Letters: After 100 days in office, Mayor Donna Deegan has a decision-making dilemma

In Nate Monroe's Oct. 15 column highlighting Mayor Donna Deegan's 100 days in office, he cited that he found some of her early decisions “… particularly on which fights to pick — a bit puzzling.”

Organizational effectiveness consultants call this a time to gauge management indicators. Central to organizational effectiveness is the decision-making process.

To paraphrase Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard of “NCIS” (played by the late David McCallum), politics is a “cesspool of questionable human behavior” and unfortunately far too often combative.

Those of us who voted for Mayor Deegan have painfully observed her lose four major political battles in her early days. According to organizational effectiveness consultants, two key factors that lead to losses in political battles are poor decision making and indecisiveness.

Because of the new mayor's political inexperience (and substandard advisers), Sheriff T.K. Waters snatched the national spotlight from Mayor Deegan in the moment of a horrible racist shooting that killed three Black citizens.

Al Ferraro`s appointment to lead the Neighborhoods Department was lost by Mayor Deegan, as was Randy DeFoor’s selection as general counsel.

Ben Becker of Action News Jax was promised a comment from Mayor Deegan’s office about the viral video showing alleged brutality by JSO deputies. But the mayor abruptly departed her Oceanway community meeting, so the public did not receive a statement about the injuries suffered by a Black man during his arrest.

Mayor Deegan did provide a statement about the recent terrorist attack in Israel.

While she is waiting to choose her battles, our city leaders have a history of indecisiveness and poor decision making. Mayor Deegan`s problem with losing too many political battles is that it's difficult to regain the confidence and trust of your followers and voters.

The U.S. military utilizes three words when they fire or relieve commanding officers — “loss of confidence.”

In politics, one word is utilized to replace ineffective elected officials — “recall.”

In my opinion, the mayor has nine months to reverse her negative trends. Jacksonville cannot endure three more years of spinning with no direction, political ineffectiveness, weakness and lack of control.

Recall may be the answer for Deegan`s decision-making dilemma.

Dr. Juan P. Gray, Jacksonville

Hamas must ease suffering of its own people

When Hamas invaded Israel and slaughtered thousands of innocent men, women and children, many world leaders supported Israel. That was morally correct. Now that Israel is on the offensive, support begins to wane. Calls for a ceasefire are heard.

A ceasefire, while understandable in the short term, does nothing to resolve the fundamental issues. Will Hamas accept Israel’s right to exist? Will Hamas forever repudiate terrorism? If not, what does a ceasefire do except give them the room and time to plan other massacres?

Hamas is a terrorist organization, whose rallying call for decades has been, “… from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Golda Meir, decades ago, said there would be no peace in the region “… until they love their children more than they hate us.”

Hamas took over governance of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Where are the voices calling upon them to address the suffering of their own people? We are told that Hamas possesses enough supplies to continue the war for three to four months before they will be forced to re-stock.

They have stockpiled food, water, fuel and medicine for their own fighters — not for the civilians their terrorism put in harm’s way. We grieve for the death of innocent human beings, yet it seems that everything is expected from Israel and nothing from Hamas.

There is much hypocrisy in the world demanding that Israel end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza; but nothing is asked of Egypt, which also borders Gaza, or Hamas itself. The time is long overdue for the world to call upon Hamas to turn from its evil ways and end the humanitarian crisis caused by its invasion.

Am Yisrael Chai — the nation of Israel lives.

Goldie Lansky, president, Jacksonville Hadassah

Heed Pope Francis on climate change

In the Oct. 25 edition of the Times-Union was an article titled “Hurricanes now twice as likely to rapidly intensify” by Seth Borenstein of The Associated Press. He cited a recent study that found with warmer oceans serving as fuel, Atlantic hurricanes were more than twice as likely as before to intensify rapidly from being minor to powerful and catastrophic.

The study’s author, Andra Garner, was quoted as stating, “If we don’t work to lower our [carbon] emissions, then that’s a trend that we likely could expect to see continue to happen in the future” and even get worse.

Three weeks before, on Oct. 4, Pope Francis published an apostolic exhortation, “Laudate Deum,” on the climate crisis. This was eight years after publishing his encyclical letter, “Laudato Si’, on Care for our Common Home.”

In “Laudate Deum,” he says, “no one can ignore the fact that in recent years we have witnessed extreme weather phenomena, frequent periods of unusual heat, drought and other cries of protest on the part of the Earth that are only a few palpable expressions of a silent disease that affects everyone.” The pope considers climate change to be a global social issue, one intimately related to the dignity of life.

Pope Francis adds, “Efforts by households to reduce pollution and waste, and to consume with prudence, are creating a new culture.” He points out that carbon emissions from U.S. individuals are about two times greater than those of persons living in China and about seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries.

Vatican Council II challenged us to respond to the signs of the times. We have quite a challenge before us that will affect not only us, but future generations.

Sr. Carol Stovall, SSJ, St. Augustine

Close the write-in loophole

Just under 30% of registered voters (No Party Affiliation and other minor parties) don’t have an opportunity to vote in primary elections when there is no candidate from the other party on the ballot. It may also surprise you to know that political parties don’t pay a single penny toward those primaries. They are 100% paid for by us ― the taxpayers.

So basically, political parties get to close their primaries to tax-paying, non-party members (even when there is only one party represented) and don’t have to pay for a single thing. If they want to continue keeping their primaries closed, let the party pay for them. The regular taxpayer should not have to pay for primaries in which they don't get to vote.

A simple fix was approved by 64% of Florida voters in 1998 by passing the Universal Primary Amendment, which stated that primaries must be open to all voters if only one party fielded candidates and the winner will face no opposition in the general election.

Since then, however, a loophole created in 2000 allows political and party operatives in both parties to recruit sham write-in candidates for the party not fielding candidates. By doing so, they close the primary to 30% of registered voters. Every year, the press carries stories of these manipulations.

By taking advantage of this controversial loophole, these political insiders disenfranchised more than 8.2 million voters over the past 25 years.

It is time for this write-in loophole support to end for millions of Florida voters. Please call and write to your Tallahassee representatives of both parties and ask them to end this egregious practice and let the people speak. It’s time to close the write-in loophole.

Jose Torres, Jacksonville

Pediatricians can help with food insecurity

Food insecurity — the lack of access to nutritious meals — is a critical issue in our community. Florida has among the highest rates of food insecurity in the nation, with children being more disproportionately impacted than adults. Nearly 27% of children in Florida are food insecure.

The lack of access to adequate nutrition has harmful health consequences in children, potentially resulting in delayed development and increased risk of chronic illnesses.

As the Duval County Food Policy Council reconvenes, it will be important to engage pediatricians as an integral part of their efforts. Pediatricians can screen for food insecurity in clinical settings by using tools like the Hunger Vital Sign, which asks two important questions regarding access to food.

Parents can be encouraged to share their difficulties accessing high-quality food with their providers. Although some may feel there is a stigma associated with asking for help, a child's access to nutritious foods is just as important as access to other forms of health care.

Pediatricians can also serve as resources for parents by helping to connect them to community resources that assist families with access to food and other essential needs. For young children and pregnant and nursing mothers, pediatricians can ensure they are connected to WIC or SNAP (food assistance programs).

Children have the right to optimal survival, development and health. Access to nutritious food is necessary to fulfill these rights. Parents and pediatricians must work together to ensure children have access to the foods needed to promote their development. Parents who are struggling to make ends meet should not be expected to resolve this overwhelming problem on their own.

Meskerem Nemomsa, M.D., Jacksonville

Social media campaign for tree-lovers

The beautiful city of Jacksonville is known for beaches, golf courses, parks and historic neighborhoods. What do all these places have in common? Trees.

Jacksonville is a natural paradise and trees play a starring role, beginning with the Treaty Oak, estimated to be 250 years old. To rescue it from destruction in the 1930s, a Times-Union reporter claimed that native Floridians and early settlers had signed a treaty at the site. Although the accuracy of this story is debatable, the Treaty Oak has become a well-known symbol of our city.

Beyond beauty, we know that trees provide many urgently needed environmental benefits. Stand in a parking lot or concrete sidewalk in the heat of day. Wouldn’t you prefer to be under a shade tree that can be as much as 20 degrees cooler? Trees are one of the least expensive and most effective ways we can combat extreme heat.

The Southern live oak is also one of the most efficient trees in the world at capturing carbon and filtering water.

Those live oaks and other spectacular trees throughout our neighborhoods deserve to be discovered.

The Remarkable Trees Project-Jacksonville, sponsored by Scenic Jacksonville with support from the Late Bloomers Garden Club, will debut on @hiddenjacksonville, @jaxparksandpreserves and @scenicjax social media accounts on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The campaign asks residents to identify a favorite remarkable tree and submit a picture.

Through this project, our majestic trees will be highlighted while also drawing attention to the need to protect, conserve and enlarge the tree canopy. Let’s celebrate our spectacular trees and become advocates for protecting our precious green resources.

Deborah Early, Jacksonville

Florida’s lawsuit reform works

I have a lot of friends who are small business owners. They’re overburdened by taxes and frustrated by regulation, but the one thing that genuinely frightens them is a lawsuit.

For decades now, Florida has allowed too many frivolous lawsuits. The reason lawyers are paying millions of dollars for TV ads is because they know it’s relatively easy to get settlement from business owners and their insurance companies.

The reality is that very little good comes from most lawsuits. Attorneys make exorbitant fees by churning through as many cases as possible. Our insurance premiums skyrocket to cover the cost of defending against and settling nuisance lawsuits.

I support the lawsuit reform that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature adopted during the last session. It will make it harder to file a frivolous lawsuit. I hope our elected officials hold fast and don’t bend to pressure because lawsuit reform is working, and Florida’s small business owners now have less to worry them.

Robin Lumb, Jacksonville

Monroe right on Downtown Jax

I was glad to read a recent opinion by Nate Monroe and actually agree with it. His Oct. 29 article about the state of downtown Jacksonville was right on point. I don't think the city has seen a high-rise building — or possibly any new building — completed in the last 20 years.

We recently went to Nashville and saw at least six construction sites in their downtown where buildings were going up; it put Jacksonville to shame. It’s unbelievable how we don't ever seem to be able to get something started to create the kind of skyline we should have in Jacksonville.

It makes you wonder what the reason is.

Terry Weaver, Jacksonville

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Is a recall the answer to Mayor Deegan's poor decision-making skills?