Developer Charlie Ladd (letter to the editor, “No more cracker-box homes,” Oct. 9) came to Fort Lauderdale in 1984 and began to transform it, all right — some good and some very bad.
I first came to the town of Davie in 1968, and I have three distinct memories.
The Ku Klux Klan, fully hooded and robed, marching on horseback down 64th Avenue; a straw poll among teachers at the high school where I taught gave George Wallace the majority; the Sun Sentinel’s editorial pages revealed a reactionary bias that chilled my Yankee soul.
“Holy s—!” I thought. I had come to Broward to escape the cold, and landed in 1950’s Alabama.
Fast forward a half century: Davie is a quaint balance of modern suburbia and small-town charm, thanks to progressive governance, and with no visible Klan presence. The Sun Sentinel — especially on its editorial pages — has become a beacon of common sense in this threatening political climate.
By the way, should anybody object to Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet working from home? Doesn’t everybody?
As for the Charlie Ladd-led replacement of grass and trees with steel and concrete in Fort Lauderdale: In the words of our fellow displaced Noo Yawkers, “Youse pays yer money and youse takes yer chances.”
Jeff Kleiman, Boynton Beach
The more things change
Can anyone tell me how the next presidential administration is supposed to fix what’s wrong with the current administration, when they are the same administration?
Sherry Wipplinger, Fort Lauderdale
DeSantis in La-La Land
We are so lucky that climate change is just a “Chinese hoax.”
Imagine how bad things would be if the science were real and we could believe our lying eyes.
As Milton brought a second blow to Florida’s west coast, it’s of course clear that the science is real and our eyes are clear. Our planet is in an existential crisis, and politicians like Donald Trump, Rick Scott, and Ron DeSantis will “live in infamy.”
As governor, Scott ordered the state Department of Environmental Protection not to use the terms “climate change” or “global warming” in any communications.
As governor, DeSantis signed legislation that erased most references to “climate change” in state law. They can strut around and pretend they are protecting us when hurricanes hit, and homes are destroyed, and lives are lost. But they are nothing more than five-year-old children sticking their thumbs in their ears, wiggling their fingers, closing their eyes, and yelling “la-la-la-la-la.”
Michael K. Cantwell, Delray Beach
Abortion advertising
Anti-abortion groups in Florida are running false TV ads, stating that Amendment 4 will allow minors to have abortions without parental consent.
But here is the actual text from the amendment that those TV ads conveniently omit: “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
John Moore, Miramar
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