Readers comment on Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Alachua County crime rate, development and more

Do better

As a Floridian, I am concerned about public health and health care access, protection of the environment, voting rights, women’s rights to choose and high-quality education. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republicans refuse to accept the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, costing the state $6.6 billion in federal funds, and denying 1,378,000 coverage, while appointing Joseph Ladapo as surgeon general, who is far outside of the mainstream of medical science.

DeSantis and his gang, instead of protecting our springs, have made it easier for utilities to destroy wetlands. Despite any evidence of significant voter fraud (Mark Meadows excluded), Republicans established an election police force, which is likely to be deployed to intimidate and delegitimize the opposition (i.e. Democrats).

Meanwhile, Republicans redrew Florida’s congressional map to disenfranchise African Americans to build more Republican districts. The Legislature also passed a dangerous bill that prohibits abortion past 15 weeks and criminalizes doctors who offer such abortion care.

By interfering with university tenure, Republicans ensure that the best academic talent will bypass Florida. To punish Disney for expressing an opinion, the Republicans revoked Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District, potentially costing Orange and Osceola counties approximately $1 billion in bond debt.

I think we can do better. We must get rid of this stain in November.

Charles Levy, Gainesville

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Wasted food

It's about time the city included food in its "zero waste" efforts. The most flagrant food wasters are convenience stores. After a given period, all food on display gets trashed. I'm talking pizza, wings, hot dogs, sausages, etc.

I asked a manager at one of these stores about taking the perfectly edible "timed-out" food to a shelter, and she said that was against company policy. I guess some companies would rather be safe and waste food for liability reasons instead of helping others.

To them I say that many people eat out of dumpsters every day, so why not skip a step and just give it to them? If the food you sell is unsafe after its display period, maybe you shouldn't be selling it.

Bruce Bowling, Gainesville

Crime is down

In the May 1 edition of The Sun’s letters to the editor, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) union representative claimed that the crime statistics I used were inaccurate.

According to the Florida Department of Law enforcement’s Annual 2020 Florida Uniform Crime Report, County and Municipal Data, for the period encompassing January-December 2020, the Alachua County crime rate was down 4.8% for fiscal year 2019-2020, and the Total Crime Index had decreased 3.3% overall. These figures are based on all law enforcement agencies in Alachua County, and not just the Alachua County Sheriff's Office.

PBA President Jody Branaman wrote crime was up 7.6%; however, this is the data compiled for the Alachua County Sheriff's Office exclusively and, more importantly, the 7.6% increase is for the reporting period of 2019-2020, which is before Sheriff Clovis Watson Jr. was elected.

Robert A. Rush, Gainesville

Halt development

Way too much building is going on — and most residents don't want it. But do our elected officials listen? Of course not.

I live in Spring Hill and I now have to wait for traffic to clear on County Line Road before I can make a turn. It wasn't that way just last year.

Our wildlife is suffering, coyotes are being pushed into our backyards, our water supply cannot handle this, etc.! When will the insanity stop?

I've been here for 21 years and am now thinking of leaving. Very sad.

Mary Wilowski, Gainesville

No meaningful change

I’m always amused how tribal politics have utterly infected the brains of this country.

Here in Alachua County, we have Democrats reliably “voting blue” even though that party has produced next to nothing for the working class. They had supermajorities in 2009. But we got Romneycare rather than a true public option.

Did they codify Roe v. Wade? Nope. They control Congress now, but did we get a minimum wage increase? Nope. Why? Because they knew they’d need these issues for future elections.

And here we are.

We will get no meaningful change in this country until we stop voting for the two major parties, even for just one cycle. Wake up.

Dan Richman, Gainesville

Willful ignorance

We’re currently experiencing a pestilence of willful ignorance. People too often opt for lies. There are dozens of issues in which we ignore the facts. Here are just a few:

Guns: The Second Amendment calls for a well-regulated militia, not for assault weapons freely distributed to individuals. Guns are for killing and they have no other purpose, but we pretend they are necessities.

Media literacy: We still have no capacity for intelligent control in the digital information age. Only by doing regular, diligent reading of many different media can an individual muster a relatively factual understanding of reality. Few have the time or patience for this.

Capitalism: It's abundantly clear that unrestrained capitalism is the root cause of dangerous inequality. Pretending that an unfettered market will result in peace and wellbeing is simply naïve. Unchecked capitalism is unchecked greed.

Death: Our willful ignorance around dying — inevitable as it is — causes confusion and a world of hurt. If you truly acknowledge the fragility of your own existence, then blood lust, partisanship, greed and hatred must dissolve. It is only important to cultivate love and compassion.

Here’s a radical idea: How about we all commit to getting real about our existence, our frailties and the universal threats that compromise all of our lives?

Mary Ruth, Gainesville

Taking away freedoms

Freedom. This is what is being touted by the governor of Florida and his administration. However, if one peruses the recent policies and laws, it becomes apparent that it is not freedom but rather a form of authoritarianism. Here are the examples.

What teachers can teach about Black history is severely curtailed. The excuse is that white children should not feel uncomfortable with the truth. There is no mention of how Black children feel uncomfortable every day because of the blatant racism, which has increased.

Restricting voting and redesigning voting districts will adversely affect Black voters. Florida had no voting problems in the past election, but Republicans became so upset with Democratic voters that they made laws to disenfranchise voters.

Then there is the matter of banning books. This is so undemocratic that it is almost unbelievable that any group would do this. It is what totalitarian regimes do. Math textbooks are being restricted because of some sort of mention of so-called critical race theory.

Finally, there is the matter of disallowing any mention of transgender or sexual orientation in certain classrooms.

Every single one of these actions take away our freedoms.

Joyce Dewsbury, Gainesville

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters on Gov. DeSantis, Alachua County crime, development, more