Letters to the editor for Thursday, April 14, 2022
Vote 'no' on rezoning golf course
The Riviera Golf Club consists of several non-contiguous parcels of property that wind their way through the heart of the 55+ community of Riviera Golf Estates. As originally intended, the golf course acts as a flood plain for the surrounding community.
The owners of the golf course are in the process of attempting to have these parcels rezoned for residential use as they claim their golf course is not profitable. Maybe they are in the wrong business.
The owners and their attorney would also like to ignore the required 100-foot setback/greenway buffer which applies to golf course conversions as this would stop the rezoning in its tracks and make most of the property unbuildable. Maybe it's not meant to be developed.
The owners of the golf course don’t seem to really care about the surrounding homeowners and their property as they have already shown by their proposal. They want to push for rezoning, sell to a developer, take the money and run and leave us all with flooded homes and property. Maybe we should start building an ark! Or just maybe cooler heads can prevail and we will find a solution that works for all involved.
Commissioners please do the right thing by managing growth. Vote 'no' on rezoning the golf course and save our lovely community.
Karen Johnson, Naples
Listen to Riviera residents
We have attended both stakeholders outreach meetings and have read many letters to the editor in the Naples Daily News. In all well-prepared comments, has anyone voiced a favorable approval of said proposal? We think not.
We don’t know where this goes from here, but this madness must end! The owners of Riviera Golf Club bought this golf course and knew its history. Only poor management and greed has taken them in this direction.
Listen to area residents: no changes to setbacks don’t convert, show some backbone!
Ken and Ellen Morey, Naples
Commissioners must reject application
In 2017 Collier County amended the Land Development Code (LDC) to include restrictions on golf course property conversions. The “over 55” Riviera Golf Estates (RGE) community was very vocal and they played a positive role in the new restrictions to the LDC in an effort to thwart development of the Riviera Golf Course (RGC) property to a residential community.
Now, RGC has enlisted Hole Montes in an attempt to convince Collier County that the RGC's only option is to ignore the LDC guideline/restrictions implemented for golf course conversions, And instead, impose a disruption upon the over 55 retirement community surrounding the golf course property which has also been declared a flood plain.
This project CANNOT go forward. The county commissioners must reject the application.
Dwight Kehoe, Naples
Beach toll would penalize average Joe
I understand that Beach residents are upset over Margaritaville. No one likes the change that will bring undue traffic to an already backed-up area. The suggestion to "stop the day trippers and gawkers" by creating a heavy toll on the bridge is similar to a reader from Sanibel voicing their concern years back.
Somewhere along the line, you feel the answer is putting yourselves on that always present pedestal of "Beach folk" and punishing the average Joe that may want to come for a day or watch a sunset, those invaders that have no business being there, how dare they!
So, you're saying a resounding yes to the big toll may one day be your ruination. Heaven forbid that when you travel to a beautiful popular vacation destination, that you have wanted to see for years, someone slaps a big heavy toll on you, and gee, you might not have the dough!
Pat Wolslagel, Fort Myers
Support NCH cardiac, stroke project
I have been a supporter and friend to NCH for years and feel the work they do there is nothing less than exemplary. Our community should feel lucky to have a facility such as this in our own city. All of the awards for quality care and outcomes from a growing list of third-party agencies should be evidence of the high-caliber health care our residents have access to right here at home.
We all trust in our physicians, and when they give us a diagnosis of an ailment, we follow their plan of care to make us better. Today, our community physicians at NCH are telling us that we are at a point where we need to start to plan for future growth and take necessary action to make the nationally recognized health care our community already receives from NCH, even better. It is high time that we all listen and follow our medical experts' plan of care and support the enhancement of cardiac and stroke treatment that will come with this new facility.
Allowing NCH to replace an existing, aging structure with one that will accomplish this goal just makes sense. It will cause minimal disruption to the vast majority of Neapolitans while ALL Naples residents will benefit from this enhancement of medical care. When the City Council reaches a point of taking a vote on this issue, I hope it keeps that very important point in mind.
Michael Komara, Naples
Biking just one climate solution
Biking is my primary mode of transportation, but it can be a harrowing experience. Examples:
• I’m on a relatively quiet street near Trader Joe’s. A woman in a car comes up behind me and screams, “Get on the sidewalk!”
• I’m on the sidewalk abutting Tamiami near Pine Ridge. There is no place to bike on the highway. A woman is walking toward me. As I approach her, she says, “You should use the bike trial!”
Combine these two vignettes to yield a pretty good definition of “You can’t win for losing!”
Biking is good exercise. It’s not as slow a form of transportation as walking, but it does give one time to take in and appreciate one’s surroundings closely. And it does not generate greenhouse gases!
Elaborating on this last point, according to virtually every scientific analysis, greenhouse gases (GHGs) are killing our atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is literally tearing its hair out: humanity is “on track to usher in a devastating level of global warming.” It’s going to be so bad that even Noah the Second might not survive. The facts are too vast and too scary for many/most folks to study dispassionately.
There are many solutions to the climate crisis. Quite a few of them, including biking, are going to be on display at the Earth Day Jamboree coming up 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Cambier Park on April 23. Come, take a look!
Michael Sales, Naples
Fixing something that’s not broken
Why are our beautiful streets being covered in ugly blacktop paving material? I don’t see the need to fix something that’s not broken.
James Britton, M.D., Naples
Biden blames others for poor leadership
8.5 percent inflation! Stop blaming Putin! Biden had over a year to prepare Zelensky as Putin was building troops on the Ukraine border. ONE YEAR! Did nothing. Now blames Putin. The so-called Putin price hikes. Take responsibility like a man and stop blaming everybody for your poor leadership. The MSM and this White House sold a narrative to the American voters in 2020. They own this economy.
Arthur Maranian, Naples
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Letters to the editor for Thursday, April 14, 2022
