No parking?! $459 wasted on Mets tickets; put Brightline station in Vero Beach | Letters

Parking nightmare at Mets game in St. Lucie West left him almost $500 lighter

I'd like to address the incompetence of the New York Mets and the officials who run the spring training stadium in St. Lucie West.

My friend and I planned on attending the Mets-Yankees game on March 5. We arrived at the stadium an hour and a half before game time and were sent away because there wasn't any venue parking available, handicapped or otherwise. They were parking people on a sloped strip of grass and sidewalk that clearly weren't meant for parking, handicapped or otherwise.

We asked if possibly they could bring us in via the golf cart they had as we are both handicapped, and were told no. As a last resort, I asked if I could drop my friend off and pick him up later so we could use at least one of the tickets that I had paid $459 for online, and they refused for us to do that also.

We had no choice but to leave, passing a line of cars at least a mile and a half long they had no parking for. I'm sure we weren't the only ones leaving dissappointed and angry at the Mets and those responsible for running the stadium.

An incompetent money grab like this I would expect from the Yankees, but my 30-year-old memories of games at Shea Stadium were good. Maybe Mets owner Steve Cohen could spend some money on a better facility that would meet the needs of his fan base.

I won't be wasting my money on any more tickets until he does.

William R. Kinney, Orlando

With Stuart, Cocoa in books, time to get Indian River County Brightline station

Columnist Laurence Reisman is right on the Brightline Stuart location. It would seem Brightline officials are trying to lower themselves to their nickname of "The Darwin Express."

And now Brightline proposes Cocoa for another station. I called that one way back. I can see an auxiliary rail running straight to the cruise terminals, maybe in the State Road 528 median?

Now, look at a map and check distances. They have South Florida stations in very populated areas spread over 70 miles. Add 40 to 50 and you get Stuart; 90 to 100 puts you in Cocoa. Not much for the Cocoa to Orlando Airport to bother placement yet.

Can we think of anyplace convenient to split that East Coast 90-mile stretch? Like, say, between Vero Beach and Sebastian? There's a lot of vacant land along the U.S. 1, Florida East Coast Railway corridor. And as much as we gripe about traffic, believe me, it is nothing compared to other areas. One light cycle and maybe 6 -12 cars compared to 6 cycles and 50 cars elsewhere.

Let's see if Indian River County, Vero Beach and Sebastian can get their acts together and be proactive in spite of their original opposition to Brightline as it is here. And it is not going away.

Maybe link it with a development proposal for a large multi-use complex. Residential, business, commercial, entertainment? The time is now to jump on this opportunity instead of being obstructionists to progress.

This placement would put a top within 20 to 35 minutes of local traffic for almost all of Indian River County and northern St. Lucie County without requiring destruction of existing areas or interference with already ridiculous traffic.

Instead, I bet the above-mentioned politicians will continue to sell out to suburban sprawl developers to the detriment of current residents and their aging infrastructure.

Jeff Hamilton, Sebastian

We're told we have a housing shortage? So build storage for cars?

Driving along 12th Street between Sixth Avenue and U.S. 1, south of Vero Beach, I saw a sign that indicated that someone is going to build another summer car parking facility there.

It may not be prime property, but it's in the neighborhood. Is this being approved by the local planning commission?

Do we need more housing for people or cars?

Ron Grommes, Vero Beach

Homeowners insurance making you broke? Could this be a solution?

They say, the more complex the problem, the simpler it is to find a solution.

Florida's homeowner insurance crisis has become a nightmare for many homeowners, driving them out of the state. Home insurance premiums continue to increase, with limited competition in the market.

Despite promises of reform, no significant change has been made. It's time for Florida to take action and make several changes to its homeowner insurance program.

The solution?

For Florida to end Citizens Property Insurance Corp. as a company of last resort and establish competition for existing and new insurance companies.

Remove all hurricane claims and losses from homeowner insurance contracts and move hurricane claims to the state for processing and payment, if a supplemental insurance policy has been purchased from the state-funded insurance program for hurricane claims. Claims will be processed by the state program, and the state will source approved contractors and repair programs to reduce fraud and consumer complaints.

The program would function much like the national flood insurance program, and the state program can be funded by a special premium to homeowners, a slight raise in the overall state tax program and other sources of revenue.

This plan offers the ability to bring in competition to the Florida insurance marketplace while reducing the burden of high premiums and potential cancellations on Florida residences. The state can attract mainline insurance companies from around the country, set annual cap rates not to exceed the national average for homeowners insurance and continue to flourish as a top destinations for people relocating from other parts of the United States.

The Legislature and governor must make real changes to Florida's homeowner insurance program to slow or stop the mass exodus of homeowners leaving because of runaway homeowner insurance policies.

Scott Schneider, Delray Beach.

Trump, MAGA tearing down Reagan's Shining City on the Hill

Now that Nikki Haley has dropped out of the GOP primary, Reagan Republicans are very much without a home in the GOP primary.

During her campaign, candidate Haley often reminded traditional GOP primary voters just how far the MAGA version has strayed from the traditional GOP core conservative principals of personal freedom with responsibility, limited government, anti-communist foreign policy, free markets and fiscal responsibility.

One example of how far Donald Trump and the MAGA elements have strayed is Trump using House Speaker Mike Johnson to stall the Ukraine aid funding vote. This stall on Ukraine funding aligns Trump and Johnson with Iran, North Korea and China, all doing their part to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

When Ronald Reagan demanded that Mikhail Gorbachev tear down “this wall,” Reagan rhetorically did battle with the Evil Empire. The winning of the Cold War, dissolution of the USSR and bringing of freedom and democracy to the Eastern Bloc countries is one of the crowning accomplishments of President Reagan’s legacy.

Now Trump appears to be destroying Reagan’s legacy by helping Putin to reassemble the USSR.

This leaves many in the GOP searching for principled leadership that can restore Reagan’s Shining City on the Hill for the free world to follow.

John McCoy, Vero Beach

Return on investment analysis shows college not best for everyone

A recent study conducted at New York University and published in the current issue of the American Educational Research Journal reports on the economic return for a college degree.

The study involved Census data on 5.8 million Americans. The study treated college expenses like an investment and compared the return on investment of those who earned a college degree against those who earned only a high school degree.

The study found that the return varied by college major. Across 10 fields of study, students of engineering and computer science had the highest return on their investment (13% or higher), followed by business, health science, math and science (10% to 13%), with agriculture and the social sciences showing a return of 8% to 9%, while students in education and the humanities showed gains of less than 8%.

These findings confirm what I have told high school students for years. If you want to major in science, math, engineering or business, then go to college. Otherwise, it’s not worth the cost of tuition and fees, room and board, fraternities, sororities, etc., and the loss of four years of experience in the workplace.

Young people should consider starting their careers after high school by getting jobs and/or enrolling in two-year vocational or technical programs. It is common for students in these schools to have multiple job offers upon graduation.

Charles Stansfield, Ph. D., Port St. Lucie

Bada bing, bada boom, Boeing

It's most interesting and scary to learn that the gentleman who was the chief whistleblower against the Boeing company was found dead in his vehicle by a gunshot.

He was staying in a hotel waiting to testify in court about the poor safety practices he witnessed during his years at Boeing. His testimony was also expected to show Boeing managers forced employees not to report safety defects before the planes left the factory on the way to service the public.

I am now more than a little bit concerned about flying ... hopefully the authorities will investigate fully.

Ray Mancari, Vero Beach

Regime change? Does Schumer ever make any sense?

So the esteemed senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, decided to urge the Israeli people to "regime change" their government. And he decided to do it in the U.S. Senate, on a world stage. Wow!

Did he really expect the Israelis to welcome this speech? Sadly, yes, he did. His chutzpah is second to none.

Even if he was right, he could have picked up the phone and made a call, instead,

By the way, for those with short-term memories, this is the same guy who thought it was a good idea to “relax the dress code” in the Senate. That lasted two days. It seems like he has lost any filters he had.

Jim Grant, Jensen Beach

Don't like Biden or Trump? Here's how you can decide

Republicans fall into one of three categories:

Those who don’t like Donald Trump, those who hate Trump and those who really, really hate Trump.

Not so strangely, Democrats fall into the same categories. An interesting paradox? Not really.

Without political rhetoric, all Americans can be similarly categorized. Those who don’t like Joe Biden’s lies and the Democrats' assault on America and Americans. Those who hate Biden’s lies and the Democrats' assault on America and Americans. Those of us who really, really hate Biden’s lies and the Democrats' assault on America and Americans.

So what’s it going to be, folks? Four more years of listening to the shameless braggadocio and self-praise of a man who refused to be paid to lead our country and the world to peace and prosperity? Four more years of low gas prices, low unemployment, low inflation, low food prices, low mortgage rates?

Border security, trade protection, financial stability and world peace are all possible by simply restoring all the Trump-era executive orders Biden rescinded in his first 90 days on the job.

The alternative is to elect Joe and let those who tell him what, when and how to think, finishing the job of destroying America and most likely the world.

I hear people saying they can’t vote for Biden because he is an abysmal failure, and they won’t vote for Trump.

Here is what I suggest. Get out and vote.

Vote for Trump, and even if you don’t want to make America great, you must want to give America at least a fighting chance. Tell your friends whatever you need to tell them, but take one for the team. Vote for Trump.

Vote to preserve the America that created the wealth and prosperity that makes our liberty and freedom sustainable. Your grandchildren's futures are at stake. Do the right thing.

Robert Heslop, Fort Pierce

Trump strong leader? Is that what saying anything is all about?

While watching in dismay as people vow to support Donald Trump in the upcoming election, I keep looking for some logical reason some Americans want to install a dictator wannabe in the White House.

One thing stands out in his supporters' praise of him. They declare he tells it like it is and is a strong leader.

This is easy to portray if the leader does not care whether what he says is true. Even worse, he knows what he says is misleading or an outright lie, and he still says it. He sounds like he actually knows what he's talking about.

If you watched Trump's interview on CNBC and his comments about Victor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Don Doscher, Stuart

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: How to fix Florida homeowners insurance mess; New York Mets parking woes