Readers comment on GPD releasing the Terrell Bradley footage, single-family zoning, more

Release unedited footage

It’s been over a month since my cousin, Terrell Bradley, was viciously attacked by a Gainesville Police Department K-9 officer. And what has newly named chief of GPD, Lonnie Scott, done to address this injustice? Almost nothing.

We did not hear a peep about this incident from GPD until we, the community, released graphic photos of the damage that was done. The K-9 who attacked Terrell remained on full active duty — responding to 38 calls after the incident — until CBS4 ran a story reporting that the dog was still working.

No dash camera footage has been released. No body camera footage has been released. Not a single officer has been placed on leave while the incident is under investigation, an investigation that was originally promised to be seven to 10 days, but has now been extended to 90 days.

Lonnie Scott has asked the community to trust him, but how can we, when this has been his behavior? If the police department has nothing to hide, they should release unedited body camera and dash camera footage from the incident with my cousin. Maybe then they will have earned a little trust.

Jay Bradley, Gainesville 

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Unprecedented disaster

I don’t want my single-family zoning changed. I bought a single-family house in a single-family neighborhood in Gainesville 36 years ago because I didn’t want apartments around me. I didn’t want treeless yards covered with parking, apartments looking down on me, crowds, traffic, noise and garbage. I wanted neighbors and room.

Now the city of Gainesville wants to get rid of all its single-family neighborhoods like they were a blight. These neighborhoods are Gainesville. Eliminating single-family neighborhoods is eliminating families and neighborhoods. This rezoning will demolish more than 150 years of history and community.

It is bad enough that zoning can be changed on properties adjacent to mine without my permission. Now the city is changing my zoning without my permission.

This rezoning has nothing to do with affordable housing. Ever since The Standard was built, the city has continued to further its standard of costly high-density zoning. Rezoning St. Michael's Church has been a blight for the Suburban Heights neighborhood and still continues after years without a resolution in sight. Now the city wants to spread this blight everywhere.

The city can’t do anything right. It can’t figure out parking. It can’t run Gainesville Regional Utilities. The city’s new unprecedented rezoning plan will result in an unprecedented disaster.  

John Nowak, Gainesville 

Where’s Rubio?

Remember Marco Rubio? He was the bright, energetic conservative that catapulted to the top of the Florida Legislature with intelligent, aggressive deal making. He grabbed on to the tail of the Tea Party tiger and rode it all the way to the U.S. Senate, where he took an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution.

He used his skills as part of the “gang of eight” to craft an unpopular but much-needed immigration compromise. Then he was slapped down by the Republican caucus.

Rubio learned his lessons. The purpose of his office is to maintain his office. The Republican majority takes precedence over the needs of the nation.

A 2016 run for president resulted in humiliation and a sycophantic bond to Donald Trump. Rubio’s failure to remove from office that corrupt, incompetent president resulted in a violent right-wing attempt to overthrow a fair and free election. Rubio morphed into a dedicated Trump apparatchik willing to destroy the document he swore to protect.

Where is Marco Rubio? A deep dark place where lies take precedence over facts. Where fear overcomes morality and ethics. Where silence and subservience are the keys to survival. He is in the belly of that tiger unable to escape.

Tom Tisdale, Gainesville 

Ominous signs

Congress has passed legislation that is truly frightening in its implications for ordinary American citizens. It’s called the Inflation Reduction Act and it calls for the Internal Revenue Service to hire thousands of new agents. Will they strengthen our civilization through the “taxes we pay for civilization” as my father, a former director of the tax division, always reminded us?

The word “civil” is key here. How civil is the IRS recruitment announcement, which calls for an applicant to have a registered gun license and be willing to use lethal force in the execution of duties? There are always going to be tax cheats among us who through either ignorance or deliberate dodging evade paying taxes owed.

The U.S. Tax Code need not be weaponized, yet the signals being sent are ominous. IRS agents must never rely on lethal force or even have it at its disposal. This agency of civilization cannot stand.

Tom Cunilio, Lake City 

Church and state

I’ve seen a lot of claims lately that the signers of the Constitution meant to include religion in the Constitution. If you look at the original colonies, that belief is wishful thinking. The original colonies had a lot of experience with persecution from state-sponsored religions and wanted no part of it.

New Hampshire was a British colony and early rebel against the crown. In Massachusetts, Puritans sought freedom from religious persecution. Rhode Island was founded upon principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state, and political democracy.

In Connecticut, Puritans from Massachusetts looked for freedom of religion. Leaders advocated the separation of religion from politics.

New York was founded by the Dutch for trade. In New Jersey, British owners allowed the settlers to have political and religious freedom. Pennsylvania was a colony that allowed for freedom of religion.

Delaware was founded by Swedes and later the Dutch. The first settlers were mainly Quakers, then the Protestant immigrants from the north of Ireland. There was no established religion.

Maryland was a safe haven for English Catholics fleeing anti-Catholic persecution in Europe. Virginia was founded as a colonial market for trade, North and South Carolina were founded to sell land to settlers. Georgia was founded as a refuge for the debtors who crowded London prisons and as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida.

Bud Jones, Newberry 

Common-sense party

Where are the other than two-party system alternatives when we really could use them? There is a growing movement in California for a common-sense party. For whatever polls are worth, slightly more than one half of both Democrats and Republicans and 75% of independents believe a change like this is needed.

While democracy is still an experiment and California is an experiment in an experiment, change has to start somewhere. What can I do to help start this?

Tom Prahl, Hawthorne 

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters on GPD's Terrell Bradley footage, single-family zoning, more