Terminal C’s darker side: International gates
Your Oct. 29 editorial on Orlando Airport’s Terminal C was very good Thanks for referencing the need for moving sidewalks. What a big mistake, not thinking of the vast age of travelers from very young to quite old.
Do a physical walk with carry-on luggage on wheels, heavy backpacks or stroller or or just dragging children and elderly travelers from the farthest international gates through to immigration and then on to baggage claim.
You think the walk from the end of the concourse for domestic flights is long? You haven’t experienced a challenge. It is truly a struggle to navigate the long steep ramps that are carpeted! The carpet uphill makes very difficult to “roll” a suitcase, particularly for older adults. However, if the ramps weren’t carpeted, a loose piece of luggage or stroller on wheels could take off back where you came from.
Please start your trek from the farthest gate for overseas airlines. Also, go in the evening when the overseas flights are arriving to observe others navigating the “walk.”
Linda Barry Mount Dora
Insurance insanity in Florida
News item: State Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota pitched his colleagues to invest in his property insurance company, promising a 165% return over five years.
Why does this not insult every Floridian struggling with the cost of homeowners’ insurance?
What does this tell you about inflated premiums? Residents are forced to switch to private insurers if they are “only” 20% higher than what they are paying with Citizens. What a joke! Wait until renewal time.
Scott Maxwell quoted the Insurance Information Institute that the average premium in Florida is now $6,000, an increase of 102% in three years. The Florida insurance commissioner said some companies want rate hikes of 300% to 500% (“After insurance ‘reform,’ Floridians still face high bills,” Oct. 27).
Florida’s insurance “reform” so far is little more than a $3 billion handout to the insurance industry with little or no help to homeowners. The Miami Herald reports that 13% of Florida homeowners are “going bare,” with no insurance — double the national average.
To me, it makes sense to expand Citizens so it becomes Medicare for property insurance. Think about large employers: The cost of their medical insurance is reduced by volume of premiums collected. Lawmakers should make this a serious consideration, not cater to a select few looking for a 165% return.
Total transparency and lower rates is better than having homeowners forfeit insurance coverage completely, just to keep up with other rising costs for living in the great state of Florida.
Pete Martino Margate
Reparations of land seem impossible
With all the news regarding land and territory in the Middle East, I was wondering about the reparations of land back to their original settlers.
Why not? Probably impossible from a time and distance standpoint. If Israel were to give back the country to Palestinians, then they would be required to then give to the Romans, who next would let it go to the Byzantines, who then let Kish have it, then Amorites were next in line, but relinquish it then to the Babylonians. You see the problem. Shall my state of Florida go back to the Seminoles since it has only been a few hundred years?
Jerry Rodeheaver Dunnellon
For GOP, problems are many, solutions are few
The Republicans remind me of a song Groucho sings in the Marx Brothers movie “Horse Feathers”: “Whatever it is, I’m against it.” They’re against inflation and they’re against crime. Yet they have never offered a single solution to either. They do have a solution for gun violence: everybody should arm themselves.
Michael F. Morrissey Longwood
