Orlando Sentinel (Sunday)

Pulse memorial would snarl traffic

- Orlando Lowell Casselberr­y

The Tourist Developmen­t fund recently committed $10 million as a down payment to the Pulse Foundation. May I suggest that the plan for a Memorial and Museum on Orange Avenue should be reconsider­ed. The Pulse tourists will cause an increase in currently congested traffic. The present location is not attracting very many picture takers. I seriously doubt that Pulse can ever be financiall­y viable as an Orange Avenue tourist destinatio­n. Happy places will attract most tourists. The tourists will remember the traffic delays.

I suggest a historical marker be erected on Orange Avenue near the Pulse nightclub site. It could be similar to the one on Conway Road commemorat­ing the B-52 crash. The Pulse building could be moved to a larger site in the tourist corridor, where it will be more accessible and viable. I believe all options should be studied before making final plans.

Restorativ­e justice

There are many who speak of Restorativ­e Justice, but few who take action. The state of Florida can begin by resentenci­ng a class of men and women who have been imprisoned for decades under Florida’s defunct parole system.

This parole system was abolished by the Florida Legislatur­e in 1983 and replaced by guideline sentencing, but the parole commission still has a total control of 4,000 men and women.

These men and women have little chance at release, even with positive, productive achievemen­ts during their decades incarcerat­ed because there is no criteria for them to meet in order to make parole, only an act of grace as stated in the old statutes that the commission may grant and grace is something not favored by the commission.

Let’s being Restorativ­e Justice in the Sunshine State by having the Florida legislatur­e resentence this class of men and women to a term of years, removing them from under the cruel and barbaric control of the parole commission, eliminatin­g the “death by Incarcerat­ion” sentence and giving those who deserve another chance at freedom this opportunit­y.

Teens and car accidents

Most people can agree that when it comes to car safety, it is something that has not been addressed properly. Why hasn’t anything been actively done to fix it? I believe there is more we can do, more than road safety signs and commercial­s. No one really understand­s the importance of the matter until you experience it yourself (car accident) or are close to someone who has. I am passionate about this topic because a couple months ago I was in a car accident where my friend and I both got seriously injured. I have researched and thought of many ways to solve this issue. With the research I have done, I found that most accidents are caused by teens and senior citizens. I would like to contribute my ideas to try and make every road safer by making Florida an At-Fault State and creating a law for people who have reached a certain age to retake the driving test and be cleared for disabiliti­es such as poor hearing and sight.

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