- May 10, 2024
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+ City of Palm Coast has double standard with road projects
Dear Editor:
The other day, the Public Works Department was removing expensive base material on the access road they are trying to build into the park on Belle Terre. As a taxpayer in the B-section, I’m watching them spending my money trying to learn how to build a road. A private contractor would have to pay for that themselves if they screwed up.
Jay Sampselle
Palm Coast
+ Relaxed codes not the solution to unemployment problem
Dear Editor:
In its April 7 issue, the Palm Coast Observer seemed to be on a campaign against the aesthetic quality of Palm Coast (which, by the way, has defined the city; visitors always compliment it). We should diminish that?
Your newspaper lamented a handful of local businesses that have had delayed openings because they didn’t meet landscaping or other codes — as if that’s the city’s fault.
In fact, Palm Coast should be widely lauded for enforcement, design and upkeep, which in the future will without a doubt help maintain or boost home prices. Check out the difference going down State Road 100 between the Palm Coast and Flagler sides of the boundary, or take a look at the mayhem once one is outside of city limits on U.S. 1. Should we degrade Palm Coast so a few companies can open a few weeks sooner?
Then, a column about a recent survey of quality of life included a remark that nice parks and trees mean nothing to someone who is unemployed. Is the point that the solution to high unemployment rates is municipal unsightliness? In fact, if city officials can be faulted, it’s allowing developers to open up without tenants, as is required by many progressive cities in this country (where the trend toward “green” cities is quickly gaining momentum).
If you think the solution to unemployment is turning Palm Coast into another exit like Interstate 95 at Ormond Beach, that’s fairly astonishing. We should be looking to emulate Ponte Vedra, not the asphalt and litter of so many other Florida areas (which, by the way, despite the unsightliness, also have high unemployment).
Michael Brown
Palm Coast
+ Mobile Benefits OK, but Medicaid costs a burden?
Dear Editor:
Saturday’s Observer had another article about our county leaders lamenting the “burden” of Medicaid costs to our county. They estimate it will cost our county $600,000 a year.
There have been several articles in the last month on the increase in Medicaid recipients and the shift of some of those expenses from the state to the county. Now the county is concerned.
For the last few years, these same county leaders and Doug Baxter, of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates, have been projecting a Flagler County that would thrive on more residents receiving federal and state aid.
They said the recipients would bring millions into our county because they would use their welfare, food stamps and Medicaid here. The county leaders wanted more low-income housing and even have the Mobile Benefits bus to reach out and encourage more people to use Flagler County services.
Nobody understood that federal, state or county — it is all our money. Now it is a surprise to them that we have to pay more out of the “other” pocket. That should not be a problem, however, since our county should have all those millions that were spent here.
Jean Sbertoli
Flagler Beach
+ City needs employment; jail not for enhancing life
Dear Editor:
First, I would like to add my support to the letter written by Edith Campins in her editorial Saturday. Bravo! And wouldn’t it be nice if the previous draw of the beautiful tennis center we once had and the fabulous marina with an adjacent hotel resort were still available for enjoyment for all residents as well as visitors? Ah, yes! The City Council at work!
Secondly, wouldn’t it be wonderful if people were kinder to one another like the surfer who actually retrieved that pail for the fisherman at the Flagler Pier? Wonderful, but it needn’t be a single occurrence.
Lastly, I would like to applaud the “Home Sweet Home” opinion written by our managing editor, Brian McMillan. This city needs employment opportunities to encourage a revitalized Palm Coast. It needs to soften its stance on unnecessary obstacles for small businesses while keeping an eye on the growth of this town. It was sweet once and can be again. We miss the stores, places to visit and seeing smiling faces in all these places. We all miss the resort, a place we were so proud of and used whenever possible. There are good people in Palm Coast who are struggling to recall what it once was and what brought them here in the first place.
What can the City Council do? Well, they need to get a grip on what our people really need and miss and should have. Taxes to enhance the penal system? Really? How about stay out of jail? Life is not to be enhanced there.
Dana Williams
Palm Coast
