Wednesday's letters: Threatening social services, old hall vs. new hall, fetanyl flood
Moran would end support for nonprofits
The very day the Gulf Coast section carries a heartrending account of the Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County’s struggle to provide funding for child care for lower and middle income families, Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran questions the county’s support for the coalition and other nonprofits in an Opinion column (“Nonprofits don’t have a God-given right to receive taxpayer funding,” Dec. 23).
Story:Child care nonprofit fears loss of funding
Notwithstanding that virtually every Western nation considers child care an absolute government obligation, Moran questions whether local government has a role in providing such services to the poor. Fortunately, nonprofits have stepped up to attempt to provide what government should be doing.
Moran would end government support for nonprofits that have been highly effective and successful in helping our communities for years. With adequate funding, parents can go to work and become contributors to society because their children are provided not only a safe surrounding and a meal, but prekindergarten learning.
More:How to send a letter to the editor
Moran would have these kids on the street and their parents unemployed.
Moran obviously missed the part in the Bible where God tells us to care for our fellow man, woman and child –and calls on us to feed the hungry, house the homeless and clothe the naked.
Stuart Sinai, Longboat Key
Study options for performing arts center
The city of Sarasota should pause to reflect on the future of city-owned performance venues and public places and spaces. Recent email and internet communications and media reports illustrate alternative views that must be reconciled to ensure we make the best civic choices for our assets.
More:Major architects compete to design proposed Sarasota center
Opinion:New hall could be lifeblood of cultural community
Enough legitimate questions have been raised that we cannot commit hundreds of millions of tax dollars to a new performing arts hall without further due diligence. A model exists in how the Bay Park Conservatory engaged with the community through many opportunities for citizen input and education during its design phase.
The best solution will be found through transparency, community input, discussion and creative strategic leadership, not tunnel vision and mandates. The official records show serious reservations expressed by some city commissioners, and all the commission candidates (county and city) in the recent election raised concerns about the cost and necessity of a new performing arts center.
Sarasota citizens deserve transparent alternatives, complete with the cost/benefits of each.
The city should invest in a robust independent consulting study that would address the strategic context, marketplace, engineering/construction options and financial tradeoffs of the choices for community consideration.
Charlie Nagelschmidt, Sarasota
Conservative positions defy logic
I am confused and would like clarification from an ultraconservative.
Regarding Afghanistan, the ultraconservatives object to the U.S. withdrawal in 2021 and propose an investigation. But here are the facts: The U.S. spent 20 years in Afghanistan, sacrificed many brave troops and spent more than $2 trillion with an objective to establish a society that believed in freedom and democracy.
After all that time, when the U.S. pulled out, many of the Afghans who benefited were not willing to fight for even a day. Why would anyone want to return to using the U.S. military as targets for the Taliban and other militant groups, and spending billions more?
Now the ultraconservatives are threatening to cut support for Ukraine. The people of Ukraine have shown an awesome willingness to sacrifice all to support the values of freedom and democracy that we in the U.S. hold dear.
Please explain the logic in opposing more support for the Ukrainians, who are willing to fight to the death and sacrifice all in opposition to aggression by Russia.
I would like to hear the reasoning behind the ultraconservative opposition to all U.S. values.
Robert Beck, Venice
Fentanyl a bigger threat than gun violence
In response to the Dec. 23 guest editorial about the gun culture killing more and more Americans, the writer failed to mention that the fentanyl pouring across our open border was responsible for 71,000, or 67%, of the 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in 2021.
The dangerous drug killed 53,000 people in 2020.
Total gun deaths from all causes were about 48,000 last year. A tragedy, yes, but the number pales in comparison with the damage caused by the cartels’ fentanyl drug influx, which has been caused by a wide-open border.
David C. Strout, Nokomis
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Old performing arts center vs. new, pulling rug from under nonprofits
