Fla. AG shouldn’t meddle in county land dispute
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s recent warning letter to Orange County Commissioners (“AG warns against bias over synagogue,” Aug. 23) is another example that the Peter Principle is alive and well. Instead of addressing crime in Florida, like a senior state law-enforcement officer should be doing, he is meddling in a local land-use decision regarding the Orlando Torah Center.
The county’s decision was to deny the construction of a three-story, 12,000-square-foot commercial structure where a 2,600-square-foot single-family home now stands on a 3/4-acre lot, within a walled housing development of similarly sized single-family homes.
The County Commission was 100% correct in unanimously denying the applicants’ request for a special exemption and variance, based solely on current land use criteria.
Uthmeier’s warning letter, even addressing the subject of “discriminatory bias,” but offering “no evidence of such motivation,” clearly exhibited ineptitude and ignorance.
Rich Krecic Orange County
It’s our right to ‘make a scene’ over crosswalks
Our governor tells us not to “make a scene” over the removal of painted crosswalks in Florida (“DeSantis: Florida is wiping all asphalt art, from rainbows to ‘Back The Blue’,” Aug. 26) This is a blatant attempt to repress our constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech and freedom of expression — which includes peaceful public protest specifically enacted to “make a scene.” That liberty is promised to us in the hallowed documents laying out our inalienable rights. Perhaps our governor isn’t that familiar with the U.S. Constitution, or prefers life in America without it. Advocating for the removal of constitutional freedoms from American citizens is far more dangerous than colored chalk on a roadway.
Brenda Higgins Orlando
Trump is getting rich quick
After leaving office in 1989, Ronald Reagan was paid the “astronomical” sum of $2 million for a trip to Japan. He was not the first or the last ex-president to profit after leaving office.
So far, President Donald Trump has had what might charitably be called an “unorthodox” seven months in his second term. The government’s coffers have expanded from tariffs, a unique export tax levied only on Nvidia, an equity stake in Intel, negotiated settlements with universities and in-kind contributions from law firms.
The line is purposefully blurry between the government’s receipts and Trump’s personal profiteering. Forbes estimates that his net worth has increased by about $2.8 billion since his inauguration. Axios estimates that at one point his net worth had increased by $45 billion in the same timeframe. Suffice it to say, it’s a lot. And nobody is counting the $400 million Boeing 747 from Qatar that will be transferred to the foundation of his presidential library after he leaves office.
Maybe it’s all legal. Maybe not. But it makes the outrage of Ronald Reagan’s pittance of $2 million seem positively quaint.
George Devitt Maitland
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