Cut Vero Beach road lanes? Fix Brightline safety, fees; Trump put America first? | Letters

Vero Beach council has huge issues, but focuses on cutting traffic lanes?

The Vero Beach City Council has lots on its plate. The Three Corners project and the relocation of the wastewater facility are both complicated subjects that require lots of study and thought.

Yet the council thinks a total redesign of downtown traffic belongs at the top of its agenda. Does anyone really think this is a good idea?

This is a group that, for almost 18 months, has proven itself incapable of re-opening a glorified hot dog stand at the beach. Perhaps its members can somehow be persuaded to get over themselves a bit and begin to concentrate on doing stuff that needs doing.

Bob Hyde, Vero Beach

Editor's note: The City Council will host a special meeting discussing plans to reduce State Road 60 downtown from seven to four lanes at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Vero Beach Community Center, 2266 14^th Ave.

Brightline safety solution staring trains in the headlamps

Brightline has the most at-grade crossings of any high-speed train system in the nation.

Granted, it has recently made major safety improvements with quad gates and lights at most crossings. But the crash in Delray Beach was at one that did not have those.

Here's a cost-effective, less-expensive way to drastically improve safety on Brightline's entire route: Install fences on both sides where trains traverse open fields, towns and neighborhoods from Miami to Orlando. These can be relatively inexpensive chain-link fences with barbed wire on top, similar to those surrounding Witham Field in Stuart.

These fences should have simple one-way gates inside the tracks every 500+ feet or so, to allow workers and anyone caught inside the tracks to escape, but that won't open from outside the tracks. This is not rocket science and would save many lives (and lawsuits). There are many good fence companies in eastern Florida that would welcome the work. It's the right thing to do.

Since Brightline evaded huge financing costs by getting taxpayer subsidies, it should do this at its cost to saves lives. Not only children and the impaired are at risk now, but think of the beloved pets that will wander in front of 110 mph trains.

Thanks for your excellent articles on Brightline over the years.

Robert A. Gibbons, Stuart

Brightline fees show operations like a Greek tragedy

Are you bothered by the roar of a Brightline train 32 times daily?

Have a shot and you'll feel better.

Not working? Concerned about lack of safety features? So what if we lose a local resident. That clears overpopulation, right?

So what if your business is ruined. There are winners and losers. Sorry. So what if you're a resident close to the roaring train? Move. So what if these trains sneak toxic chemicals in that if leaked, kill half the locals? That's from my 12-year-old nephew. Sorry, show some manners, kid.

I asked my bright nephew to run down some numbers and analyze the financials of taking Brightline vs. driving. Brightline is attempting to lure people with opening prices that probably won’t last. The charges are for round-trip tickets:

Single: $158. Business: $298. Family of four: $398.

The distance from Miami to Orlando is 235 miles. The projected time driving is 3½ hours, almost the same as the Brightline ride. Distance round-trip is 470 miles. A car that gets a modest 25 miles to the gallon would need 18 gallons of gas round-trip. At $3.75 a gallon, the trip would cost $70.

So compare $70 to $398, $298, or $158. The time difference is inconsequential. Oh, and you’ll have a car to go places when you get there.

Thus, my nephew claims the math can only lead to Brightline's demise. However, my nephew is very bright. He says it could be like algebra with the “unknown factor.”

It seems there’s a lot of talk about the 15-minute city and phasing out cars. EV cars are just a ruse. The grid can’t support it and the practicality is unsustainable.

Blame my 12-year-old who thinks like Aristotle. It’s all Greek to me.

Peter Degen, Port St. Lucie

Florida railroads dangerous; it's why Rail Safety Week important

Each September, the rail industry recognizes Rail Safety Week to bring together its many stakeholders to save lives with free rail safety education.

Rail Safety Week is particularly important for Florida. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, Florida had the third highest rate of casualties due to trespassing and fourth highest rate of collisions. These incidents —through education and engagement ― are preventable.

That’s Rail Safety Week’s goal: to stop track tragedies and do all we can to make rail as safe as possible.

Railroads are vital to our nation’s infrastructure and economy. The industry invests an average of $23 billion annually to support nearly every goods-related industry. These investments help strengthen the connections between American industries and global markets, driving job growth in our country.

I’ve devoted my career to rail safety. Although the industry has more to do, I’m proud of our progress.

CSX has extremely high safety standards. We take it seriously and take pride in what we do. The passion and training we devote to every employee allows us to provide the most reliable rail service while keeping communities safe.

We’ve steadily increased infrastructure investments and anticipate spending $1.7 billion this year on improvements to tracks, bridges and signals. Beyond that, we work closely with localities to ensure they’re ready to respond to railroad emergencies. This coordination is hugely important and speaks to our recognition that rail safety is a team effort.

CSX is committed to the communities we serve and will always prioritize safety. It defines who we are.

Rail Safety Week is a reminder of the risks and builds on the progress made. Working together, we can all help communities make good decisions around tracks and trains to #STOPTrackTragedies.

Sean Douris is chief of police, public safety and infrastructure protection at CSX, Jacksonville.

Time for Trump to put America first

In my book, "Ranking U.S. Presidents from Washington to Trump," I ranked Donald Trump No. 8 of the 45 U. S. presidents I discuss in the book.

Presidents I ranked ahead of Trump are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan.

Great presidents changed the direction of our nation for the better. Trump accomplished that during his presidency.

To sum it up, Trump made us less dependent on other countries so we could be more useful to ourselves and other countries. President Barack Obama intentionally made us more dependent on other nations because he thought the United States needed to be taken down a peg, as he wrote in "The Audacity of Hope."

In his farewell address to the nation the day he resigned, Aug. 8, 1974, Richard Nixon said: “Always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

Many historians agree Nixon lost the presidential election in 1960 to John F. Kennedy due to voter irregularities orchestrated by Chicago’s Mayor Richard Daley. Voter irregularities due to the COVID pandemic and the harvesting of votes by the Democrats probably allowed or contributed to President Trump losing the election in 2020 to Joseph Biden. But the country does not need to elect Trump in 2024 if he intends to double down in vengeance against those he feels stole the election from him. That would lead to a turmoil the nation has not experienced since our Civil War.

Great leaders put the nation before themselves. It's time for former President Trump to put America first.

Stanford Erickson, Vero Beach

'Abortion' sanitized word for procedures that takes life of children

"My body, my choice."

It's fascinating how the selective use of words can obfuscate the true intent of abortion: to get rid of human life.

Another clear way to say this is "killing."

At the moment of conception, a single hybrid cell called a zygote is created, totally distinct from a woman's body. Since a woman has never given birth to anything other than a human child, that zygote can only be a human child.

How and why politics is involved attempting to justify "killing," or the word of choice, "abortion," is testament to the individuals involved. That's sad in a society that appears to condone the "murder" of its children.

Denis Alumbaugh, Vero Beach

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Brightline dangers, cost bad omens; Vero Beach traffic woes | Letters