To the Editor:
Although I do not live in the city of Ocala, I agree with everyone else. I was raised in my not-so-small-anymore community, and it’s so sickening that the woods are being stripped of all the trees just so it can be sold and homes, mobile homes, and other things can go up in their place.
Traffic has done an 85 or 90 percent increase coming through my community. The speed limit is 45, but those signs don’t mean squat to drivers not from Orange Springs – they go 60 mph or sometimes faster. We have frequent accidents, and we petitioned for the speed limit to be lowered many years ago. A big ‘no’ was all we got.
We aren’t that far from the Putnam County line, so we have Hog Waller that people come from all over to spend big bucks to go play in the mud ATV, side by side, and yes, big 4-wheel drives. On Thursday to Sunday, traffic is horrible. Most times I sit at the end of my driveway and wait for around 10 minutes to enter the main highway in order to go and conduct business.
Don’t even get me started about the wildlife that are losing their homes with nowhere to go but into people’s yards looking for food. When will the county place a cap on the wilderness from being stripped and sold? Florida is too small for all the overgrowth. Enough already!
Elaine Strickland
Orange Springs resident