LET T ERS
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PALM COAST OBSERVER
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Palm Coast is growing too fast for its own good
COVID and the flu are still here, so don’t trash your mask yet
Dear Editor: In two years Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre will be horrible to drive on! The traffic is ridiculous now! Also, we don’t have enough code enforcers now to enforce the restrictions. What’s going to happen with thousands of more homes? Palm Coast is already starting to look trashy in many neighborhoods. More water and electric plants? More schools? Did anyone think of these things? Oh, but we have a nice new splash pad! That’s important!
Dear Editor: Have you noticed that the flu seems to be nearly nonexistent this year? Even the CDC states that flu activity is unusually low this season. Has an increase in hand hygiene and properly wearing masks in public decreased flu incidence throughout the 2020-2021 flu season? Yes, I think so! If wearing masks can reduce the spread of COVID-19, then maybe it can continue to reduce the spread of the flu in the future. Respiratory droplets are how the flu transmits. This can be directly from person to person, say during a conversation, or from even touching a contaminated surface, like a door handle. Having a barrier between those respiratory droplets coming from our mouth or our nose and entering the air or landing on door handles will reduce the spread of the virus. The flu can be contagious three to four days before symptoms even begin. We could be in contact with someone who has the flu and they don’t even know that they are sick. We are fortunate to have an effective flu vaccine; however, there are many limitations to it. Allergies to components of the vaccine, misinformation about vaccinations, and flu mutations are just a few obstacles we face with the flu vaccine. So who should continue to wear masks? Everyone! Encouraging everyone to wear a mask in public to overcome some of these obstacles is an effective and simple option. This public health effort will help vulnerable populations from becoming infected with the flu. Unfortunately, it is still common for employees to go in to work feeling under the weather, especially here in the United States due to lack of sick leave provided by employers. Wearing masks in public settings would protect the general public from getting infected from these people who are continuing to work even though they may be ill with the flu. And conversely, those who feel sick should also wear a mask to help protect the general public from becoming infected. The flu claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year and affects many more. Wearing masks in crowded public areas, like the grocery store, concerts, or airplanes, will save lives.
PAT STASIO Palm Coast
Here’s a suggestion for next April Fool’s Dear Editor: The April Fool’s headlines were entertaining as always is. Very creative. But you missed an obvious prank: “City to reduce spending, taxes going down.” This fake news item would have fit right in. Maybe next year. CHARLIE HAYES Palm Coast
House bill will help prevent violent protests Dear Editor: James Manfre’s “My View” should have been printed on the front page in the April Fool’s edition of the Palm Coast Observer, not Page 6. Everyone must read House Bill 1 before coming to a conclusion. I don’t know any Floridian who wants a Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, etc., disaster in Florida. Many people died in those “peaceful protests.” Those cities were burned and looted, and their businesses were destroyed. This House Bill 1 is to help prevent those outcomes, and not to prevent “real” peaceful protests. Exaggerating one political side of an issue, and completely ignoring a much worse political side, has unfortunately become commonplace. This kind of obvious creation of division is disgusting, and is not at all helpful in this situation or any other. JEAN SBERTOLI Flagler Beach
BRIEFS
PalmCoastObserver.com
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021
No more anonymous code enforcement tips? Anonymous tips would no longer be justification to begin code-enforcement investigations in many cases, under a proposal advancing in the House and already approved by the Senate. The House Public Integrity & Elections Committee on March 29 backed a bill (HB 883) that would change county and municipal codeenforcement rules so that inspectors and enforcement
officers would be blocked from initiating investigations unless people reporting alleged code violations provide their names and addresses. Code enforcement officers could still take action on anonymous tips if they have reason to believe the violations present imminent threats to public health, safety, or welfare or may result in the imminent destruction of habitat or sensitive resources. House sponsor Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City, said the bill is intended to stop “frivolous” complaints and to keep code-enforcement of-
We should all feel a sense of personal responsibility to help reduce the spread of the flu. Don’t trash that mask yet! CARA ROTMAN Jacksonville
Palm Coast reader asks ‘What happened to civics and history education?’ Dear Editor: What Supreme Court Sandra Day O’Connor once called a “quiet crisis” has become a deafening one. O’Connor was referring to conspicuous deficiencies in U.S. civics and history education, deficiencies which were depriving entire generations of Americans of the prerequisites for constitutional selfgovernment. In my recent experiences (last couple of years) in interviewing juniors in high schools in Flagler County for certain programs that my organization offers, the vast majority of the junior students could not name our elected officials — neither local, state, or federal. American constitutional democracy cannot run on auto-pilot. By putting civic education on cruise control and falling asleep at the wheel, the American ship of state has run off course. If we are to avoid running aground, we need to open the eyes of all Americans, beginning in K-12 classrooms, to the essential knowledge and civic virtues necessary to maintain our constitutional democracy for future generations. American civic education should mirror the kind of American identity we would like to cultivate. This identity, at its best, has always consisted in a common commitment to certain ideals — certain “inalienable rights,” in the words of the Declaration of Independence — rather than the mere fact of living in the same place. A common commitment to ideals can, in turn, inspire common assent to a shared narrative of American history. Until this is achieved, the United States will continue to fall short of being the “city upon a hill” that its best moments have called it. GARY OWENS Palm Coast
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ficers from becoming a “pawn” in community disputes. A House staff analysis said local governments have adopted a variety of rules for taking complaints. “Many jurisdictions allow for the anonymous submission of complaints, while some require the complainant to provide identifying information,” the analysis said. “Code inspectors accept information initially provided in the complaints and may investigate the allegations made.” For more state news, see palmcoastobserver.com.
OPINION
Affordable housing is under attack If proposed legislation passes, 66% of the $423 million available in the housing trust funds will go toward priorities other than housing. Editor’s Note: Florida Realtors recently published the following message. It was sent to the Palm Coast Observer by the Flagler County Association of Realtors, with approval of FCAR President Ryan Ford. This is your wake-up call, Florida, and we need your help to save affordable housing. Last week, Senate President Wilton Simpson and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls unveiled legislation, HB 5401 and SPB 2512, to permanently redirect two-thirds of the housing trust funds each year to sea level rise and wastewater infrastructure projects. That’s some serious money that won’t be available to teachers, firefighters, nurses and other first responders for housing assistance. If this legislation passes, 66% of the $423 million available in the housing trust funds will go toward priorities other than housing. This is unacceptable. For nearly 30 years, the State Housing Initiative Program has received $2.6 billion from the housing trust funds that has helped 217,000 households with down payment and closing cost assistance, among other housing programs. A $423 million investment into housing programs next year would create 33,000 jobs and more than $4.9 billion in positive economic impact. That’s sound policy as we seek to restore our economy to a pre-pandemic state. Monies for the housing trust funds come from a portion of the documentary stamp taxes charged on every real estate transaction. In 1992, Realtors advocated for this tax — 10 cents per $100 of value — on the condition that all monies collected went to housing programs. But for years, that hasn’t happened. During years of budget shortfalls, legislators swept more than $2.3 billion collected for the housing trust funds into general revenue. And now, when the people of Florida are experiencing pandemic-related challenges that include a critical shortage of affordable, attainable housing, there’s a plan to permanently reduce these vital “trust” funds to the lowest level of all. The idea of permanently redirecting two-thirds of the housing trust funds is concerning during a pandemic. Housing has been our refuge, office, child care and more. Essential workers, our first and last line of defense, would be left with one less option to secure housing, be it down payment or rental assistance. Florida Realtors is the voice for millions of property owners who have paid into the housing trust funds. On their behalf, know that we appreciate the need to fund other priorities. But affordable
PALM COAST
Observer “If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.” Friedrich Hayek “Road to Serfdom,” 1944
Publisher / John Walsh, jwalsh@palmcoastobserver.com Executive Editor / Brian McMillan, bmcmillan@ palmcoastobserver.com News Editor / Jonathan Simmons, jonathan@ palmcoastobserver.com Page Designers / Hailey McMillan, Jennifer Edwards Advertising Manager / Jaclyn Centofanti, jaclyn@palmcoastobserver.com Senior Account Manager / Susan Moore, susan@ palmcoastobserver.com Senior Account Manager Hallie Hydrick, hallie@ palmcoastobserver.com Front Desk Associate / Bonnie Hamilton, bonnie@ palmcoastobserver.com Operations Manager / Maureen Walsh, maureen@ palmcoastobserver.com Circulation Manager / David Brooks, david@horizonroad.com
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housing IS a priority now more than ever in this post-pandemic economy. Affordability housing IS a priority for the elderly on fixed incomes and low-income families. Affordable housing IS a priority for teachers, firefighters, first responders and others who serve our communities. Our essential workers have guided us through the pandemic, and housing trust funds should be available to help them achieve the American dream of homeownership. In 1992, lawmakers created a dedicated trust fund for housing purposes. HB 5401 and SPB 2512 would permanently change this dedicated funding source. Visit https://affordablehousingfl.org/ TODAY to tell your elected leaders to honor the intended purpose of the trust funds and support affordable housing by voting NO on HB 5401 and SPB 2512!
