Thank you for shedding light once again on the city’s ridiculous contract with Jeff John (“Time to show Fort Lauderdale the money,” Editorial, Sept. 11).
I was against it from the beginning. Within walking distance, we already have a great museum and excellent art galleries to fulfil the “art” part of the proposed Arts Park. We also have The Parker, Broward Center, Amaturo Theater and numerous clubs with live music nearby.
What we don’t have is green space in the city center. Every parcel is taken up by more and more high-rises. It’s all good for a city our size, but I was taught in art school that negative space is as important as positive space.
How wonderful it would be to breathe the clean air of a beautiful park.
What’s Manhattan without its crown jewel, Central Park? Let’s learn from the famous landscape architect who designed it, Frederick Law Olmsted, and make the land something to be proud of for generations. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for city commissioners to do something for the people of our city — and it might be good for tourists, too.
Joanne M. Snead, Fort Lauderdale
(Editor’s Note: Fort Lauderdale commissioners will discuss the fate of the Arts Park project at a meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 16).
No beach pickleball
I am an avid pickleball player, but I don’t think I would want to play pickleball on Fort Lauderdale beach. It doesn’t sound like fun. Playing on wet or sandy courts will heighten the risk of injury.
Unless Bahia Mar wants to deal with tenants going to the E.R. with pickleball injuries, it should consider putting pickleball courts on the west side of A1A — and leaving the beach basketball courts where they are.
Diane Miller, Plantation
Don’t disparage D.C.
I must respond to Ira Cohen’s misinformed letter about Washington, D.C. (“District’s long downward spiral must end,” Letters, Aug. 20).
I lived there for 32 years. I found Cohen’s letter incorrect and basically a tribute to President Trump.
D.C. is not a “septic vortex,” as Cohen wrote. The President’s takeover of the Metro police and sending in the National Guard is a political move and not due to crime. Violent crime in the District hit a 30-year low in 2024, according to a Department of Justice report.
Yes, Washington has areas with crime and homelessness. Can you find any city in South Florida that doesn’t? I have to walk past homeless people when I go to Publix in Fort Lauderdale, just as I did going to the Safeway in D.C.
Washington is one of the most beautiful and walkable cities in America. If Cohen really cared about D.C. and the people who lived there, he would stand up and support giving the District a representative in Congress. For more than 200 years, the District of Columbia is the only place in the U.S. that has “taxation without representation.”
Jeff Douglas, Wilton Manors
Blatant hypocrisy
Sea Grape Drive in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Two recent front-page articles in the Sun Sentinel demonstrate blatant hypocrisy by Florida Republicans.
In the coverage of the stealth overnight removal of a rainbow flag crosswalk in Delray Beach, Gov. Ron DeSantis is quoted as saying, “Florida won’t allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes.”
In another article on renaming a street in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea as President Donald J. Trump Drive, Commissioner (and Republican State Committeeman) Richard DeNapoli says the Trump sign would show that “every voice matters and to celebrate our community together.”
It’s clear that “our community” does not include the large LGBT population who live, work, visit and spend money in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. To prove me wrong, DeNapoli should propose a rainbow crosswalk at the corner of Commercial Boulevard and newly-named Trump Drive.
Jerry Barkan, Pompano Beach
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