Vero Beach to become Stuart, Lauderdale? Doctor shortage; Musk, Trump actions | Letters
- A number of readers expressed concern and outrage over the actions of the Trump administration, particularly regarding immigration policies and potential cuts to social programs.
- There is a debate about the effectiveness of DOGE, a new government efficiency program, with some arguing that it will have a negligible impact on the national debt.
- Several letters highlight a partisan divide, with some expressing strong support for President Trump's policies and others voicing sharp criticism.
Don't let Three Corners turn Vero Beach in Stuart, Fort Lauderdale
I have been watching the folly develop around the most valuable property on the Treasure Coast, the Three Corners in Vero Beach.
It reminds me of the folly I watched in Fort Lauderdale many years ago, where the city gave the two most valuable pieces of property to developers. Both sites are now not accessible to the people. The public is allowed only to access the fishing charter fleet; other access is predicated on having business inside the gates.
I am not sure this is in the cards for Vero's development, but the traffic issues look the same.
The traffic study stated about 7,000 cars per day would impact Indian River Boulevard at 17th Street. It doesn't sound like much, but when you look into the numbers, it will be a disaster.
The 7,000 is for 24 hours. Peak morning and evening commute hours suggest an additional 800-plus cars per hour, or 13.3 cars per minute. Between the bridge issues and construction around the intersection, this will be a disaster the Island dwellers will not accept.
The folly of this project will cause an image shift from a nice beach town to another Stuart.
I have friends on the island looking to relocate off the island due to their inability to move about freely now, and they do not want to take the chance the city is going to protect their ability to get to the mainland in a timely fashion.
This city council cannot even get its state-required documents filed on time. Do you think it can properly manage to develop the most valuable piece of property on the Treasure Coast?
I think not.
Charles Resta, Vero Beach
Physician shortage shows PSL growing too fast
Port St. Lucie was such a wonderful small city in the early 2000s. That was before its elected officials decided to annex all the land west of Interstate 95 and spend a billion dollars on Lord knows what, some of which we're still paying off in our real estate taxes.
So now city leaders are so anxious to have land developed they are allowing developers to build so many houses the medical profession cannot keep up with the demand. Some doctors have 2,500 patients; others are leaving the area for places where the stress is less. Patients travel to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, and if they are lucky, only to West Palm Beach.
I needed a urologist to order a PSA test. My doctor gave me a referral in February and I got an appointment for December. It started me thinking there may be people with serious problems and the delay might cause the problem to get worse and even lead to death. So, I just found a lab that did the test and I paid for it myself.
The point of this letter is: When is it going to stop? Are people going to die so the city gets more tax revenue for its pet projects? Do we need to be a city of 400,000 with all the major problems that go along with it? New city halls, police stations, parks, pools, all the roads that need to be widened, another bridge to Tradition?
That's all good, but how many of us have to wait a year for a doctor's appointment or die to achieve them?
Edward Marasi, Port St. Lucie
Call federal legislators; get them to stop destruction
Donald Trump's billionaire hitman Elon Musk (the world's richest man?) is taking a wrecking ball to crucial parts of our government and folks who depend on Veterans Affairs benefits, Medicaid, tax collection from the ultra-rich, weather scientists, air traffic controllers, etc.
These are not swamp people. There is no "Deep State."
Trump and Musk are illegally firing precious experts and valued civil servants essential for our well-being, health and, yes, survival.
Can you get the irony? The world's richest man is taking from us to give his billionaire buddies another tax break.
The tragedy is what they are doing to veterans. Musk is firing doctors, nurses, skilled technicians at the VA who treat our active and retired heroes. These brave men and women, who have given their all to us to keep us safe, to keep the American Dream alive, are being denied care they earned by Trump's/Musk's helter-skelter dismissal. They are being canned without due process.
Where is our Congress? Our representatives and senators are supposed to enforce the rules. Are they cowards, cringing under a corrupt president? Where's the outrage?
Let's show some guts and spine.
Call Brian Mast, 772-403-0900; Rick Scott, 202-224-5274; House Speaker Mike Johnson, 202-225-2777.
God Bless the USA: He wants us to do our part!
Robert A. Gibbons, Stuart
Is this what Trump voters supported?
Two reasons folks voted to re-elect Donald Trump were inflation and uncontrolled southern border crossings by undocumented immigrants.
The main cause of inflation was COVID, and Joe Biden negotiated a bill with Republican Senate leaders to help control the border, but that’s water over the dam.
So I ask:
Did you vote for Trump to take sides with Vladimir Putin, who invaded a peaceful neighbor, Ukraine (whose citizens are bravely fighting for the freedom you cherish), and has massacred thousands of innocent men, women, and children there?
Did you vote for Trump to turn our NATO allies, who stood with us after 9/11 in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaeda, into enemies, and to befriend dictators?
Did you vote for billionaire Elon Musk to access all your private information and to cut your Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security?
Did you vote for Trump so he could threaten our friendly neighbors Canada and Greenland with hostile takeovers?
Did you vote for Trump so he could use tariffs, which hurt American consumers by raising prices, to bully our friendly neighbors and European allies?
Did you vote for Trump so he could kick over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza off their land and turn it into a resort, where he can sip martinis on the beach with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
Just asking.
Paul Heise, Jensen Beach
DOGE political football a losing proposition
Many people may have missed one of the best opinion pieces TCPalm has published recently: "Save the Manatee: Government not ‘efficient,’ " was accompanied by a murky photo of a manatee.
I’m sure the title and the picture attracted the attention of many manatee lovers, but not necessarily the whole audience Frank Cerabino, a columnist, was going for.
In his enlightening column, Cerabino explained how the indiscriminate firing of federal workers is a shame (not to mention a sham) and ineffective, while ruining people’s lives.
He cites Professor Justin Wolfers’ analogy of comparing federal saving and spending to making (or losing) progress on a football field. The explanation was understandable even to me, a non-sports follower.
Wolfers, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, describes Elon Musk’s announced $7.2 billion of saving in the first month with DOGE, as “the equivalent of advancing the football just one foot,” with Donald Trump’s promised $4 trillion tax cuts running it back 200 yards, almost two football fields.
The debt would continue to grow astronomically if these tax cuts were done, regardless of how much DOGE cut. Does this make sense? Musk and Trump could slash programs left and right, fire most or even all federal workers, close every national park, and reduce federal departments and it still wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket toward reducing the debt.
We all have much to be concerned about as this column makes clear. More than just manatees. You would do everyone a service by running this column again. Mention football in the heading; it might get a bigger audience.
Julie Eisdorfer, Vero Beach
Trump speech, actions stupendous
President Donald Trump's address to Congress was stupendous. Some of it was from campaign speeches, but his words reminded us of his greatness. Promises given, promises kept.
It was obvious to the rest of the world that America and her people will always be first to him. He will take on the stupidity and insane behavior of some Democrats and not let it disturb him.
The juvenile behavior in the White House of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was handled by Trump with professionalism and patience, and, with the hoped-for result: probable signing of the minerals deal.
Trump's statement about never expecting smiles or any respect from the Democrats was right on, and nobody actually expected them to stand or applaud, even for the little boy with brain cancer or the families of girls murdered by illegal aliens.
Since most Americans probably watched the speech, I need not go on with any analysis. I will simply applaud our great president and thank God that we have him and his fantastic Cabinet members.
Nancy Celano, Sebastian
Upset with Catholic Church? What about Trump?
In response to a recent letter, I'd be more upset about the sexual abuse that went ignored and/or unpunished within the Catholic Church than I would be about the Pope and other designees caring about the treatment of brown immigrants within this country.
Although the term "pedophile priests" was used, that horror was not the intent of that letter. The writer was more indignant about the Catholic Church's actions in response to this nasty piece of business initiated by the person in the White House,
Hatefulness has no place in my world; I appreciate the work that is done for us by these same immigrants, and I am horrified by the way that this abuse of power is being carried out. The rounding up of brown immigrants reeks of the rise of the Third Reich in Germany. Who is next?
Horrid terms for immigrants such as "murderers," "rapists" and "muggers" are hot triggers employed by this administration to cause fear and loathing. These terms are not honest descriptions of the highest percentage of our hardworking immigrants.
Lying constantly to naive people has, unfortunately, become the norm for this GOP, and dedication to dishonesty has been accepted as truth.
Current "leaders" utilize same to fool their followers into believing they are actually cared about when nothing could be further from the truth.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk care only about themselves and growing their collective wealth and excessive power. By the way, who elected Musk?
Sharon E. Garland, Hobe Sound
Leaders must be careful with federal spending
Our federal government's debt and deficit must be reduced. But as the adage goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Erratic, chaotic, uncompassionate craziness will not help. Spoiling the rich with massive tax cuts, thereby increasing the deficit, is hard for me to understand. Not sufficiently taxing the rich is not justified by the trickle-down theory, which has been proven false.
About $1.75 trillion per year of military spending seems insane and counterproductive when it comes to peace and justice.
Good intentions, if not paired with wisdom, truth, compassion and restraint may have catastrophic results. Escapist fantasies of magical rescue by deeply flawed persons from the consequences of our tolerating and supporting a deeply corrupt political system are unwise.
Steve Gifford, Vero Beach