Cleveland Clinic Rx; Brightline station; IRSC; Vero Beach roads; Martin, St. Lucie messes

Cleveland Clinic should get quantum computer here to solve problems

"60 Minutes" recently aired a piece on quantum computers. The Chinese have identified this as a top national priority, and the United States has allocated $1 billion a year on this technology.

The program's interviewees included a renowned physicist, an IBM engineer, a Google executive and a Cleveland Clinic physician. In fact, Cleveland Clinic Ohio is so proud of its quantum computer that it has it displayed in its lobby in Cleveland. It believes this technology will revolutionize health care, which is congruent with its marketing slogan of bringing world-class health care to Florida.

The dichotomy is that Cleveland Clinic Florida on the Treasure Coast is a major disappointment to the community, regarding both inpatient and outpatient functions. It has been ineffective with Martin Health.

There is ongoing attrition of physicians and professional staff. Every time a physician leaves, 2,000 to 3,500 patients are left without a primary care doctor. That, coupled with the burgeoning population on the Treasure Coast, leads to wait times of 6 to 18 months to establish with a primary care physician.

This strain is unsafe for the community and it ultimately drives up health costs.

The specialists are leaving as well. Check your social media feed as many specialists and surgeons are now with Tenet. The most recent Leapfrog rating for North and South Hospitals is "D." This is the first time a grade below "C" has been given in more than three years. For historical context, the takeover was completed Jan. 1, 2019.

Our community is disappointed. Much was promised, and not much delivered except some signage.

Cleveland Clinic's mantra to "deliver world-class care" is a bust on the Treasure Coast. Is Ohio aware? Perhaps that quantum computer can help solve the challenges of delivering health care here on the Treasure Coast. Improving our community's health should be a Cleveland Clinic priority, like quantum computers are to China.

Karen Miller, Stuart

Here's business case for Fort Pierce Brightline station

Regarding the potential of a Brightline station in Fort Pierce:

Our immigration law firm, established in 1978, has offices in Miami and Fort Pierce and goes to court proceedings in Orlando. More than once a week, we travel back and forth between Miami and Fort Pierce.

A Brightline station in Fort Pierce will allow our employees to travel safely and efficiently through these tri-city areas, saving hours of travel time by car. Most importantly, this innovative commuting will allow us to travel between cities and return the same day.

We understand that one of its purposes is to encourage tourism, but most importantly, it enriches the business community and enhances the economy.

Gloria Roa Bodin, Coral Gables and Fort Pierce

Indian River State College really expects more donors without classical music?

Regarding Bob Hyde's letter about WQCP's change in format:

I emailed the station the day after the switch from classical to "R&B Christmas" happened and was told by Chris Puorro, associate vice president and general manager of IRSC Public Media, that the station was changing to a "more popular" format due to a lack of financial support from donors and underwriters.

I wonder how many listeners WQCP has lost due to its new, "more popular" format.

Marta C. Christjansen, Vero Beach

Common sense lacking in Vero Beach Twin Pairs folly

Transportation officials could have put a pedestrian crosswalk over both sides of State Road 60 by now for all the money they spent on studies.

What a joke. So much time and money wasted.

The Vero Beach City Council lacks common sense. If you look at the big picture, everyone gets paid except for the community. The city and Kimley-Horn should pay back all the money they received from us to conduct all these bogus studies.

Jared Smith, Vero Beach

Martin County 'rural lifestyle' amendment more than 'wordplay trickery'

Martin County's "rural lifestyle" comprehensive plan amendment is just wordplay trickery. The amendment will negate any expectation of an authentic rural lifestyle.

Expanding the urban service boundaries ensures a developer's success, and under the current county commission, zoning changes are an entitlement.

Defending the encroachment of real urban sprawl is what the rural lifestyle amendment should be promoting, not touting a fictitious narrative disguised as protection.

This amendment forever changes the landscape by opening the door to further growth and higher density. County officials are dismantling the comprehensive plan, while telling us they are preserving it — the baby-step approach. We have been down this road before. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Each of us has an opinion of what our quality of life means. Some enjoy living near restaurants, stores and amenities, while others find congestion overwhelming. Some revel in community, while others sacrifice convenience for serenity.

Having distance between neighbors, clean air and space for the kids to play makes rural living attractive. Separated from bright lights, traffic jams and noise pollution, it affords a sense of independence and freedom for those who desire quiet living and paying lower taxes.

The amendment's proponents may genuinely believe that a rural lifestyle is being preserved, but everyone knows that development comes in phases. It only takes slight foresight to see what is in store next. The developers have already tipped their hands; their task is not complete while trees still stand.

Next will come the necessary zoning changes for shopping centers, office buildings and professional centers. In essence, a new city is being born.

The inevitable invasion of the development-industrial complex is coming. Soon, it will force those living the true rural lifestyle to relocate and find shelter elsewhere. Maybe there’ll be room to take the wildlife with them.

Nick Gulotta, Stuart

High rises great for tax revenues, awful for everything else

The population of St. Lucie County in 1995 was 168,000 people. The current population is 344,000. The population has more than doubled.

Hutchinson Island in 1995 was unique in its relation to natural beauty. Most of the other beaches in Florida had high-rising condos everywhere. Parking at those beaches would cost a pretty penny. Hutchinson Island still remained natural. No commercial invasion. Residents united to keep the sanctity of sand and natural greenery intact.

Inevitably, demographic growth has come along with everyone and his mother wanting beach property at any cost. County commissioners sit day after day in a cement building. The small-town image is gone. Infrastructure, public works, utilities, garbage collection and untold pressures of a rising population demand money.

Commissioners have two primary thoughts: Collecting money to keep the system going and to minimize tax increases to get reelected. Three six-story apartments might theoretically produce 108 new apartments. Construction employment would produce millions. The tax base at $10,000 a unit would increase the tax income in the millions annually.

In fact, it would be the highest tax income for the least amount of payers in all of St. Lucie County. So inevitably, I’m afraid these commissioners will cave in.

Maybe if they left the cement world and dipped their feet in the Atlantic Ocean, nature would win. Yet when you double your population, the tsunami of bulldozers and nature destruction is inevitable.

Peter Degen, Port St. Lucie

District gets an A, but what's it doing to reduce out-of-wedlock births?

Congratulations go to the Indian River County School District’s teachers, staff, volunteers and superintendent for the state’s A rating recently received. Well done!

While congratulating the school district, the local weekly rag reported The Learning Alliance was toasting its benefactors for the organization’s accomplishments and the new 60% literacy rate district-wide, indicating they’ve edged closer to their laudable, perennial goal of 90% of third-graders reading at grade level.

We should also be toasting all of the county taxpayers as they donated $425,000 to The Leaning Alliance just this year. In fact, over the last 10 years, taxpayers have donated more than $2,039,000 to The Learning Alliance through their county taxes allotted to nonprofits by the Children’s Services Advisory Committee. This year, CSAC granted more than $500,000 to other organizations trying to improve student literacy and more than $2.5 million in total to 46 programs operated by 28 nonprofit organizations.

In addition, Indian River County taxpayer dollars as well as state and national taxes make up the total $329 million annual budget of our district (15,000 students), including $46 million for federal COVID relief grants. The district benefited from our county’s rising property values to the tune of $18 million more than collected last year.

We live in a truly generous county, and we should all be pleased our tax dollars are going to improve education as well as the health and well-being of those less fortunate. With that in mind, it’s important we all follow our county commissioners’ expenditures and make sure they are using our dollars as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Kudos to the parents. To better ensure student success, let’s also make certain the organizations and schools are teaching “graduation, job, marriage, children” in that order. Reducing out-of-wedlock births would save children and program funds.

Susan Mehiel, Vero Beach

Buyer beware when it comes to solar panels

If you are considering putting solar panels on your home's roof or have done so already in an effort to save money on your energy bill, you may have dug a hole for yourself that is too deep to crawl out of.

Some insurance companies will not renew your policy or cancel you if there have been unauthorized structural changes to the roof. Many companies will not even insure your home with the added risk factors of solar panels attached to the roof.

If you do find a company to insure you, your insurance costs will most likely absorb the savings you had on the energy bill.

If your lender requires you to have homeowners insurance and you have had it canceled or cannot insure, you may face foreclosure by the lender.

Marty Jacobson, Stuart, is deputy director, Region I, Seniors vs. Crime.

Democrats better get on the ball or face retribution

I pledge allegiance to Donald Trump.

And to the dictatorship for which he stands.

A MAGA nation, full of hate.

With liberty and justice for none.

The country could be fast approaching the abyss of a second Trump presidency.

To save us from this fate, Democrats must generate a groundswell of support from their diverse base while conceding that any effort to reason with Trump voters is a fool's errand.

The MAGA-minions are intractable, despite all that Trump has done to this country and all that he intends. There's nothing Trump could do or say, no criminal offense, no moral malfeasance that would shame them. They are steeped in the propaganda and conspiracy theories fed by algorithms and right-wing media outlets such as Newsmax and Fox, owned by a cynical Aussie native who cares only about further enriching his family.

Democrats must soon come to terms with this fundamental question: Is Joe Biden too old to weather a brutal campaign and successfully govern? I believe in Joe. However, despite his extraordinary legislative accomplishments, Biden may not be able to overcome serious concerns about the border, inflation and high interest rates.

No matter the standard bearer, generating voter turnout will require a campaign that is both for and against. We are for democracy, the Constitution, competence, inclusion, protecting the climate and freedom against government overreach, especially a woman's right to choose.

We oppose authoritarianism and the abuse of power, a national ban on abortion, using the military to suppress our right to peacefully protest, support for despots like Vladmir Putin, record deficits caused by reckless tax policies and a GOP-led Congress that has adopted only 22 bills, the fewest since 1929.

Trump would replace the Constitution with retribution. To Trump, I am vermin and should be jailed for writing this letter.

Richard Leonard, Vero Beach

Nikki Haley wrong when it comes to Trump

Nikki Haley says Donald Trump must go because of Jan. 6, because he failed to drain the swamp and because he ran up $7 trillion in debt.

Let’s review the facts:

On Jan. 6, he called for a peaceful protest. He advised added security at the Capitol — a request that was ignored. The Secret Service would not let him go with the protestors. And we have Nancy Pelosi on her daughter’s documentary gleefully proclaiming: “We got him!” Trump was set up by the Washington power elite.

And the reason the Washington power elite wanted to get him was because in that second term he would continue to drain the swamp.

As to the $7 trillion debt: The man understands money. You need to spend it to make it. By rolling back onerous regulatory policies and putting us on the road to energy independence, the USA was on track to return to financial prosperity.

This was all destroyed with a stroke of Joe Biden’s pen. The same pen that obliterated Trump’s successful border policies.

Susan Murphy, Palm City

Immigrants to blame? Try ex-president

Donald Trump has been quoted as saying:

"Immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country."

As I see it, the rhetoric of the ex-POTUS is in fact poisoning the minds of many of our citizens as well as the character, spirit and lifeblood of our great country.

Ronald D. Roberts, Sebastian

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline nod, schools, Vero Beach roads, St. Lucie height, sprawl