne Perry, Vero Beach

Breeze hits mother lode with service to Vero Beach

Breeze Airways just added a Vero Beach to Islip (Long Island) route.

For those people abandoning New York City with summer estates in the Hamptons, this totally avoids NYC airports.

I get the feeling Breeze is quickly getting three important points:

• Lock up all commercial capacity at Vero Beach before another airline discovers it.

• Pressure Vero Beach to improve terminal capacity to at least two or three gates from essentially one gate, by local travelers' feedback on the current mess.

• Vero Beach routes are essentially not price competitive, but the comparison to driving (90-plus minutes and $150-plus for a hired ride) to West Palm Beach and Orlando makes local Breeze service a very unusual opportunity for more routes and carriers.

If the airline adds a Boston suburb and an upstate New York airport, traffic will continue to improve. Also, Vero Beach to Nantucket-Martha’s Vineyard-Hyannis in the summer, with a flight after the Vero Beach to White Plains route, would offset summer traffic drops. Elite Airways did it and it worked. Additional passengers piled on in White Plains for the islands, in addition to the broad base of common home ownership between Vero Beach and the islands.

Finally, whoever is running Melbourne's airport is asleep: It has all the facilities and can’t attract enough airlines to this awesome Treasure Coast market. It’s a 40-minute vs. 90-minute option for all the major airlines to exploit with long and international routes.

St. Lucie County airport officials seem to get the message, as they crank up attention to their facilities. Hopefully this doesn’t discourage Vero Beach from making immediate improvements to the terminal and associated services.

Paul Keeler, Vero Beach

What does Brightline have in common with evolution?

I have been dealing with Brightline since its inception, living within 900 feet and driving through numerous crossings daily working in Fort Lauderdale.

FENCES: In populated areas with a lot of mass transit workers, fences are almost useless. For about 1/2 mile just north of Sunrise Boulevard to NE 13th Street, the Florida East Coast Railway continuously fenced in over the decades.

Never underestimate laziness. These fences have been cut and torn down nonstop, resulting in the FEC always hitting someone too dumb to get off the tracks, even at slow speed.

In South Pompano, where McNab Road dead-ends at the tracks, there is a de-facto crossing. People keep crossing to save themselves steps. I have spoken with a Brightline executive (a client) and mentioned the company needs to install concrete fences at this location. No luck, in spite of numerous deaths, most via FEC, not Brightline.

DRIVERS: You can't fix stupid drivers. During the first Brightline runs, I timed the gates from bell to re-opening. Approximately 90 seconds. People refuse to wait. A friend's son tried to beat the train with the gates coming down. Fatal result. I watch people daily dodge around well-marked signage to "save time."

Perhaps the issue is this is the first higher-speed train in Florida? Other areas with commuter trains have had them for many years and drivers are aware of the dangers. Maybe fatalities will abate with time as Brightline gets ingrained into our daily commutes. As for suicides, you can't stop someone determined to, as the homeless call it, "kiss the train."

I prefer to call it the Darwin Express. Only change is, I don't have to be fitter or smarter, just more patient.

Jeff Hamilton, Sebastian

Big, bad Brightline? No way, here's how to solve crash issues

I read Laurence Reisman's recent column about trespassers on rail lines being killed. He raises an interesting problem.

The simple solution is for people to obey the law. But then there are those who, due to incapacity or age, will not obey the law. What to do?

Nobody forces people to walk onto railway tracks. It is unreasonable to expect the railway to take extreme measures to make crossings less vulnerable to the bad decisions of imbeciles.

On the other hand, it is reasonable to require the railway to protect it’s right of way from wayward animals, particularly near grazing farmland and animal preserves.

Applying the same reasoning to areas of high population density seems appropriate and is not extreme. The same reasonable measures (e.g., fencing) should be taken where population density warrants protection of those incapable of their own protection by virtue of age or incapacity.

The bottom line is that normal, healthy, well-adjusted people who respect laws and accept responsibility for their own well-being are not going to be hit by trains because they were walking illegally on or across the rails at the wrong time.

So it comes down to dealing with the poor decisions of those who disobey laws because they grew up in a permissive environment that facilitates their disrespect for our laws and allows them to shirk their responsibilities.

To paraphrase Ayn Rand: “You can avoid responsibility, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding responsibility.”

Rather than focusing on big bad railway, maybe society would be better off focusing on how to better raise children to be good, responsible citizens so they don’t become the kind of adults who make bad decisions that could cost them their lives.

Bob Webster, Vero Beach

Rail crossing dangerous near Walton Road

I live three blocks south of Walton Road. We have been told to look both ways before crossing the tracks.

I can look north toward Fort Pierce, but I cannot see the trains coming from Stuart to the south due to wild foliage growing over and close to the railroad's electric box.

This may be private property, but this foliage needs to be cut back. Otherwise, you are almost on the tracks before you can see. The same goes for the crossing in Rio.

I will be 88 and traffic on Indian River Drive is unbelievable from 4 to 5:30 p.m. If you get caught on the tracks and slam on the brakes, you will get rear-ended. What a mess.

Sally Slater, Jensen Beach

Imagine if New York City subway were at road level

I think we’re finding out the tragic way why it’s best to build a high-speed public transportation train above or below where people walk and drive.  

Can you imagine how many people would die if the New York City subway ran on street level?

Obviously, this is what California is going through and why it’s so expensive and is taking forever.  Trains, pedestrians and cars don’t mix. FloriDuh.

Rich Seago Palm City

Cheney vs. Jordan, others: Choice is clear for speaker

Since the House speaker is not required to be a member of the House, I nominate Liz Cheney.

Unlike the far right, she is a true conservative, she is not beholden to Donald Trump, she has a moral code and she is able to work with Democrats.

She is the exact opposite of Jim Jordan. We don’t need another rude, bullying, promise-breaking (our commitment to supporting Ukraine), deceitful character supposedly leading a branch of our government.

Anne Brakman, Vero Beach

Here's how to stop smoking, potentially save your life

What would you do with the money you saved from smoking cessation, from quitting smoking?

Would you put it away for the future? Travel? Enjoy healthy meals as a non-smoker?

Who are your main influences to stop smoking? How many cigarettes do you smoke per day? Per morning? Per afternoon? Per evening?

Did you know that Tobacco-Free Florida offers online and in-person smoking-cessation courses with the help of the Everglades Area Health Education Center? There is a calendar on the Tobacco-Free Florida website where you can click Indian River, Martin or St. Lucie County to locate quit groups. The programs offer incentives to quit as well as nicotine replacement therapy devices (such as the nicotine patch).

There is a 25% increased likelihood of remaining sober if a person secedes from cigarettes while in treatment for other vices.

Smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable disease and death in the world. According to lung.org, smoking causes 480,000 preventable deaths in the United States annually.

Let these programs work for you.

Anna Santacroce, Fort Pierce

Hunter Biden, Menendez have what in common?

Regarding Jonathan Turley’s column in the newspaper Aug. 1, “Menendez, Hunter Biden cases have many striking similarities:"

One is an elected representative of the people and the other is a private citizen. In what way are they similar?

Jane Klein, Port St Lucie

Analyzing Biden-Trump matchup in 2024

Let's assume the 2024 presidential race comes down to two candidates: Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Here's what we are looking at:

Donald Trump has a lot of baggage, his style is annoying, he is brash, arrogant, dismissive, egotistical and too sensitive. But while president, he accomplished the following:

He put America first with low taxes, low regulations, low unemployment, increased wages, grew the economy, created energy independence, no foreign wars, Middle East peace treaties and trade deals friendly to America.

Joe Biden has put America last, opening the borders, attacking the oil and gas industry, then going to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela begging them to produce more oil. He is mandating EVs, whose vital parts are produced by our No. 1 enemy, China. He has devalued the dollar, sent more than $100 million to Ukraine while ignoring the disintegration of our cities and handed Iran (our No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism) $6 billion as part of a prisoner exchange that has put American lives in jeopardy.

Now, who gets your vote, America?

Ray Mancari, Vero Beach

Well-informed citizens can make a dent in national debt

I would like to suggest that the largest fraud possibly in the United States in modern times, or ever, is on the people of our nation.

What is this fraud by politicians and their lying? Could it be ignorance or the purposeful lies that have led to the expanding national debt? We are told it is social services and other government responsibilities that allow us a healthy, vibrant society.

Stop and look at the real facts and our history, not alternative facts, which are another term for lies. Look closely at the history of our national tax cuts. If we did not suffer the last three cuts, our nation would have been paying down this large debt for almost the past 20 years. We have been told that if the rich get richer, average Americans will fare better. This is a farce played to the people's ignorance.

In the last tax cut of a few years ago 80% of the cut went to the top 1% and most of the rest to the top 20%. The people in power are counting on the average citizen, who is ill informed and therefore easily deceived by lies. If knowledge is power, ignorance is weakness and vulnerability.

Take the time to get information and share it with others. Remember, all of our elected officials are not always liars, so take the time to gather information and know the real truth, not alternative facts. Our democracies can thrive again if citizens are well-informed.

Just one citizen Charley.

Charles Davis, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline a mess? Cut Vero Beach lanes? Bullish on Breeze | Letters