- April 18, 2024
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+ School uniforms important for safety, cost
Dear Editor:
As important as education is for our children on our school campuses, their safety and security is equally important (thus, police officers patrolling campuses).
Uniforms are a way for administrators and faculty to look over a sea of students moving around campus and easily identify who does not belong. Some, if not many, problems caused by outsiders coming onto the campus can be stopped in advance, or spotted and intervened.
Cost of a uniform? A top and bottom usually cost less than one pair of designer jeans or sports-themed jacket. And after one year, a resale event where you can sell your outgrown uniforms from last year will help families. You get something back, and someone else gets a great deal and saves money.
Some used uniforms end up at thrift stores and are donated to agencies, where they can be purchased inexpensively.
Special needs? The very few whom this would apply to would be well known by faculty and staff and as easily identified as those in the uniforms.
Sandy Ausbrooks
Palm Coast
+ Seafood Festival was cost prohibitive
Dear Editor:
A $3 entry fee to the Palm Coast Seafood Festival was not the problem. The food was extremely expensive (average $10 to $15).
Also, the rides were a minimum of $5 per ride per child. How unreasonable is that?
Many of the Flagler County homeowners cannot even pay their mortgage. When setting pricing for these events, the demographics of the area must be considered.
Those in office have no idea of the reality of our economic situation.
Luca Rezia
Palm Coast
SENSITIVE ISSUE: LONG LANDING
+ Community needs explanation about Long Landing Park deal
Dear Editor:
Douglas Glover brings up an interesting point regarding the nine acres of swamp land that has been purchased for $4.5 million.
This is a swamp.
Mr. Landon, the city manager, was kind enough to point out the land was purchased with $2,255,000 of state funds and $2,273,000 from Flagler County’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Program.
But he conveniently leaves out who the land was purchased from. Who is it that made $4.5 million selling swampland to the city?
Linda Hansen
Palm Coast
+ Long Landing is a worthless swamp; its purchase was ludicrous
Dear Editor:
In regard to Mr. Douglas R. Glover’s letter about Long Landing: At the same time this nine acres of worthless “swamp” was up for sale for $4.5 million, my family had a 400-acre tract of farmland and “wetlands” for sale in St. Johns County.
Well, the state and Flagler County didn’t even blink an eye at $4.5 million for nine acres of swamp land here, but the state had a “freeze” on land acquisition when we contacted them about 400 acres, of which 220 acres are wetlands bordering the St. Johns River.
Incidentally, it’s filled with deer, turkey, hogs and quail, and the farmland is prime food producing land! It’s productive land! Talk about the powers that be! Environmentally sensitive lands? Nine acres? Give me a break!
It amazes me how politics and greed have turned a nation that was solvent 50 years ago to such debt that we now have! We are so overspent that it’s ludicrous, and we just keep spending! And it really doesn’t matter if it’s state funds or city funds or Flagler County funds, it comes out of the pockets of the people of this country!
To spend $400,000 to design a park is foolish, and I’m sure it will be costly to carry out the design. They will build a nice little aboveground boardwalk that meanders through the woods to arrive at what, a picnic table, a bench?
I do appreciate the parks and walkways that are in Flagler County, but I agree with Mr. Glover that we don’t need any more parks and that the entire Long Landing acquisition was a major fiasco.
Betty Williams
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: The land in question is 59% uplands, which means that much of the land could be built on without any mitigation.
The parcels that make up the total were purchased by Trust For Public Lands, a nonprofit organization that reserves environmentally sensitive land. The trust purchased it from Robert Morris, Robert Deak and John and Pam Morris, of Remax Heritage.
The owners did have development rights, according to City Manager Jim Landon.
“Could they have developed this property?” Landon said. “Absolutely. They had already taken steps to make development plans. If they could develop the property, there was only one way to avoid that, and it was to purchase the property.”
The property was appraised by two outside firms for between $4.5 million and $5 million in 2008. According to the bylaws, the county’s environmentally sensitive lands fund cannot purchase land for more than the appraisal amount.
LUCKY DAY
+ Lucky, the Emory Bennett Veterans Nursing Home dog, is saved!
Dear Editor:
I would like to thank the community for coming together with the Palm Coast Elks to enable us to raise the money for Lucky’s surgery. Lucky needed hip surgery, and it cost $1,900.
Without the surgery, Lucky would need to be put down. With the community’s help, we were able to raise the money in five days. To save Lucky was all the veterans at the nursing home wanted for Christmas. They got their wish, thanks to Flagler County.
Jeannie Fontana
Palm Coast Elks
