Ugly City Beautiful
SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND?
In the Sentinel’s endorsement of Buddy Dyer (“For mayor, Dyer is still the best bet,” Sunday), the Editorial Board suggests that longtime residents are happy with the transformation of our landscape. Not so. What was once the City Beautiful is now the Ugly City. In all this unmanaged growth, our taxes went up.
Lake Eola used to be delightful. The natural beauty is being destroyed; instead of flowers, we have ugly metal sculptures. The whole lake will soon need to be filled in for more skyscrapers.
What passes now for beauty and art is really just poorly designed, tacky claptrap. These new condos and apartments outdo each other. There are no sight lines of pleasing symmetry, just a mishmash of angles, and reflective surfaces. Interstate 4 is a parking lot, but the parking lots for venues are inconvenient.
Our state flower is concrete; the state vegetable is asphalt. This is growth: Building and building junk, more and more people are coming, and our taxes go up.
John Weyrick
I-4 traffic dangers
I try to avoid Interstate 4 heading west from State Road 434 if at all possible. Tuesday morning was an exception. I was in the far left lane between Altamonte Springs and Maitland IDEAL LETTERS SUBMISSIONS
Mail: when an ambulance came up behind me, and like so many other drivers, I moved to the emergency lane to let it by.
I almost got into a highspeed collision as I went back onto the interstate because three drivers decided to tailgate the ambulance so they could bypass traffic. This was followed by other drivers moving into the left lane to closely follow those three drivers and get around traffic.
I barely made it back onto the highway because other drivers threw caution and civility to the wind.
I hope they were glad about saving a few minutes of commute time, because they had no concern for anyone else on the highway, including the ambulance with its emergency signals blaring.
Stuart Peisner
Survivor a beacon
A lump found during a selfexamination, a consultation, a biopsy and then the most dreaded of all phone calls confirming, and the dark cloud of cancer rolled over us. We stood there wrapped in each other’s arms, our emotions flowing freely, not understanding how this could be happening to this healthy, vibrant, outgoing person who never gets sick.
The journey begins. Facing a mastectomy, chemotherapy and all the side effects, she met the challenge head-on, brushing the dark cloud of cancer away, always full of hope and believing she would persevere. During this time, she was always there for others with encouragement and reassurance, a smile and open heart, letting the sunshine flow through her.
Orlando
Longwood
You certainly did make cancer look easy; you so gracefully faced each battle with great courage and faith, and that was an inspiration to us all.
When I think of you, I think of how many lives you’ve touched, and what a difference you are making in the lives of others.
These quotations are a small sample of the many comments that come to light when her name is mentioned. She is a luminary whose light still burns brightly today, lighting the pathways for others to help them see the way through.
Bev Daniels, survivor, 12 years.
Merv Daniels
Winter Garden