- November 1, 2024
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Dear Editor:
I would like to make two requests of the Palm Coast Observer.
1. Please just present facts and stop making political endorsements. It is not the job of the newspaper to tell people how to vote. Voters don’t need the news to tell them which candidates they think are best. We need information to make our own decisions. After all, your political philosophy may not be in line with your readers’.
2. Print information on the endorsements sooner. We have early voting and by mail voting. Information comes too little and too late. Those who have already voted did not have the opportunity to read the analysis of the amendments presented on the ballot, nor did they get to read enough information on all the candidates to make a truly informed decision.
Alice Losasso
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: Thanks for your feedback. During this election cycle and in the future, we have the following schedule: Two weeks before early voting begins, we publish our Election Guide; the following week, we publish our endorsements. Unfortunately, we can’t publish earlier, so readers will have to decide whether they want to wait for our guide and endorsements before they vote.
As far as endorsements, we know they are not popular with some readers. Others seek them out, so we trust that readers will be discerning and use them how they see fit.
Dear Editor:
As we move closer to Election Day and decide who we will vote for, I am considering our near escape from the City Council's proposed new tax and all the other fiascos brought to us by our elected officials — in Palm Coast and on the Flagler County Commission — in the past few years.
There was the failing water plant for $5.5 million; the City Hall that 82% of the residents voted against, for $10 million; the mostly empty School Board building; the mostly empty courthouse; and, of course, the sick old hospital, building valued at $400,000 but bought for $1.2 million and partially renovated for $5 million, the rest of which was quietly torn down, earning us a fine from the state. You may remember the jail expansion for $18 million.
And of course there is the Town Center, better known as tumbleweed central.
It seems that these elected officials have forgotten that the majority of residents are retirees, many on fixed incomes. Add to that the loss of jobs with the Sea Ray closing, and the well is running dry.
So vote, and vote wisely.
Edith Campins
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
Quietly, quietly, without hats or signs, go to the voting places and do the right thing.
You have two years of instruction, experience and information to inform your vote.
So go, early if you can, and strengthen democracy.
You know what to do and why. Quietly.
Sal Rapisarda
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
As beautiful as it is here, the crime is higher than it should be. I believe it took hold when the housing collapsed. People lost homes banks took over. Empty houses and a crappy element moved into bank-owned homes. Cheap housing. Now we have to bring light and focus on correcting the past.
We need lights, cameras, police. We need neighborhoods to step up their knowledge of what’s happening.
Cities of this size and smaller have cameras and lit-up streets. That’s part of the problem. If criminals knew this city was being watched it would discourage crime. If Palm Coast ever wants to grow, it has to recognize no one wants to move into a black hole with petty crime on every street.
I was at Target during the summer and some derelict pulls a gun at some guy in the parking lot, and it goes off! These people need to be locked up not dispersed into the community once arrested. This Florida mentality of just shoot is not going to solve any problems we have now. We don’t live in the 1700s.
Subsidized housing is a big mistake at this time. Fix the crime and then take on subsidized housing when the area residents can feel safe on their streets.
Ray and Marilyn Page
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: Mayor Milissa Holland reports in her guest editorial this week: “The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office maps crime statistics, and there is no evidence that we have more crime in multi-family residential areas than we do in single-family neighborhoods.”
Overall, Flagler County’s crime rate of 1,978.8 per 100,000 is much lower than the state rate of 2,989.5. See http://www.fdle.state.fl.us.
Dear Editor:
I went to vote early, as usual, at the new, improved Community Center in the F-section. The whole lot was full, causing packs of cars in an endless prowling circle, searching for a parking spot.
"Oh no,” I thought, “I'll be here for hours! Maybe I won't vote today."
Guess what? Some club or organization was scheduled for the day, and 99% of the parking was for them! When I got inside, six people were waiting to vote!
Come on you "experts" in planning, get a grip. People take their own cars in Palm Coast.
Carol Propper
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
I was shocked and horrified that the Palm Coast Observer would suggest that voters vote no on Amendment 13, which would put an end to dog racing. Are you aware of the horrible conditions that these poor animals are exposed to? Some are caged for most of their pathetic lives and beaten and starved. Anyone with a heart should vote "yes" to end this barbaric practice. Please check your moral compass and vote "yes" on Amendment 13 to stop dog racing.
Alexandra McCormick
Palm Coast
