Readers comment on the causes of Gainesville's housing crisis and examples of leadership
Causes of housing crisis
The Sun reported this week on the ongoing battle between Suburban Heights residents, city staff and yet another developer eager to profit from Gainesville’s explosive growth.
Another multi-story, mixed-used development is not going to solve Gainesville’s housing crisis. Gainesville housing issues have many causes, one being the off-campus privatization of dormitory housing.
UF would rather build vanity sports complexes than house their ever-increasing enrollment. As a result, developers have been more than happy to fill the void with luxury student housing rented by the room, and inaccessible to working residents. Additionally, UF and UF Shands continue to gobble up prime real estate throughout the city.
Meanwhile, UF owns an enormous tract of agricultural land that spans the distance between Archer Road and Williston Road, home to UF’s swine and beef units. This land can and should be converted and used by UF, instead of increasing their footprint in other parts of the city.
Another overlooked cause of our housing crisis is the short-term rental market, led by Airbnb and others. There are hundreds of such unregulated rentals throughout Gainesville.
The residents of Suburban Heights are not alone in their dismay for the unchecked and haphazard way in which city and county officials have allowed development to proceed.
Michael Patterson, Gainesville
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Profiles in courage
Back in the 1960s there was a book that rose to the top of the bestseller list. It was a biographical text of courageous U.S. senators who voted for their conscience instead of going along with their party.
Today we have two senators who are standing up for what they believe. They are turning their backs on their party and showing great courage. They are castigated by their party, news commentators, editorial writers and others. They are not hailed as standing up for what they believe or reflecting what their constituents elected them for.
I guess if there was an updated edition of the book, they would be hailed as "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy.
Too bad that we have forgotten about other heroes and the courage they showed, but I guess times have changed and we would prefer our "leaders" act like sheep and follow their party instead of acting for the good of America and her citizens.
Edward Krohn, Gainesville
Leaders are examples
I was very disappointed to read the letter published Jan. 21, “Outstanding record." I believe that the intent of the letter was to praise our former president and demean our current president for our financial status and for world politics. I do not want to debate that, but I will note that sometimes what is happening is not always a result of one leader — we are a democracy of representatives and outside influences.
I will, however, disagree that a leader's personality doesn't matter. A leader is a representative of a body of people. How that leader behaves is how those people are viewed as a group.
Our former president ran on the premise of "let's all be angry about how things are in our country" and that anger was prominent throughout his tenure. Unfortunately the anger continues, and instead of someone saying "I disagree with a representative or a school board member, and I am going to vote for someone else," I hear stories of threats against the safety of them and their family members.
Leaders are examples for us and for our children. Children are punished for calling people stupid, so why should it be OK for a leader?
MaryLou Mansfield, Newberry
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters to the editor for Feb. 5, 2022
