‘Schools of Hope’ is just another effort to defund Florida’s public schools | Opinion

School daze

“Schools of Hope” in Florida has now been given the right to feed at the taxpayer trough. The plan to fill empty seats in district schools at no cost is akin to moving into your neighbor’s home rent-free, as the spare bedroom is available.

This is another step in the shortsighted play to bust unions, selectively shift curriculum and classroom/library resources, hold down pay and benefits and now, give away student seats. This is the old Jeb Bush effort toward defunding school districts and privatizing Florida public education.

Flori-Duh is on display with the dismantling of public school districts in favor of the profitable business of education. The free lunch is alive and well for charter school power brokers.

George Ellis,

Miami

Local hysteria

Re: Mary Anna Mancuso’s Nov. 16 op-ed, “Miami GOP is right to sound the alarm on Mamdani.” I am always intrigued by how quickly Miami’s Cuban community calls “communism” on anyone with progressive politics.

Cuba has never had sustained democratic rule. Post independence, it staggered from one corrupt administration to another, interspersed with various U.S. interventions:

• 1898-1902, United States military rule;

• 1906-1909, United States Marine occupation;

• 1912, to suppress Afro-Cuban demonstrations in eastern Cuba;

• 1917-1922, Marines deployed to “protect” U.S. interests in the Sugar Intervention.

Fulgencio Batista, facing electoral loss in 1952, staged a coup, suspended the Constitution of 1940 and ushered in a de facto military dictatorship marked by suppression of free speech, disappearance of political opponents and corruption aligned with American organized crime. His right-wing dictatorial regime set the table for the left-wing dictatorial Castro regime that followed.

Yet, faced with an American president who refused to accept an electoral loss, tried to overthrow the 2020 election by asking the Georgia Secretary of State to find “11,780 votes” and whose supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, there is zero sense of dread among Miami Cubans, who should be well aware that a right-wing dictatorship is no better than a left-wing dictatorship.

The prospect of encroaching authoritarianism must alarm us, even if so-called conservative Republicans embrace it. Miamians have nothing to fear from the mayor-elect of New York and his policies. It is “red-scare” politics to suggest otherwise.

Lorraine Dowdy,

Kendall

Get onboard

Why do the Miami Herald and WLRN radio have such a vendetta against Brightline?

The Nov. 16 front page story, “Private train, public cash: How Brightline has been buoyed by Florida taxpayer dollars,” featured three pages bemoaning public investment – and the very unfortunate, but also very avoidable, deaths.

Everyone I know who has ridden the train has positive comments. It’s faster and safer than driving, quite comfortable and you’re able to get work done while traveling. Anyone would be in favor of removing some of the unbelievable traffic on our overcrowded highways.

As for public investment, I have no problem with my tax dollars doing good for the local region. I could easily provide three pages of things I don’t want my tax dollars doing.

John Saviano,

Miami Beach

Local history

The Nov. 16 In Depth cover story, “Change of venue,” on the new Miami-Dade County civil courthouse, was comprehensive and terrific. While the focus was on the naming of same for the late Osvaldo Soto, there was no mention of the parallel and unsuccessful effort to dedicate the courthouse to the late and longtime Clerk of County Courts Harvey Ruvin.

Harvey, a good friend who served in public office for more than 30 years, was universally respected; his funeral was held at Dade County Auditorium, after all. The groundswell of support to name the new courthouse for Harvey lost out to the efforts of those supporting Soto. It’s a done deal.

The North Dade Justice Center and the street fronting the downtown courthouse will honor Harvey and bring some measure of relief to the community. Both men brought honor to their respective communities; both men’s memories are blessings.

Michael D. Orovitz,

Bay Harbor Islands

Trash tragedy

Our Miami-Dade County commissioners are fixated on building a new incinerator to replace one that burned down in 2023. However, they can’t decide which neighborhood wants the garbage burning in their backyard.

If you live in a municipality that is willing to sacrifice people’s health and property values, please let your commissioners know. If not, then maybe you should ask them why aren’t we implementing a zero waste strategy that eliminates the need for incineration and saves the $1.5 billion cost to build one. It’s time for innovation, not incineration.

Noel Cleland,

Miami

‘People’s plight’

Re: Mary Anna Mancuso’s Nov. 16 op-ed, “Miami GOP is right to sound the alarm on Mamdani.” Like U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, I was born in Cuba and experienced the Castro takeover.

Mancuso however, didn’t address the real issue — the failure of President Trump and the GOP to help the poorest and most vulnerable in our community. The GOP has done nothing to address the huge income inequality and rising affordability crisis. It has done everything to deny working class Americans health care, a basic human right.

The wages of gardeners, teachers and trash collectors, among others, are insufficient to provide families adequate shelter, food and medical care. Republicans’ answer is to provide huge tax breaks to corporations and wealthy Americans and throw lavish Halloween parties while denying poor Americans SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.

Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City because he addressed the people’s plight. Americans will turn to leaders who recognize and address their concerns and offer solutions that allow them to provide for their families’ freedom, food, shelter and health care. Unless we do this, we will end like the Roman and British empires.

Sergio Fernandez,

Coral Gables

Scary thought

I’m a lifelong Democrat. When U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, appears on national television and makes more sense than all the leaders of the Democratic Party, it is truly frightening.

Eric P. Littman,

Boca Raton

Inspiring name

I was saddened to read about the death of Seth Gordon. I was director of development for New World School of the Arts (NWSA) for five years when Seth was its chairman. He was a creative force and fun to be around. It’s one thing to have creative ideas, but it takes real leadership to bring them to fruition.

Seth wanted to create a version of New York City’s “Fame School” in Miami. He successfully shepherded his idea through the Florida Legislature, creating the NWSA. If the NWSA board named the lobby or a significant performance space in his honor, it would be a fitting tribute.

Doug Mayer,

Coral Gables

Rapport building

One of the great lines in the iconic film, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, is “Who are those guys?” That line resonates in my mind often. As a good woke liberal (redundant, I know), I find that in most meetings I attend, the implicit and sometimes explicit suggestion is that they are open to getting to know the other side. That is not the case.

I call on bookstores, liberal churches and other venues that have hosted programs promoting my political bent to bring in the “other side” to voice their worldview. Finding out “who are those guys” does not mean you are endorsing their views; it does mean you are making an honest effort to find out.

Sid Kaskey,

South Miami

Floating library

The Presidential Library, which will be built on Biscayne Boulevard, will be a fitting tribute to Donald Trump and his presidency.

Of course, it will have to be built on stilts, because after a hundred years of rising sea levels, the Atlantic Ocean will be lapping at its foundation and, in the distance, Miami Beach will be just a memory.

James Gross,

National Hurricane Center meteorologist,

retired,

South Miami