Kudos to Venice Police Department, but not mayor

To the Editor:

Thank you for reporting in the Saturday, June 27, edition of the Venice Gondolier, the front page story, Mayor: Sorry about action, written by Greg Giles.

Thank you, Mayor Feinsod, for your irresponsible behavior and thank you for your explanation of that behavior as optics.

As a scientific term, the word optics refers to visual perception how and why the stimuli that we normally receive through our eyes reflect objects and events in the world with some degree of accuracy, or how incorrect or imprecise visual perceptions might be improved.

Here is what the optics revealed.

That the Venice Police Department was engaged in its mission.

The Venice Police Departments mission statement says: The ultimate mission of the Venice Police Department is to provide public safety and preserve order for our citizens, visitors, schools and businesses. We accomplish this while guarding, without prejudice, the liberties of all those we encounter.

Thank you, Venice Police Department, for doing your job with integrity and excellence.

Thank you, Mayor Feinsod, for your ridiculous and reckless behavior. It serves as an optical reminder to all of us that each day these officers of the law provide safety and preserve order for all of us, without prejudice, allowing us to live in liberty and freedom.

Thanks to Chief Tom Mattmuller and thank you to each officer who serves this community well.

Great job, Venice Police Department.

Allen T. Speer

Venice

Feinsod putting partisan politics over city needs

To the Editor:

I want our local elected officials to succeed regardless of party affiliation: when they succeed, we all benefit.

My mother is in politics in Tennessee and it is often a tireless and thankless job. However, thanks to the solid coverage from the Venice Gondolier, it is quite clear that Mr. Feinsod does not have the ability to put our city above his partisan political agenda.

He had the litigious Freedom From Religion Foundation come in to try and remove prayer from Council Meetings a practice which the Supreme Court upheld in Town of Greece v. Galloway in 2014. Fortunately, he failed.

At least that exploit did not endanger anyone physically. His latest stunt in approaching an active traffic stop was ignorant, arrogant and life-threatening to both himself, the individual who was stopped, and the officers themselves.

His untrained engagement in an active situation should send a message to our community that his interest and passion is activism, not governance, and assuredly not safety. We deserve better as a community.

His actions reeked of brazen anti-cop partisanship and was geared at sowing division in our community. Mr. Feinsod stated, I apologize to the public and the Venice Police Department for any misunderstanding about my intentions. Mr. Feinsod your intentions were crystal clear it is your actions we find so troubling: dangerous, reckless and irresponsible.

Mr. Feinsod has shown that when he has to choose between political ideology and his town and constituents, the former trumps the latter.

Atticus Frank

Venice

Mayors job is to check workings of city departments

To the Editor:

Recent reaction to our mayors interest in local policing issues highlighted the deep polarization inherent in our politics today.

My brief answer to the ensuing criticism of Mayor Feinsods actions is: The workings of all municipal departments in the city of Venice is Exactly where the mayors nose belongs. Thats what he was elected for.

Ed Machado

Venice

Mayor, police, show dichotomy of public service

To the Editor:

How sad.

On full display for the world to see was a dichotomy of our public servants as displayed by the recent Venice Police Department dash camera footage of the week of June 26.

On one end of this dichotomy, the true police professionalism and exemplary public service was exhibited on full display for the world to see of a perfect textbook police encounter with a citizen. Respectful, dignified, and compassionate (the officers provided the citizen an alternative instead of a costly car tow due to a suspended license and car registration).

Hats off to one of the best police departments in Florida for keeping our fine city one of the safest cities in the United States.

On the other end of this spectrum for the world to see, was a mayor who exhibited a total lack of self-awareness as to what his job is (policy making and not policing enforcement), an absence of common-sense judgement by putting himself, the two Venice policemen, the automobile driver, and any innocent Venice bystanders in a possible compromising situation, and a sheer public manifestation of political buffoonery.

Venice is affectionately characterized by many visitors as Mayberry by the Sea because of the peace and prosperity afforded to us by our law enforcement personnel both on the street as well as the citizen customer service provided by VPD administrative staff.

It is sad that a mayor acts more like Deputy Barnie Fife than the honorable Mayor Ron Feinsod.

Robert Mc Elrath

Venice

Disabled have been discriminated against, again

To the Editor:

The disabled have also been through injustices. We have been discriminated against. Treated unfairly.

Difference is, we have the tenacity to overcome and ask no one to make exceptions for us.

If need be, we choose to address our own injustices on a individual basis as it only makes us stronger.

A polio survivor from the 1955 polio epidemic.

Sandra Donnellan

Venice

Why wont Venice, county, enact face mask rules?

To the Editor:

I have been visiting the Sarasota and Venice since the early 90s and I was enchanted. I also understood the politics of this part of Florida.

Fast forward to 2017 when my husband and I moved here permanently. So here is my conundrum, how can the city of Venice with a mayor I proudly elected voted not mandate wearing masks.

This is also the same council that passed the ERA Amendment.

Here we are at Sarasotas board who enforced a mandate for the city of Sarasota.

COVID-19 is a public health concern which to me for the good of our citizens if we protect not only ourselves the public at large.

Now is not the time to debate states right because we are in the middle of a large crisis which frankly could have been some what avoided. Behavior matters and that is why I will travel an extra 20 minutes to shop in Sarasota.

Rona Elias

North Venice

David Graham is needed on the School Board

To the Editor:

On June 18, I had the pleasure of listening to the Zoom debate between two competing Sarasota County School Board candidates, David Graham and Karen Rose, sponsored by the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club.

When the harder questions were asked, here is what set them apart:

Given all of Ms. Roses experience and tenure within the school system, it was surprising to hear the hollowness of her responses. Several times she stated that it was up to the stakeholders or that it is not Karen Roses decision, but the community who should decide. I was left wondering why she is using the term stakeholders.

There was no comfort in her answers, and they came across as dull and passing the buck.

David Graham, on the other hand, was electrifying with new ideas. He had studied the budget thoroughly and has looked at ways of reducing capital or ancillary services if needed.

Regarding the current School Board, he said the bickering and hostility has got to stop, period, and he proposed parent and student involvement on the School Board, so that they can see the mechanics of the board and participate in ideas, which he assured would turn into action.

At the end of the debate, I felt confident that David would not be afraid to lead, would work well with others and would get things done.

Karen, on the other hand, seemed to lack the characteristics of a leader and would have difficulty making decisions on her own.

Monica Balicki

North Port

West Villages is not a cash cow for North Port

To the Editor:

As a West Villages resident, I was recently asked to fill out a Budget questionnaire for North Port. The first question of the questionnaire was to ask for my definition of Fiscal Responsibility.

Fiscal Responsibility is not: spending $12 million on a waterpark, not to mention the insurance premiums. The daily fee for residents to the Aquatic center is $6 $8, not cheap for the common folk as referenced in a previous Letter to the Editor who seems to think West Villages is a bottomless pit of obligatory tax revenues.

The design and engineering services currently underway for Warm Mineral Springs Improvement Project is $1,374,125.

According to the June 10, 2020 story in the Venice Gondolier, the projects at completion would total more than $30 million.

Hiring a full-time archaeologist (salary $51,000) on the premise that the current Sarasota archaeologist North Port uses might someday retire although there are no current plans to do so.

What about using a college professor or a retired archaeologist on a per diem basis?

West Villagers for Responsible Government has exposed Mayor Debbie McDowells secret eavesdropping on its March 23 Cisco Webex meeting hosted by the West Villagers for Responsible Government. North Port Vice Mayor Jill Luke stated any discussion of de-annexation is selfish as if it is West Villages duty to finance whatever North Port imagines.

West Villages is perceived to be a cash cow that North Port appears bent on milking until dry or de-annexation. Richard Ferry, West Villages

A cautionary truth about U.S. health care

To the Editor:

A few years ago, my 55-year-old son, living in New England, needed medical attention.

As a self-employed contractor, he had carried private insurance for himself and his family for years until the cost became prohibitive.

He applied for Obamacare. A month before this plan took effect, he experienced shortness of breath and went to the ER at his nearby community hospital.

He was diagnosed with pneumonia, given some pills, and sent home with a $2,000 bill. The hospital explained monthly ER costs were divided by the number of monthly patients.

A month later he returned to the ER with more severe breathing problems. The attending physician immediately ordered him transported by ambulance to a major urban hospital. Strobes and sirens all the way.

He remained in the hospital for five days before they could do open-heart surgery to correct a previously unknown congenital defect and three days after that before he was released.

He has recovered fully and functions as a healthy, taxpaying, small business employer in his community.

The bill for this care was $529,000.

With his Obamacare policy now in effect, his out-of-pocket cost was $3,000 . Without it, he would have lost his home, his business, and possibly, his life.

Dont tell him Obamacare is no good. Tell Donald Trump to keep his hands off it. Edward White, North Port

No right to riot

To the Editor:

Almost everyone agrees that the killing of George Floyd was tragic and unlawful. The officers involved are under arrest and deserve punishment.

Most also agree the vast majority of police officers are law abiding citizens personally and professionally. Using this incident to indict all law enforcement is also an injustice.

The solution of liberals and the radical left is to defund or disband police, rendering law enforcement powerless. That is not the answer.

In cities such as New York, Minneapolis and Seattle, where police now have their hands tied, crime is at least double the national average or higher. Groups like Black Lives Matter ignore the circumstances of police involved shootings when quoting their statistics.

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