Chamber responds to letter on ALCO

To the editor:

The St. Cloud Greater Osceola Chamber of Commerce, an organization committed to improving the economy of the community, has done just this by partnering with ALCO, Adult Learning Center Osceola, a Chamber member and a part of the Osceola County School District.

Allowing new businesses to pay Osceola County transportation impact fees over a five-year period, as proposed, would be helpful to our struggling local economy. In that way, new businesses would be able to spread these current upfront costs over a number of years. Plus, we suspect having a time-payment plan available would make our county more competitive in attracting jobs.

Leonard Pitts
Tribune Media

A few words about who “we” is.

“This is a moment,” said Glenn Beck three months ago on his radio program, “... that I think we ‘reclaim’ the civil rights movement. It has been so distorted and so turned upside down. ... We are on the right side of history. We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and damn it, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement, because we were the people that did it in the first place!”

Ross Mackenzie
Tribune Media

A random walk among issues currently in the news....

Comes now Big Brother. Not only do state and local governments have unfunded retirement obligations totaling at least $2 trillion. Also, of the 50 states, at least 31 are insolvent. So, with states and localities facing such massive debt issues, why put a gun to their heads and force them to bargain collectively with police, fire, and emergency personnel? It’s a unionist priority, and the Senate is expected to vote soon on the blandly named Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. Passage would mean federal overriding of state laws principally in the South, the West and the Midwest and would compel collective bargaining with public safety personnel nationwide.

No endorsement

To the editor:

Newspapers have always played a significant part in American politics. Before the Internet and television it was how most voters got election results. Many of us have seen what is probably the most famous newspaper political headline published erroneously by the New York Times in the 1948 Presidential election proclaiming “Dewey defeats Truman” held up by a triumphant Harry Truman, who actually defeated Dewey in 1948.

We disagree with only one of the decisions that city of Kissimmee voters made Aug. 24 in regard to charter changes. We believe the City Commission ought to have the authority to waive the requirement that a city manager be required to live within city limits.

Welcome

To the editor:

To the residents of Seminole, Lake and Orange counties:

With the proposed 26-mile highway (Wekiva Parkway) that’s slated to reduce land values and quality of life for those whose homes would be affected by this highway, we the residents of Osceola County, whose homes and quality of life are affected by the widening of the Osceola Parkway just have to say, “Welcome to our world.”

The voters spoke pretty clearly on all candidates Tuesday, electing some to office and sending others to run-offs or the general election on Nov. 2.