Create traffic model before approving big hotels on Siesta Key

Study impact of hotels on Siesta traffic

On Jan. 30, three Sarasota County commissioners voted against a proposal by Commissioners Mark Smith and Joe Neunder to develop and validate a Transportation Microsimulation Model of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on Siesta Key and its two access roads.

It would appear that the opposing commissioners − Mike Moran, Neil Rainford and Ron Cutsinger − did so because they do not want residents to see how much harder it will be to get on and off the key, let alone travel north or south, if new hotels are built.

They support Benderson Development's request to change the Siesta Key Comprehensive Plan that would immediately allow numerous high-rise hotels to be built.

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We the people need to demand that this model be developed and validated so we all, as well as the commissioners, get an honest assessment of the implications of all of these hotel projects, rather than looking at traffic impacts one project at a time.

There is already a Siesta Key Comprehensive Plan Change approval process underway that would accommodate these hotels. We need to let these commissioners know that if they approve any Comp Plan changes without the proper analysis, using such a model, there will be litigation to overturn them.

Jeff Dow, Sarasota

Without Roe v. Wade, lives, health at risk

Two years ago, I wrote a letter expressing my concerns after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. I shared my story of having to carry a dead fetus to term in the 1960s.

I was only spared because my doctor broke the law, and possibly saved my life, by performing a medically necessary abortion.

Sadly, my worst fears have come to pass. A patchwork of state rulings denies abortion to women.

The exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother do not work; they are too vague and doctors are afraid of running afoul of these laws.

We have heard multiple stories of women who had to flee to other states to save their own lives. On May 1, Florida joined this shameful group by outlawing abortion after six weeks, with few exceptions.

I urge you to keep these barbaric facts in mind and vote this fall for people who recognize women’s health, including abortion, as a fundamental right.

Vote in favor of Amendment 4 to restore these rights to women in Florida.

Linda Crosskey, Englewood

Outrage drives protests, not antisemitism

On the morning of Oct. 8, 2023, millions of American Jews, and millions of their non-Jewish friends (like me), experienced the realization of a world sharply darkened overnight: horror and pain at the previous day’s Hamas atrocity and momentous dread regarding the likely response of the Netanyahu government.

Regarding the latter, our worst fears have been realized, unendingly. As a result, Israel’s reputation has taken a deep dive, and Jews the world over are endangered.

It is against this background that I read the May 12 column by Temple Beth Sholom Rabbi Stuart Altshuler, a prominent leader in our Jewish community.

Rabbi Altshuler characterizes the current pro-Palestinian protests as fundamentally antisemitic, referring to the “‘Go Back to Poland’ shouts by the protesting anti-Israel/pro-Hamas mobs on college campuses.”

Yes, that shout was heard, albeit rarely, and never (so far as I have seen or heard) as a communal chant. That rabid antisemites exist, and are glad for the opportunity, should surprise no one.

That antisemitism is the driver of these protests, however, is simply wrong. It is sincere outrage at the monstrous, needless cruelty of the Netanyahu government.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, some 35,000 Palestinians have died, while less than 300 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives.

Thousands have died in Gaza when bombs were deliberately dropped on multistory apartment buildings on the flimsy pretext, although physically accurate, that a Hamas tunnel coursed under the building.

Yet not one word of Rabbi Altshuler’s column is devoted to the heartrending plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.

His column is directed at combating antisemitism; it only feeds it. His friends should assist him to remove the scales from his eyes.

Philippe Koenig, Sarasota

Don't ignore GOP-antisemitism links

Really? When it is politically beneficial, the outrage over antisemitism comes from all corners of the Republican Party.

Where were Republicans when then-President Donald Trump said, after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, that there were “very fine people” on both sides?

Where was the outcry when Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”?

Where were the loud Republican voices when Trump had lunch at Mar-a-Lago with antisemitic rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier?

Now Trump tells me that if I vote for Biden, I must hate my religion. Funny, his other comments suggest that he is actually the one who hates my religion.

I guess I’ll keep waiting for the Republicans to speak when it really counts.

Norm Greenspan, Bradenton

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Show impact of new hotels on Siesta Key traffic