Congress must act on illegal immigration; save trees over sidewalks: Letters, Oct. 27

Mobile home park residents saved

Kudos to Laurence Reisman for his outstanding reporting on Citrus Park Village. 

Without his persistent diligence in writing articles, calling and emailing officials, I am sure the outcome would not have been so positive for those residents. He stepped up while city and county officials seemed ready to just evict them.

This was a perfect example of how the dearth of affordable housing is such a problem in this area, and why local newspapers are so vital to a community.

Keep fighting the good fight, TC Palm and Mr. Reisman!

Arlene Jamison, Vero Beach

Congress should resolve illegal immigration

If one did an internet search on the immigration laws in our country one would find that under the Constitution of the United States, Congress makes immigration laws, not the executive branch.

The previous two presidents tried to implement processes to deal with immigrants because Congress failed to address the problem. President Joe Biden is executing the current laws as determined by Congress. One might wonder why, in the Trump era, with Republicans dominating Congress did not pass immigration laws to deal with what they currently blare over air waves — the immigration problem.

Therein lies the dirty little secret why nothing has been done — cheap labor. These people have not poured into our country to rape and pillage our towns. Other than people coming from oppressive countries such as Venezuela or Cuba, these people have come here to make money — far more than they can in their own country.

Who do you think, since the mid-1980s, has picked the vegetables, the fruit, killed the chickens, hogs or beef, milked the cows, cleaned the toilets, washed the dishes, cleaned the rooms in hotels, motels and resorts across our country?

The ramifications of closing the border and making all those potential immigrants wanting to enter our country wait in Mexico under the Trump era could be one of the causes of inflation. If immigration was a real problem, our governor would only have to start jailing the employers that hire these illegal immigrants.

You stop the real problem of cheap labor by going after the businesses that employ these people. Making illegal immigrants a political talking point does nothing to fix the problem. You might ask your congressman why he hasn't fixed the problem for which he blames Biden.

Ronald Penfield, Vero Beach

Removing trees for sidewalks 'unacceptable'

Sidewalks on the east side if State Road A1A in Vero Beach? I agree with Laurence Reisman's column Oct. 16, "FDOT overkill on A1A waste of money? Where are Vero Beach environment watchdogs?"

Do you ever see more than one or two people running on the west sidewalk?

To remove so many trees is unacceptable. As to 27th Avenue, south if Oslo Road, it seems to be an area where an accident killing a pedestrian is just waiting to happen

I don't know if this decision can be overturned, but something must be done.

Millie Hirsch, Vero Beach

Gov. DeSantis should treat all legal voters the same

First Gov. Ron DeSantis told us the 2020 election vote was completely secure. Then he set about finding all the illegal voters he told us in 2020 didn’t exist.

He is arresting people who served their time, were released from prison and told, some by their probation officers, that they were now qualified to vote. Over 60% of the voters in Florida chose to give them that right back.

Republicans tried to take it away anyway, by adding stipulations. Some people registered to vote, thinking they could, and the government’s job is to make sure anyone who registers is indeed qualified. The government did not do its job, so DeSantis is having these people arrested and threatened with years back in prison.

Meanwhile, DeSantis’ supporters at The Villages had several Republican residents caught intentionally voting twice and they got nothing but a slap on the wrist. DeSantis is playing games like he did with the immigrants.

He also relaxed voting rules in three Republican-leaning counties hit by Hurricane Ian, but did not in the one county that leans Democrat. Disgraceful.

This is how an authoritarian or despot operates. You might be fine with it now, but when he does something that affects your rights, you will think differently.

Susan Eilenberg, Jensen Beach 

No need for second roundabout on Hutchinson Island

I have not read on TCPalm about the proposed roundabout on Hutchinson Island in front of the Jensen Beach parking lot.

There was a public meeting on the matter held Oct. 19. All of the participants expressed their strong opposition to a second roundabout being added in front of the hotel and so close to the existing roundabout.

A second roundabout is not needed and will definitely impact everyone who travels this stretch of State Road A1A. It's time for the county commissioners to step up and get this project stopped before it's too late. The proposed roundabout doesn't even include a new street access.

In addition to forcing all traffic to go around an unnecessary circle, it would have a cut-off to the private driveway of Green Turtle Cove condominiums and the Hutchinson Shores Hotel, two private driveways.

If the expressed reason for such a need is to slow down traffic the county should start enforcing the speed limits or consider other alternatives to control traffic speed before going to such an extreme as to build a totally unwanted and unneeded new roundabout.

Isn't there a better way to spend $750,000 of Martin County taxpayers' money?

David Jones, Jensen Beach

Tax law change exempted some capital gains on home sales

The Oct. 23 letter from David Valdina was rather confusing and could mislead homeowners.

He states, "In 1965, I buy a house for $20,000. Twenty years later I sell that house for $200,000. Not using the funds to buy another house, I have $180,000 in long-term capital gains and am taxed on that 'income.' The unfairness is that the increase in price was entirely due to inflation. The buying power of my $20,000 in 1965 was the same as my buying power in 1985. The tax laws should be changed to take inflation into account."

The good news is that it is 2022, not 1985, and the tax laws were changed 35 years ago. Thanks to the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 you can sell your primary residence and be exempt from capital gains taxes on the first $250,000 if you are single and $500,000 if married filing jointly.

People that have tax questions about selling their real estate should contact a tax professional.

Jim Weix, Palm City

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Congress must act on immigration; no more sidewalks: Letters, Oct. 27