In the 1960s, Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale had no median, flowers or fauna of any kind. Parking was allowed on both sides of the street.
Most businesses were open only during the high tourist season, from November to March, and there were only a handful of restaurants. By the time the Galleria mall opened, the future of Las Olas looked dim and on-street parking had been eliminated.
The city decided to redo Las Olas to attract the public, which resulted in the existing median and trees. When O’Hara’s jazz club opened, things began to change. The owners persuaded the city to again allow on-street parking. This was the rebirth of Las Olas, with the addition of many new restaurants and businesses to where we are today.
Now the city wants to spend $167 million to take us back almost 60 years to a time and a place that was not working. This means that the existing median and trees have cost the taxpayers an extra $2.78 million a year since they were put in place. As Forrest Gump would say, stupid is as stupid does.
Dane R. Hancock, Fort Lauderdale
Seeking safer airbags
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has no teeth because it has no leadership. This will cost lives and must change. An ongoing issue with millions of airbags highlights the peril caused by the agency’s lack of leadership.
NHTSA has not had a Senate-confirmed administrator for more than six years. A former official left the agency after only three months, and there was a four-year vacancy at the position before his appointment. NHTSA needs a Senate-confirmed administrator to fulfill its duty, which is paramount to every American’s safety. In addition, a recent federal audit found that NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation did not meet its timeliness goals.
As former Florida legislators who focused on enacting traffic safety legislation, we understand how critical a change at the agency is. Dori Slosberg, the daughter of Irv Slosberg and twin sister of Emily, was killed in a car crash that claimed the lives of five teenagers and left another teen a quadriplegic.
After an eight-year investigation, NHTSA recently urged ARC Automotive to recall 67 million airbags due to “unreasonable risk of death and injury.” That agency found that some airbags “project sharp metal fragments” when deploying and can severely injure the driver and front passengers. ARC Automotive’s products are used by several top car makers. Shockingly, no complete list has been published.
ARC Automotive rejected the recall. This is dangerous and unacceptable.
ARC Automotive’s vice president of product integrity said the manufacturer’s investigators did not find any “systemic or prevalent defect” in the airbags, instead reducing this alarming issue to “random ‘one-off’ manufacturing anomalies.”
If NHTSA urges ARC Automotive to recall airbags, the airbags should be recalled. At the very least, all affected drivers should be notified.
Strong leadership at NHTSA is the first step to saving lives from defective airbags currently on our roadways.
Irv Slosberg and Emily Slosberg-King, Boca Raton
The writers are former members of the Florida House of Representatives.
For sensible gun laws
The Republicans’ answer to gun violence is the Second Amendment, where everyone has the right to protect themselves.
So the three people killed by a man with an AR-15-style weapon in Jacksonville were at fault for not having AR-15s with them. It’s also implied that gun control is not the solution, and that mental health is the main problem. Yet President Barack Obama’s gun control plan, with increased access to mental health, was revoked by Donald Trump.
Under the Constitution, every human being has “the right to life, liberty and the security of his person.” It is the responsibility of members of Congress to guarantee that right by standing up to the NRA and passing common-sense gun laws.
Mario Signorello, Port St. Lucie