To the Editor:
This is in reference to the letter written by Nancy Neal.
Thank you! Thank you for giving a damn. Nobody else seems to. It all boils down to money. The powers that be just seem to see tax revenue. There is such a thing as responsible development, but it doesn’t exist here.
Beautiful, sweeping oaks are being felled every day. They were the best thing about Ocala, in my opinion. Wildlife habitats are disappearing, smoke fills the air from all the burning of trees. It’s heartbreaking.
Trees help cool our homes, saving money and energy. Let’s not forget that our trees help mitigate flood waters and, oh yeah, they provide the oxygen that we breathe. And the developers clear cut. Couldn’t they save a few trees at the perimeter at the very least? Who doesn’t like to score a shady parking spot? And they usually plant a token crepe myrtle or a palm tree and call it a day. We need our native trees, not a bunch of non-native palms that fit the visitors’ idea of what Florida should look like.
Florida is becoming a parody of itself. I miss the eastern towhees that were so common, and I haven’t seen a meadowlark or bobwhite quail in over 10 years. Gopher tortoises are supposed to be protected…how many have been buried alive by bulldozers while they were hiding in their dens? The list goes on.
But money talks. I don’t see anything changing. So I will bid farewell to Florida very soon. It’s just too sad to live here any longer.
Thank You,
Joanne McMillan
Ocala