Airboat disturbance

To the editor:

We had hoped that we could enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner peacefully with our doors open to the fresh air. The air was fresh but the peace was shattered, as usual by the drone of the airboats. I held back my frustration for the sake of the day.

The following day, my husband and I worked in the yard as we love to do and, again, the drone of the airboats destroyed the peace of the day. I’m close to tears listening not only to the roar of the take-off and return of each boat but to the constant drone of each trip. The sound shakes me to the core and I feel myself wincing to bear the noise.

I know that there are so many residents like ourselves who love our lake and our homes and find it hard to believe that this situation has been causing us so much anxiety when it never should have been allowed to become an issue in the first place, legally and morally. To us, there is only one solution to this and I’m sure our commissioners know what it is. We must fund a better draw to our city than airboat rides. We have so much more to offer than that.

Sheila Spafford
Kissimmee

An idea

To the editor:

I am always in awe of how governmental officials, in the face of declining revenue, can always seem to come up with ways to increase expenditures and government without increasing revenue, other than by taxing an already strapped populous. The latest example of this would be the recent approval by the Osceola County Commission to establish a protocol office under the Economic Development Department.

While I agree the county has to start thinking beyond our borders and not just of being a bedroom community to Orange County, creating bigger government with the added expense is not the answer. Justification for such a move has to go beyond the fact that only one other county in Florida (Hillsborough) has a protocol office so Osceola has to take the lead or be left in the dust.

I don’t know how any commissioner (except for Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr., who voted against the measure) can walk the county administration halls and look in the eye of any county employee who was forced to take 10 furlough days without pay for the county to make budget and tell them that the county is going to create another department with its own budget.

As I would never just shoot down an idea (like many others do) without also proposing an alternative solution this is what I propose. One staff member from the Economic Development Department should have the sole responsibility of dealing with the issues that a protocol office would deal with. That staff member would create partnerships with private industry to attract national and international investors and companies to Osceola County. The private industries I am thinking of are the professional commercial real estate brokers under the auspices of the Osceola County Board of Realtors and developers under the auspices of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando.

These are two fine organizations that I am sure would jump at the opportunity to work with the county on such an endeavor. If you include the Chamber of Commerce as well, the county would have three partners with all the needed resources to not only attract but to meet with prospective foreign investors and companies. This creates a win-win solution. The county does not create more bureaucracy or expense and the county demonstrates its support for local business.

Jeffery A. Goldmacher
Kissimmee

Thank you

To the editor:

We would like to say thank you to all the staff at Kissimmee Main Street for all the hard work that had been put into the arts and crafts fair in downtown Kissimmee. With a large turnout of visitors and shoppers who ventured out on Saturday, Nov. 20, everything went smoothly as expected from all the volunteers who help out with crowd control and parking.

We will be back next year as we expect the crowds to be even bigger at next year’s event. We also would like to thank Cheryl Fisher at Kissimmee Main Street for all the effort she had put into the arts and crafts fair to make sure everything went smoothly. Thank you, Cheryl.

Randy J. Littlefield
Grandmother’s Trunk
Kissimmee