LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 01.13.11

To send in your letters, please e-mail them to [email protected] or mail them to The East County Observer, 8788 State Road 70 E., Suite 103, Bradenton, FL., 34202. The East County Observer gives priority to letters of local interest and about local issues. The Observer will print all letters to the editor if it feels they are of general interest, but only if the letter is signed and the author’s street address and phone number are given. The editor reserves the right to condense letters.

+ FSU professor OKs study, not incorporation
Dear Editor:
Recently, Keith Davey, lead advocate of Lakewood Ranch incorporation, announced with a flourish that Florida State University has approved the Fishkind feasibility study, the much-debated study that concludes that incorporation is financially feasible.

Hogwash and shame on Davey.

FSU has approved nothing. At the invitation of Keith Davey, Dr. Tim Chapin of the university offered an opinion on the methodological soundness of the Fishkind study. That is it. I for one am happy Chapin concluded that the Fishkind study is not bogus and that it could serve a useful purpose if the homeowners wished to go further.

I note well what Chapin said: “Incorporation is based on a much wider set of factors.”

Davey, I think, wants to steamroll us homeowners into submission on this incorporation thing. He would like us to believe FSU is one more advocate of Lakewood Ranch incorporation.

Nonsense. As for me, Davey has undermined his own credibility and that of the people he represents.

Daniel F. Moriarty
Lakewood Ranch

+ Not all Palm-Aire residents oppose tower
Dear Editor:

I read your article in The East County Observer, and I am quite concerned by the inference that the residents of Palm-Aire are mostly against the cell tower proposed for Whitfield Avenue.

This is not true.

Although there are a few very outspoken residents that have been fighting the tower, most of my neighbors and members of the Palm-Aire Country Club, which this neighborhood is built around, are very supportive of the tower.

There has been a negative campaign full of deception and falsehoods. Residents were told, among other things, that the tower would bring down home values, kill local wildlife, send radiation through the air, etc. None of these things is true. None of these things have happened in any of the other neighborhoods, including The Meadows, where other towers just like the one proposed for Whitfield Avenue, have been built.

Most of the residents in Palm-Aire look forward to getting good reception on their cell phones when the tower is built. Many of us are members of the Palm-Aire Country Club and understand that in this economy it is imperative that the Club continue to be able to offer the wonderful services and amenities for which it is known. We understand that our home value is more closely tied to the country club being prosperous and continuing for a long time than a large flagpole on a maintenance area where there is already a power pole that shows above the trees. In this economy, the income from the tower will be beneficial to all who live here.

Had you done any research or asked questions of other residents, you would know that there are hundreds of signatures on petitions in support of the tower. There have been many letters and e-mails sent to county commissioners in support of the tower.

I live right across the fairway from the maintenance area. That’s right: The tower will be just about in my backyard, and I am strongly in support of it as are most of my closest neighbors. I do not believe that a cell tower that looks like nothing more than a flagpole could possibly lower my property value any more than the ugly power pole that already resides there. And if I get better cell phone reception, my property value may increase.

Deborah Chapman does not speak for me or most of my neighbors. Please don’t allow her to represent us in your publication.

Esther Halt
Palm-Aire

According to the Manatee County Planning Department, the county has received 117 signatures supporting the proposed tower and more than 1,000 signatures against it. Hearing Officer Hamilton “Chip” Rice Jr. was scheduled to host a public hearing Jan. 12, after The East County Observer went to press.— Ed.

+ New coach a win for ODA
Dear Editor:

Recently, I took my boxer, Cassius, over to see his girlfriend, Roxie, and for them to have their play time. Roxie’s owner told me of a recent story which appeared in The East County Observer. The story was about a guy we both knew: Sean Brady, The Out-of-Door Academy’s new boys basketball coach.

I have to say to ODA, you got one great guy — not because of his coaching skills but also as a human being. He is wonderful with kids and soft-spoken. I am so happy life has blessed him so.

Maybe the prior coaches at Lakewood Ranch will learn from Sean on how to bring a team together and win. I know ODA won by getting Sean Brady as coach.

Elizabeth M. Sullivan
Creekwood