Sarasota has an addiction to cars. It's time to break our habit.
Aim for fewer cars, more bicycles
A recent letter writer bemoaned the fuel and time wasted by cars waiting in traffic – and particularly due, apparently, to bike riders (“Idling at stoplights worsens pollution,” Jan. 17).
Granted, our growing population is overwhelming our roads.
But the problem is too many cars, not too many bicycles. Imagine what a different city we would have if one-third of our drivers were riding a bike (or walking or skating) instead of driving.
I understand we live in an auto-dominated culture. And there are legitimate needs for driving, but many of our trips are reasonable cycling trips.
Bicycling is the most efficient form of human transportation; it uses a fraction of the fuel energy that a car does. Cycling reduces our carbon footprint, our traffic congestion and our expenses – and it improves our health.
In flat Sarasota, with our great weather, we would all benefit from fewer drivers and more cyclists.
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Just in commuting over the years, I’ve avoided more than 20,000 miles of driving. It is a small effort toward living responsibly on behalf of Sarasota, our environment, my wallet and my health.
Michael Harvey, Sarasota
Keep spotlight on disputed Siesta hotel
Thank you for your Page One coverage of the proposed Siesta Key hotel project.
This development is obviously inappropriate for Siesta Key for many reasons (ill effects on traffic, safety, local businesses and much more).
Equally important for the rest of us, the developers are asking for changes to our countywide Comprehensive Plan. These would be changes that would affect the entire county, and without any countywide hearings or notices.
These proposed changes to the master plan, such as density limitations, hurricane risk mitigation and evacuation issues affect all of us. The proposed changes cover three pages of the plan with more than half of it being altered.
The changes would benefit the developers by burdening and endangering the rest of us. Such significant changes should not be made without careful countywide and public citizen consideration and support.
This reporting deserves continued Page One attention for all of our county residents.
Keep up the good work.
George Ruta, Venice
Like Russia, Florida represses sociology
Did you know that your elected representatives have decided that Florida’s adult university students should be dissuaded from learning about the long-established field of sociology? Beginning next year, sociology courses will no longer count as a social science general education credit.
Did you know that the state represses independent sociology in Russia? That sociology was also repressed under the dictatorships of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay?
Studies have found that the decline of authoritarianism and the transition to democracy have opened up areas of sociological research neglected in the recent past in these countries.
Sociology is the basis of criminology studies, marriage and family counseling, social work and urban planning. It is a required course for many fields, including health care, dental hygiene and human services.
Is it not concerning that the only way to challenge another point of view is to silence it in the name of “freedom”?
Sarah Hernandez, Sarasota
Why does the GOP stick with Trump?
How could a Republican Party that always claims to stand for moral values disregard them to follow an individual who only stands for himself, retribution and chaos?
He offers no message of optimism or unity – just darkness.
How could primary voters and craven, cowardly political rivals ignore everything?
They would excoriate any candidate on the other side for even one of the dozens of unprincipled, often illegal acts Trump has engaged in, yet they stay silent.
Fact-check: False claims in Trump's N.H. victory speech
Do they listen to his praise of authoritarian dictators?
Banning opposition parties, removing women’s freedoms, jailing journalists and demonizing the LGBTQ community and immigrants are the things Trump will model from his favorite autocracies if given another chance.
Trump is addled.
His speeches are weird and rambling.
He called Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban the “president of Turkey,” confused Nancy Pelosi for Nikki Haley and referred to former President Barack Obama as the current president.
Why would the party of Lincoln, Reagan and McCain − which has other options − continue to worship this sore loser, business fraud, insurrectionist and walking antithesis to the teachings of Jesus Christ?
Only God knows the answer to this mystery.
Seth Stottlemyer, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota needs to break its addiction to cars
