Letters to the Editor, Sept. 21

Council split

I was watching the Marco Island City Council meeting on Sept. 4 during the millage rate discussion. It's clear that there is a split on council between the fiscal conservatives and the big government liberals. Thankfully, there are four councilors that care about our citizens tax dollars and voted by a 4-3 majority to go to the roll-back rate. 

Government spending is out of control on every level of government, from the federal and state levels to the local levels. It is great to see that we have some elected officials that want to keep the bloated government in check. 

I was happy to see City Council candidate Sam Young get up and speak during public comment and advocate for the roll-back rate. He believes in fiscal responsibility with a defined return on investment for all citizens. I think that position is spot on. Marco Island needs to elect more fiscal conservatives. Sam Young gets my vote. 

WA Pagoni, Marco Island

Keep the park a park

Please do what you have been elected to do. Keep [Veterans Community] park a park. We have spoken.

Please do what the taxpayers have voted on and spoken for years. Leave it alone!

Do not ruin the island more than already has been done.

Shirley Hennebry, Marco Island

Repeatedly spoken

I don’t understand why people running for, or currently sitting on council ignore what multiple surveys and public meetings tell them. Repeatedly the majority of Marco residents have said they want permanent improved restrooms, some type of covered stage or amphitheater for performances and lots of green space, landscaping and trees with benches or low walls for people to sit.

They have repeatedly said they do not want a building for meetings, do not want a hotel, do not want a multi-story parking garage. Yet candidates and councilors continue to push their own agendas.

You have to wonder is there something in it for them or are they determined to not listen to their constituents and hold tight to their own vision.

We need to look carefully at the people we vote into positions of power. I believe MICA has surveyed this topic and public meetings have been held; our only avenue now is our vote for council members.

Shirley Eagan, Marco Island

More green space

Development of Veterans Community Park with hotel, parking garage or office building is wrong for Marco Island. I would hope for more green space.

Richard Eddy, Marco Island

The band played on

“Ball of Confusion,” a hit song from 1971 made famous by the incomparable Temptations, truly exemplifies “what the world is today,” hey, hey. And although we could take this in many directions, I’m speaking specifically about the mixed messages we keep sending out regarding drug use.

On one hand, under the guises of “freedom of expression” and “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” we love to extol the benefits of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, stimulants and hallucinogens, but at the same time we go absolutely ballistic when we hear about people driving drugged. What gives?

It reminds me of my trips to Las Vegas, where I’d watch people strolling casually down the boulevard, legally guzzling alcoholic drinks from colorful, 2-foot-tall decanters, with the unreasonable expectation that they’d know better than to get behind a wheel.

This same weirdness is what I heard on the news this past Labor Day weekend. Why are the numbers of impaired drivers going up, as we’re spending more and more money on campaigns against driving impaired? Like the Temptations so eloquently put it, “and the band played on.”

Lance McCormack, Marco Island

Passidomo seniors’ advocate

When you recognize that Florida is home to over 5.2 million seniors and of that group, 5 percent are over 80, perhaps even a higher percent on Marco Island and Naples, it is reassuring to know our state senator, Kathleen Passidomo, is a champion for seniors.

Since being elected, she has set a high priority on introducing legislation to protect vulnerable adults. Most recently, she focused on legislation to provide better overview of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

I plan to vote to re-elect Passidomo and urge my friends to support her.

Jack Patterson, Marco Island