To the Editor:
I’ve lived in the Ocala area for 67 years. Over time, things and towns naturally grow. Now, everything growth wise has exploded to a big problem city and county wise.
There seems to be daily traffic fatalities, especially on State Road 200. New residents have numerously requested that the airport offer commuter flights to the major connecting airports because of how many people travel by air but don’t drive. Those requests have all been rejected because it would cost the city of Ocala money to accommodate this type of service, or people don’t want to hear jets landing and taking off over their houses.
My question is: Didn’t they know in advance that they were building by the airport, and what did they expect? Why has Amtrak service not been restored to help accommodate the people that travel? Why are our roadways being overwhelmed with disrepair and poor planning for all the extra new residents moving here? And my most important question is, when is enough, enough?
People have destroyed the beauty of what Ocala and Marion County once used to be, driving out horse farms, natural resources, wildlife, and those of us that want and once had a simple quiet lifestyle.
This county has become a money grubber county, disregarding our desires for the love of money and profit, not caring what they destroy or who they hurt so developers can make this once beautiful county a nightmare to live in.
My neighborhood has has dirt roads since we bought it out here in Westwood Acres, and requests to pave the roads have been given excuses why they won’t have them. They said it would raise everyone’s taxes if they would get paved. Well, my property tax has jumped from under $300 a year to over $500 a year with zero improvements.
You can’t even get the county to properly maintain these roads causing damages to tires and suspensions on people’s cars! I was told to attend council meetings, and when I did and brought up these questions, I was cut off or given excuses why they won’t comply.
At the end of the day, they care more about their multi-million dollar developers, and how much the city and county can profit without spending more than bare minimum.
Palm trees on State Road 200 instead of proper traffic improvements, which cost our tax dollars to maintain the beautification process. Come on!
People, open your eyes to what Marion County and Ocala have become: A county government that only cares about profits, not the best interests of our residents.
Don’t get me started about the Marion County jail and the corruption that occurs there. Human right violations stem on violating inmates constitutional rights. They deprive inmates of proper medical care which has been documented and can be researched and confirmed. Corruption at higher levels of the sheriff’s department itself. And it all goes conveniently unnoticed because, well, they’re criminals and they broke the law. They don’t deserve anything.
They forget that there’s innocent people in that jail as well, which gives them no right to withhold medical treatment and medications from inmates, which they do every day.
Folks, I’m stating fact, not fiction, and if you do your research and go back three to five years, you’ll see exactly how corrupt the sheriff’s department actually is, as well as the rest of the departments all throughout Marion County’s system.
This county sickens me from what it once was. Something besides absolutely nothing needs to be done before this town is no better than Orlando or Miami or Jacksonville, and it’s heading there faster than you can see.
Martin Marszalek
Ocala