Readers comment on Gainesville housing policies, Trump and Putin, and more

Families priced out

Mayor Lauren Poe continues to advocate for the implementation of “inclusionary zoning” as a means to eliminate “exclusionary zoning” — grandiose language that aims to conceal the inefficiency of the city’s latest zoning proposal. Under the most recent proposal, all single-family residential zoning districts would be consolidated into one residential zone (RZ). Amongst other things, this consolidated residential zone would allow multi-story apartment complexes in all residential areas.

Poe is certainly well-intentioned. However, the proposed “solution” to the city’s housing crisis is anything but. The main beneficiaries of these proposals continue to be developers, who in the name of housing equity are allowed to strip away the character and integrity of our neighborhoods (although to be fair it does not seem that conserving our family neighborhoods is a concern of Poe or the City Commission).

These developers build and design housing with one demographic in mind — students, not local residents in whose name these proposals are initiated and who continue to be priced out of the housing market by property investors and developers.

Allowing multi-unit dwelling units in our single-family neighborhoods do not address the city’s housing crisis or encourage housing equity. Instead, it will only continue to incentivize developers to price out young families from the housing market and endanger our children by increasing traffic in our neighborhood streets.

Abby Ivey, Gainesville

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Not trustworthy

Donald Trump is at it again. On television he asked his friend, Vladimir Putin, for a favor — a second time.

He wants dirt on Hunter Biden. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had none in 2019, even after Trump extorted him by withholding $391 million of military aid previously appropriated by Congress. Neither did Putin, before the election. But now that Putin is at war, and hates President Joe Biden, Trump now thinks this will finally jog his memory.

Trust Putin? The monster is lying about targeting and killing innocent women and children. And then trust Trump, even though he lied about his taxes and net worth to banks for decades. Invented the "big lie" about election fraud, without a shred of reliable proof of widespread corruption. Lied about his role in the Jan. 6 coup attempt, and even promised to pardon anyone associated with the insurrection, if re-elected.

Why is he so willing to “speak the truth” at conservative fundraisers and on Fox News, but won't testify under oath in any court proceeding, nor before Congress? He flushed official White House documents down the toilet, took classified" documents to Mar-a-Largo and has apparently destroyed almost eight hours of official phone log records for phone calls made during the insurrection; all against the law. But we should trust his comrade, Putin, with dirt on the Biden family?

Theodore Quinn, Alachua County

Out of proportion

It is absolutely amazing how one will read something outrageous on social media and immediately believe it. Of course, they pass it on and the lie lives on forever. Have people totally lost the ability to question what they hear or read?

A March 31 letter related a bill being discussed by the Maryland legislature that supposedly would allow people to kill a newborn child in the first 28 days without consequences. It took me one minute to search online to determine that the story was fact-checked. The story is blown way out of proportion. I suggest that you search “Maryland legislature killing newborns” to get the real story.

Tom Weller, High Springs

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Letters to the editor for April 5, 2022