As Florida faces a looming condo crisis, our leaders choose inaction | Opinion

Condo reserves

As a lifelong resident of Miami, I am appalled by state, county and city leaders who are not calling for a stay on mandatory condo reserves. South Florida’s living costs are already unbearable and the state seems to be pushing for thousands of people to lose their homes through mass bankruptcies and foreclosures. How dare these so-called leaders put their citizens through this type of misery. Shame on all of them.

Attracting multi-billionaires to Florida to build and build while destroying parks, green areas and our precious ecosystem seems their only priority.

These so-called leaders would rather sell sacred space, such as the site of the fallen Champlain Towers in Surfside, where nearly a hundred people perished in 2021, instead of creating a memorial as other decent cities do. They are making the whole state unaffordable to Floridians and the working class.

Ron Schwartz,

Miami

Who’s in charge?

The new speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives, Danny Perez of Miami, was expected to implement Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda and claimed affordability as his top priority. Yet, instead of supporting the governor’s desire to find solutions for the condo crisis this year, Perez shut that idea down and will not bring it up until next year’s special 60-day session in March.

Condo owners struggling with affordability will have to wait another five months before any solutions are offered.

Who really leads Florida? DeSantis or Perez?

Kenneth Karger,

Kendall

Immigrant labor

The Miami Herald put real human numbers on legal immigrants in the Nov. 19 editorial, “Florida would be hurt by TPS crackdown.” The editorial cautions how legal Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans on temporary visas could be deported along with other legal and many undocumented residents.

President-elect Donald Trump promises to declare a national emergency to protect America from gangs of immigrants pillaging, raping and murdering innocent Americans while eating our pets.

Has anyone seen any evidence of such gangs?

Florida’s economy depends on legal — and sadly — some illegal immigrants who do the work others won’t, such as picking fruit, building homes, cleaning hotels and serving food. Hundreds of thousands of temporarily legal residents would be expelled from Florida.

Who will replace them?

Jay Arnold,

Coral Gables

Muslim cemetery

Re: the Nov. 18 Herald story, “Group seeks a new Muslim cemetery in the Redland. Neighbors oppose the rezoning.” This property, in the Redland Agriculture District (RAD) outside the Urban Development Boundary (UDB), has long been dedicated to agricultural use and is now a well-established guava grove. Allowing other uses risks eroding its agricultural value and that of the surrounding land.

Moreover, the proposal raises serious water safety concerns. Burial with no caskets or vaults, at six feet deep, intersect with the local water table, which is just six to seven feet below the surface. Burial, even without embalming, introduces the potential for contaminants such as medication residue, which is likely to leach into the groundwater. Most local wells, about 40 feet deep, could be vulnerable to these pollutants, posing a significant health risk to the community. The county does not provide public water outside the UDB, making our reliance on well water unavoidable.

Maintaining the RAD’s agricultural integrity and protecting water resources is essential for the health and sustainability of our community.

Robert T. Baker,

Redland

Medicare deduction

The Social Security Act was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935. It created the safety net which pays retired persons age 65 or older a continuing income — without deductions.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a series of programs for his “Great Society;” it included a Medicare deduction on Social Security. For 2024, that deduction has been $174. For 2025, the deduction will be $185, an $11 increase.

My 2024 Social Security benefit is $774. With Medicare deduction, my actual benefit is $600. Social Security has approved a 2.5 percent increase for 2025. Next year, my benefit will be $794. With a $185 Medicare deduction, my actual payment will be $609, a pathetic $9 a month increase. Perhaps it is time to change that 1966 law, as it is seemingly double-taxing those who worked many years paying into the system.

The forgotten retired workers of America haven’t had a strong voice in the federal legislature since our own Congressman Claude Pepper.

Olga Celia Gonzalez-Paban,

Miami

Let’s try this

The Nov. 20 article, “Citizens had worst rate of paying Floridians’ insurance claims. Half got zilch,” raises a question: how do we pay for rebuilding after natural disasters when people say insurance premiums are too high already?

Insurance spreads the risk of loss as widely as possible to reduce premiums for all. State and local elected officials make sure damaged properties get repaired or rebuilt quickly. Insurance companies accommodate these goals while making a profit, which includes eliminating fraudulent or exaggerated claims. Unfortunately, it sometimes means paying claims slowly, not at all, or, in worst case, declaring bankruptcy when a major disaster overwhelms the balance sheets.

Instead of tweaking a broken system yet again, let’s authorize each county tax collector to assess and collect a “Disaster Insurance Premium” (DIP) on the assessed value of all improvements on each real Florida property. The DIP would cover 100-year windstorm damage, flooding, wildfire and tornado damage. Tax assessors could be kept “honest” by tracking actual loss data annually, with egregious under-assessments corrected in the following year’s DIP.

Assume the DIP is one percent of assessed value. On a $300,000 home or business (exclusive of land value), the county would collect $3,000. This would be remitted to the state’s “DIP Division,” which would then administer claims through private insurance company adjusters based on performance, not on profit margins. Additionally, exaggerated or fraudulent claims would be dealt with uniformly, not haphazardly.

Spread the risk wider and fraud falls, insurance rates fall, reinsurance premiums fall and bona fide claims are paid fully and faster, all while hoping for the best and planning for the worst.

Anthony Parrish,

Coconut Grove

Mass deportations

President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, Nicaraguans and others could be barred by a Federal District Court if he is “selective” in excluding or exempting such aliens living and working in certain locations or states.

For example, if Trump exempts TPS Haitians living in Florida, while terminating and deporting those in Ohio, this would clearly show discrimination in policy application and would be barred. Worse yet, all TPS Haitians would flee to Florida if Trump were to create a safe haven for them through such a policy.

If Florida has the largest concentration of TPS Haitians, it is reasonable to expect the state will be ground zero for Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Harry J. Joe,

immigration attorney,

Dallas, TX

Healthcare savings

Choosing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services could have the unintended consequence of lowering the costs of healthcare by spending less for fewer living Americans. Policies limiting access to vaccines and consumption of unpasteurized milk may result in more people dying of diseases that had almost been eradicated.

Unbiased, evidence-based science must guide healthcare policies, not personal beliefs or political expediency.

Rich Parrish,

Miami

Poor construction

If President-elect Donald Trump wants to cement his legacy in history, he is well on his way. However, all of that cement will eventually land in the basement.

Jean Stewart,

Miami

Dumbing down

At this point, calling the 2006 film “Idiocracy” a comedy feels overly generous; it’s more like a prescient documentary that just happened to get the release date wrong.

Michael Holmquist,

Miami