The Parker was refurbished in Fort Lauderdale. Then the popular IcePlex was built. Now a new YMCA is on the way. They’re all great projects, but where will everyone park?
Will we pay $40 million for a 1,000-space parking garage and 300-space parking lot? What about losing more green space?
People will park anywhere to avoid paying, so parking has to be free, yet a garage has to be paid for. I’m not against substantial public financing, but the Parker, IcePlex and YMCA should find a way to pay for much of the project (I’m very cynical about these unsolicited public-private partnership proposals).
Right off the bat, let’s get rid of the fire-rescue substation and a proposed landing pad for an air taxi service. The park doesn’t need all these associated nuisances. Why eliminate the top floor parking for a Vertiport (similar to a heliport, it would be privately financed)?
Keep it simple and affordable. Build it fast.
Next, how many spaces are really needed? The entire seating capacity of The Parker is around 1,100. How often is it sold out?
How about a 500-space parking garage and a 200-space surface parking lot with lots of green space and dozens of live oak and mahogany trees shading the area?
That said, I guess the city will do whatever the mayor wants, as with a new City Hall. What a shame.
George Mulhorn, Fort Lauderdale
(Editor’s Note: City commissioners are scheduled to choose a garage developer at their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 6.)
One Boca, too congested
This letter is in response to Bob Tucker’s “Another Viewpoint” article in support of the One Boca Project.
Mr. Tucker may live in Boca Raton, but it appears he doesn’t live near downtown Boca or near the heart of our city.
Try driving eastward, on Palmetto Park Road or Glades or Camino Real, to get to City Hall, the downtown library, Mizner Park, places of worship in east Boca or to our beautiful beaches.
Traffic backs up through multiple light changes and it was like that even before the tourist season began. More buildings and more construction will only make it worse for those of who are not enamored of the highlights of the revised plan about which Mr. Tucker is so enthusiastic.
Cynthia Briggs, Boca Raton
A dangerous decision
President Trump’s support for rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to Schedule III drug reflects a troubling disregard for its well-documented harms.
Whether driven by misinformation or political pressure, this decision places ideology and industry interests ahead of health and safety. Marijuana is not benign. It’s associated with increased rates of addiction, psychosis, suicide and impaired cognitive development, particularly among those under age 25.
Emergency rooms, traffic safety data, and psychiatric providers increasingly report marijuana-related impairment as a factor in violent incidents and fatal crashes. Yet toxicology findings are often withheld from public discussion, giving policymakers and the public an incomplete picture.
Since legalization began, marijuana use in the U.S. has risen from roughly 16 million to more than 60 million users, with daily users nearing 20 million. This expansion coincided with the spread of fentanyl, increased cartel activity and significant environmental damage from illegal cultivation.
For decades, federal drug policy focused on “harm reduction” while neglecting prevention, the most effective, least costly strategy. Legalization has not made America safer. Calling marijuana “smart and safe” is misleading, and reclassifying marijuana as Schedule III will solidify America’s status as a narco-nation, with no turning back.
Roger Morgan, Palm Beach Gardens
Presidential payback
So, if the “peaceful” president bombs Nigeria as payback for the persecution and killing of Christians, why doesn’t he also bomb Israel as payback for the killing of Palestinian Christians?
PJ Whelan, Orlando
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