Letters to the Editor

+ Siesta Key needs streetlights
Dear Editor:
My husband and I were on Siesta Key last Friday night to go to Miguel’s restaurant, located south of the Stickney Point Bridge. It was dark when we started to drive home. The lack of streetlights made this a frightening experience.

We experienced jaywalkers in dark clothes, bike riders going against traffic and weaving between lanes, families with little children running loose and a golf cart without lights on it. You really needed to have eyes in the back of your head.

The season has been very busy with Siesta Key being named the No. 1 beach in the country along with the exceptionally warm winter we have experienced. The road is narrow with bike lanes. This can’t be changed due to the size of the Key.

Streetlights as well as crosswalk lighting, like they have in front of Morton’s Market, would be very helpful. Then, locals as well as visitors need to do their part to make it safe walking beside the narrow roadways. I sometimes think our visitors are just overwhelmed with the beauty of the Key, and they forget the basic safety of crossing the street. Stop, look and listen.
Sandra Brookshire
Venice

+ Don’t punish all for actions of a few
Dear Editor:
I love how everyone keeps pointing out the few things that have happened in relation to the millions of visitors to the beach. The accident with Mrs. Chen and the “alleged” drunk driver was a tragedy and I’m not playing that down any. But the driver of that vehicle could have just as easily gone to a bar on Siesta and ended up doing the same thing regardless if he did, in fact, drink at the beach or at a bar in the Village.

The St. Patrick’s Day happening with two people out of how many? Probably thousands of visitors to the beach that day. Again, whether at the beach or in the Village, the same thing easily could have happened.

If people still want to get drunk and still foolishly decides to drive their vehicle, they will do it regardless of where they consume the alcohol. If two people decide to go to the beach or bar and end up getting in a fight (which will sometimes happen), it doesn’t matter where it started, it will happen. Someone could go to the bars in the Village and drive the same path the driver in the Mrs. Chen happening did and end up doing the same exact thing again.

It is not a beach alcohol ban that is needed, nor will it fix anything; 2.4 million beach visitors and a few mishaps show that it doesn’t matter where the beverages were consumed it could have happened anyway and there’s all this stink and shouting to ban alcohol at the beach?

It’s not going to change anything because there will still be irresponsible people driving intoxicated and people will just go to the bars first and wind up at the beach later if that’s what they want to do.

Sit back and look at the facts, and you’ll see how small of a problem it really is (again, not downplaying Mrs. Chen ... but that still could have happened if the guy came from the Village bars, too) ... 2.4 million visitors to the beach and 0.3% or less problems from alcohol ... there are far many more that responsibly enjoy a beverage on the beach and shouldn’t be punished for the actions of the few irresponsible people.
Robert French
Siesta Key 

+ ‘Ban the Booze’ My View was great
Dear Editor:
I very much liked your My View article on “ Banning the Booze “ on the beaches in Sarasota County. Being a writer, you can write articles every few weeks to keep the pressure on the elected officials and on the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and officers. It’s hard to believe the excesses that both sides have made.
Neither side wants to do anything about it, hoping that it will go away.

We are snowbirds for four-and-a-half months a year for the past six years.
Thanks again,
Ramsey Kraft