St. Lucie officials, trash big problems; Brightline horns loud; Biden pros, cons | Letters

St. Lucie County taxpayers victimized by trash, public officials

As St. Lucie County has been growing and leaving its quiet, sleepy personality in the rearview mirror, it’s also experiencing some growing pains.

Two specific pains need some immediate attention: our residential trash collection and how unprepared our county government offices are for cyberattacks.

Ever since FCC took over Port St. Lucie trash collection, which should’ve made Waste Pro better able to support county residents, our community has had almost zero yard waste collection. We were told that piles larger than a refrigerator required special pickups the property owners would be billed for. Everything smaller would be picked up weekly.

The reality is, small piles around the community sit for weeks (or months), growing until they are larger than a refrigerator and then, all of a sudden, warning cards from the county show up on the piles alerting the property owners the piles are too large for free pickup.

When I called Waste Pro about the issue last week, I was told the company would get to us in “a couple weeks.” That's not acceptable.

Regarding cyberattacks on our county offices, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the offices aren’t prepared. Obviously, our cybersecurity is lacking, but the way the offices basically just shut down until they can get their networks back up is also not acceptable.

Ever hear of having contingency plans?

Residents can’t simply wait for weeks or longer. The shutdown of the tax collector's office impacted me directly, so I’m aware of how “inconvenient” it was. Then the sheriff’s office? I’m very sure that caused some inconvenience, too.

County residents are owed better.

Kevin Donovan, Port St. Lucie

Brightline noise excessive, but no one seems to care

The decibel levels of Brightline are horrible.

The trains must exceed levels mandated, yet no one wants to tackle this problem. I am in the unincorporated area, therefore behind the eight ball. No one wants to confront Brightline owners, among the largest hedge funds in the United States.

I get 81-plus whistles a day. I have impact glass, but still can’t hear myself think. Does anyone else consider this a significant intrusion?

I would not want to be in Jupiter Medical Center.

Debbie Sykes, Jupiter

Are partisanly popular old men best nation has to become next president?

In less than a year, the nation will cast votes for president of the United States and, once again, many will choose not for the best, but the “least worst” candidate.

In a nearly unprecedented election, the two presumptive candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, will each be running for re-election, something that has not occurred since 1892, when both Grover Cleveland and William Henry Harrison each ran for re-election to the office.

As I write this, the average age of presidents on inauguration day has been 55, yet Joe Biden was 78 and Donald Trump was 70. The average age of members of the House of Representatives is 57, with the Senate clocking in at 64.

Unfortunately, due to our two-party system, we’re stuck with either Biden or Trump right now. We need to widen the field to allow for more choices and/or establish an age limit for those running. The U.S. Constitution mandates a president be at least 35 years old to serve, so established precedent would allow for an upper age limit.

One can argue that age limits usurp the people’s ability to vote for whoever they want. Again, there’s precedent with the 22nd Amendment restricting the number of terms a president may serve. Too bad we don’t have that for senators and representatives.

In a nation with more than 300 million people, there must be someone younger to be president, someone who can think for himself or herself, someone who can be an inspiration to future generations.

Michael Goodfellow, Wabasso

Why not praise Biden for his economic accomplishments?

Polls show voters feel Joe Biden is failing on the economy, while every indicator shows the United States has surpassed the other G7 countries.

We have just gone through the worst pandemic in more than 100 years. The United States, thanks to the experienced and capable team Biden assembled, is leading in gross domestic product growth, unemployment, wage growth, and has the lowest inflation figures.

Annualized GDP growth as of June 2023 was 2.4% compared to the next highest, Japan, at 1.7%. Inflation was 3.2% for the year and 0 for the month of October. Of the other G7 countries, Japan is also at 3.2%, but most are in the 6% range with the United Kingdom at 7.7%. Of course, that might not be readily apparent, since the start of the pandemic, Florida has been at double the national inflation rate.

The U.S. credit rating was recently downgraded with the credit agencies, citing debt and deterioration of effective governance at the federal level. The agencies pointed to the debt limit standoff. Thankfully, that resolved in time for the holidays, but we will have to revisit funding the government next year.

The Republicans say our deficit is too high and spending needs to be reduced, but if the George W. Bush and Donald Trump tax cuts had not occurred, we wouldn't have a deficit.

And before you make the case it's your money, you probably didn't realize very much extra because most went to the top 1% or even 0.1% and large corporations. And the 1% get little of their money from income. The breaks came from accounting tricks like pass-throughs and capital gains.

The next time you blame the spendthrift Democrats and cheer closing our government, consider corporate profits rose an average of 17.15% since 2020 and the richest 1% saw their wealth increase by 55%, while the rest of us dropped.

Jo Fuller, Port St. Lucie

Strategy: Fail, then compare successful opponent to human butcher

Panic seems to be settling in. When you have no accomplishments to speak of, a leader who sells his political influence to foreign nations for cash, hordes of unknowns pouring over the southern border, together with an assortment of deadly drugs that are killing our youth, high inflation that particularly hurts the poor and hundreds of illegal immigrants sleeping on city sidewalks, what can you do?

Obviously, you resort to fantasy. You compare a president whose administration helped bring peace to the world, low inflation, energy independence, low unemployment for all segments of the population and an America respected by all to an individual who slaughtered millions. It's the most outrageous accusation you can think of, so you make it and hope it will help your failing cause.

It won't.

Face it: Joe Biden is a disaster and Donald Trump was one of the best presidents we've ever had.

Daniel J. Gorman, Palm City

Biden has no business telling Israelis how to fight war

I just saw the news and was stunned to learn Joe Biden wanted the cease-fire extended indefinitely or until all hostages Hamas is holding are released.

As usual, he has it backward. A cease-fire should only occur when all hostages Hamas is holding are released and accounted for, and not until.

So we have a stumbling, fumbling 80-year-old who can't find his way off the stage, falls up stairs and has never served a day in our armed forces, but instead has been on the public teat all his life now wanting to run the war.  Biden has the unmitigated gall to tell a decorated officer of the Israeli army how to defend Israel and when to reengage the enemy that killed over 200 Israelis on Oct. 7 without provocation.

What a crock!

Jack Jennings, Port St Lucie

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Garbage service from St. Lucie officials, waste haulers; Biden, Israel