Readers comment on Gainesville zoning changes, Matt Gaetz, the Jan. 6 hearings and more

Daunting task

“Affordable housing” has been Gainesville’s talk of the town. What is affordable is a function of disposable income or assets. With straining I might afford to live in any Gainesville neighborhood but not Madison Avenue, Beverly Hills or posh neighborhoods in cities around the world — not even for a year.

Providing affordable housing to low wage earners — custodians, carpenters, burger-flippers, store clerks and the like — within a reasonable range of employment is a daunting task. Dramatically changing the distribution of wealth might do it. But that will never happen in the USA so long as corporations and the super-wealthy control who enters public office, as they do. What to do about the genuinely homeless who have nothing and earn nothing is even more difficult.

Providing affordable housing locally would require large chunks of local tax revenue. This is unlikely. Some Gainesville city commissioners believe permitting outside investors to invade single-family neighborhoods with multiple-story housing would do the job. But would this make housing affordable to low earners and the penniless? In a pig’s eye!

Would it drive some homeowners and newcomers out of the city? Probably. Would it degrade the lives of those who cannot afford to flee? Surely.

Joe Little, Gainesville 

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Misogynistic attack

Reflecting on Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz's ugly diatribe against women as they demonstrated for their abortion rights, I say this: His hurtful comments about their weight and appearance and more were crass, unkind and unacceptable!

Taking liberty with the common saying "Hell has no fury as the women scorned," I hope he feels their (our) fury full force. He doesn't get it: They are movers, shakers and, most importantly, voters.

Women of Florida and others, we cannot let him get away with his misogynistic attack! Gaetz demonstrates, too well, the absence of respect for others and integrity that seems to plague many of our elected officials.

He already carries a lot of "baggage." Gaetz has created his political future. He is going nowhere.

Patricia Kilby, Gainesville

Election information

Thank you to the many primary election candidates who have provided their positions and comments on the League of Women Voters’ VOTE411 website. For voters, by going to the VOTE411 website, www.vote411.org, and clicking “What’s On Your Ballot,” you can enter your address and the site will reveal your specific ballot choices and the candidates you may choose.

Even more, you can read what candidates have entered to express their views and priorities on issues in Gainesville or Alachua County. Another click will allow you to compare the responses of two competing candidates. A link for watching the candidate forums is also available.

If you’re looking for a way to find all your ballot choices for the upcoming primary election in one place, VOTE411 is the place to go. To the few candidates who have not responded, there’s no time like the present.

Janice Garry, president, League of Women Voters of Alachua County 

Save wildlife too

Hopefully, that ironic photo of the bison at Paynes Prairie published with the July 27 column on conservation lands will remind some of us of the fate of all of the male bison at the Prairie, who were corralled and shipped off to be slaughtered a few years ago. Not only that, we paid the slaughterers to take them away!

Not only will we miss the sight of these animals in another couple of years, bison are valuable in that they keep grasses and weeds under control, and churn up the soil so water can flow through it.

Conservation is not only saving land and water, it includes the creatures that populate it.

Rob Roberts, Gainesville 

One-sided hearings

In response to the July 27 letter "Denial of the truth," I would like to point out that the Jan. 6 committee hearings we see on TV are, without exception, one sided. And, yes, I did watch them.

There are no cross examinations and any exculpatory material is omitted.

After for years of Donald Trump's presidency, where he was accused, without evidence  or with invented evidence, of every crime imaginable, one has the right to be skeptical of a made-for-TV show trial where the conclusion was determined in advance.

Admittedly, Trump is not perfect, but he did much that was positive for our country, which is something that the mainstream refused to ever acknowledge. It's no wonder that there are people who don't trust the mainstream after six years of falsehoods.

Barbara Ferris, Gainesville 

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters on Matt Gaetz, Gainesville zoning , Jan. 6 hearings, more