Letters to the editor

Will there be any green space left?

When I moved to Sarasota two years ago, I was impressed by not only the city but also by the several green open spaces that were within the city itself. What a delightful sight.

However, while recently bicycling on the Legacy Trail, I heard the constant and distinctive “beep, beep, beep” of tractors busy at work clearing the land directly adjacent to the trail. This used to be a very large lovely meadow (with cows grazing!) that almost made me feel like I was in the country. So, instead of birds singing there will be the sounds of building hundreds of new homes.

Everywhere I look these days there is construction and new homes going in, apparently with no thought given to the city’s infrastructure. With every new home bought, there will be approximately two new cars on the road. That means thousands of additional cars to our already overloaded streets. It also means far less birds – egrets, sandhill cranes, ibis. Rip down the environment and existing trees, and they will have no place to nest.

While contracting companies and Realtors walk away with cash in their pockets, the residents of Sarasota are left with an infrastructure that was never meant to be this overloaded with resulting gridlock.

Are city planners even paying attention? Will building continue on every scrap of green space until there are none left? Is that what we want for our lovely city?

Lynn L. Coppes, Sarasota, Florida