Tuesday's letters: Hurricane Ian shows need for better flood control
Flooding: Heed lessons of Hurricane Ian
The impact of Hurricane Ian still resonates with victims in South County a year after the storm. Enormous loss to quality of life and property will take years and cost billions. Many citizens will never be made whole.
Flood damage prevention is now a crucial concern in many downstream communities. Expansion and improvements to infrastructure have not kept pace with development, though taxpayers have paid Stormwater Environmental Utility and Infrastructure assessment taxes for decades.
More impervious surfaces have increased stormwater flow and necessitate better flood control, storage and filtration areas. Investment in the purchase of open land areas to create effective stormwater management systems will pay dividends now and in the future.
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For every $1 in government funding for flood mitigation, $6 is saved if a flood occurs. These challenging times call for immediate action by our local leaders.
Please heed the lessons from Ian. Unfortunately, the “new normal” is here.
Cass Smith, Gulf Gate Golf Course Committee, Sarasota
Get COVID advice from CDC, not DeSantis
In medical school I learned that viruses could be seen with an electron microscope. I wonder when Gov. Ron DeSantis last used one of these.
He seems to know a lot about the COVID-19 virus. He often compares his knowledge to experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the renowned Dr. Anthony Fauci. How many clinical trials has DeSantis been part of?
When COVID-19 began, he arranged for all seniors and big donors to get vaccinated. Then he noted the anti-vaccination movement in the Republican Party base, so he switched sides and downplayed vaccines, masks, etc.
Anti-vaxxer in chief?: Governor elevates vaccine skepticism to marquee campaign issue
Now he champions how well Florida did during the pandemic, but data from the CDC suggests that the state’s total death toll is understated.
The way the governor frames his COVID response, he should get the Nobel Prize for medicine.
That said, we are now in “serious” status with one of the highest death rates in the U.S. All are at risk, and where is our governor?
In Iowa and Milwaukee and rarely in Florida. DeSantis should stay in Iowa for all the good he is doing for the people.
Ike Koziol, M.D., Sarasota
Welcome Afghan refugees to Florida
We have all seen the heart-wrenching photos of Afghan parents passing their children over the wall at Kabul Airport to members of the 82nd Airborne Division and U.S. Marines. We have all heard many veterans of the conflict talking about their heartbreak in seeing the chaos at the airport.
We need to take action. It is a matter of honor.
More than a dozen governors, Democratic and Republican, are welcoming refugees from Afghanistan. Further, they are calling on other governors to do the same.
Florida Veterans for Common Sense is urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to call President Joe Biden now and pledge support for settling Afghan refugees in Florida. Florida is home to tens of thousands of veterans and many military bases. These bases can be used to temporarily house our Afghan partners.
Many of our fellow veterans look on these Afghans as family because they owe their lives to their Afghan partners. Many say that we could have accomplished nothing in Afghanistan without these valiant partners.
As our fellow veterans work across the country, and indeed the world, to help their Afghan friends get out of the country, let us work here to make sure these friends know they are welcome in Florida.
It is a matter of honor.
Eddie Robinette, Florida Veterans for Common Sense
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Improve flood control before it's too late
