Friday's letters: Young people can't afford to live in Sarasota

Cost of living forcing out young people

Sarasota might be a good place to retire but it is rapidly becoming unlivable for young people.

Every day I see people under 35 suffering or leaving Sarasota. They can’t afford to live here.

Rapidly rising housing costs, record rent hikes with no rent control, no affordable transit and no plans to increase density or build affordably are turning many young professionals away.

Insurance costs are skyrocketing. Book bans and the firing of our school district superintendent have scared away new families.

More: Sarasota named in Top 10 places to live in U.S.

The cost of living has ballooned.

The cherry on top has been the state’s incredibly hostile takeover of New College of Florida, with new board members openly mocking students and causing mass transfers.

Gov. Ron DeSantis even came to grace the school during finals week to sign a bill with almost no notice, so students attempting to take finals in College Hall were turned away by the police or his bodyguards.,

More: How to send a letter to the editor

How will Sarasota function as young people are forced to leave? Hopefully, future representatives will start to care about those with the most future to invest in Sarasota and not just those here for a season.

Sean Patton, Sarasota

Affirmative action racist, ruling correct

Letter writers have assailed the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding affirmative action as racist. Rather, the ruling provides for consistency of requirements regarding admission to institutions of higher learning.

The arbitrary application of requirements to afford certain individuals’ admission to such institutions, is, by definition, racist. One does not defeat racism by applying differently directed racism.

The modification of requirements (grades) to allow attendance to higher education is a statement that certain individuals, by virtue of their race, are incapable of achieving those grades.

If the reason that such individuals cannot gain that achievement is by virtue of the preliminary education they have received, as opposed to their race, the cure is fixing that preliminary education, not making accommodations to continue it. Accommodation for subpar performance cheats individuals who do not need such accommodation in education, as well as in any endeavor.

We need to focus on ensuring that graduates of grade school and high school all have the prerequisites required to function in society and achieve the very best grade level they have the ability to accomplish. Modifying the playing field is not the answer.

Lee Hoffman, Lakewood Ranch

Authoritarianism gaining ground

Facts suggest that the leading Republican presidential candidates, former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, consistently display authoritarian tendencies. While the length allowed here prevents a detailed list of facts for each item, the observations can be easily verified:

• Banning books, check.

• Telling outrageous lies, check.

• Dehumanizing others, such as LGBTQ individuals, check.

• Restricting women’s health-care choices, check.

• Appointing ill-qualified advisers known more for loyalty than competence, check.

• Banning media presence at speaking events, check.

• Appointing judges influenced more by politics than law, check.

• Disparaging science and scientists, check.

• Vilifying those with whom they disagree, check.

Editorial Board: 10 ways DeSantis welcomes LGBTQ, other communities

The choice in the next election is clear. While we may not all agree with every policy issue espoused by Democrats, they at least stand for individual freedom and democracy. This alone should compel responsible voters to elect Democrats.

William Welsch, Punta Gorda

Limit misinformation, protect free speech

This “woke” liberal found Ingrid Jacques' column about Americans’ right of free speech disingenuous and divisive.

Americans are legitimately trying to figure out how to protect free speech while also limiting the damage that misinformation causes us. We accept some limitations to free speech when that speech is untrue and causes harm to others.

So consider some of the misinformation that Jacques defends as free speech:

COVID vaccines make us infertile and change our DNA.  That’s not true, and it reduced the number of people who chose to be vaccinated for a pandemic that killed more than 1 million Americans.

The 2020 presidential election was rigged. That’s not true, and it led to the assault on our Capitol. In addition, it continues to feed the conspiracy theories that divide us.

Global warming is a hoax. That’s not true, and it is slowing our response to a global catastrophe.

When does the harm from misinformation rise to the level that it should be at least flagged as false?

That’s not an easy question, but it is a legitimate question for us to answer as a nation.

Lin Williams, Venice

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Young people leaving Sarasota for cheaper climes