As we embark on another trip around the sun, I want to do more than merely hope the next 12 months bring all of us a year filled with peace, prosperity and good health.
To do so would be much too superficial.
So, though we’re already blessed to call such a special community our home, here’s MY VERO’s wish list for 2016:
1. That the Indian River Medical Center’s management team ceases to treat the Hospital District as an enemy. There’s no need for their interactions to be so contentious – and, for the most part, it’s not the district’s fault.
2. That Indian River County and its Fire Rescue workers stop antagonizing each other, find some way to compromise and rebuild what has become a toxic relationship. Wasn’t it only 15 years ago that we were celebrating America’s firefighters as heroes?
3. That investors across America continue to shun the high-risk, tax-exempt bonds All Aboard Florida hopes to sell to raise $1.75 billion – the final piece of a $3 billion financing puzzle needed to fund the Orlando-to-Miami passenger-rail project. Not only is AAF a boondoggle in the making, but the 100-plus-mph trains are sure to wreak havoc on our small-town quality of life.
4. That somebody finds some way to resolve the mess created by the city of Vero Beach’s inability to sell its electric utility to Florida Power & Light. I understand the legal issues, but right and wrong should matter, too. Bottom line: It’s unfair for customers outside the city – but in the city service area – to pay higher prices and, worse, have no say in the setting of those prices.
5. That Central Beach hotel and restaurant workers show more consideration for neighboring merchants and help alleviate the parking shortage along Ocean and Cardinal Drives by parking at Riverside Park and taking GoLine’s Beachside Circulator. If not, hotel and restaurant management needs to make riding the shuttle an unofficial condition of employment.
6. That the Florida Legislature reconsiders its wrongheaded decision to allow short-term/vacation rentals. Nobody who buys a home in a residential neighborhood wants to live next door to – or across the street from – a boardinghouse where our neighbors change on a weekly basis.
7. That local support for Elite Airways’ twice-per-week flights between Vero Beach and Newark, N.J., continues throughout the winter season and convinces the airline to expand its service to other destinations. Yes, it’s early, but folks here seem to want the convenience.
8. That Piper Aircraft sales soar, reaching a point where the company can expand its work force – or at least avoid further layoffs. We need the jobs. (During my first stint in Vero Beach in 1980-82, local officials were saying they wanted to attract “light, clean industry.” When I came back in 2002, they were still saying it. Can I assume no such industry wants to move here?)
9. That Marine Bank & Trust – Vero Beach’s only locally-headquartered bank – continues to rise from the recession and produce record earnings that make its two-year legal battle with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. a distant memory. To the bank’s president and CEO, Bill Penney, I say, “Take a bow.”
10. That the Indian River Mall, which fell into foreclosure under the Simon Property Group, is owned by Wells Fargo and currently is being operated by Birmingham, Ala.-based Bayer Properties, attracts enough new stores and customers to remain a viable option for local shoppers.
11. That the federal governments in Washington, D.C., and Ottawa work together to allow Canadians who own homes in the U.S. to extend their stays here from six months to eight months without losing their national healthcare benefits in Canada, and possibly being required to pay income tax in both countries. Certainly, Florida – especially our patch of paradise – would welcome the additional tourism dollars.
12. That our county officials fully embrace the Bicycle Friendly Community designation it received last year and consider it to be only the beginning. A network of bike lanes makes our community a safer, more-attractive place to live and visit.
13. That we learn from the tragic death of Mitchell Brad Martinez, who was found unresponsive after being transported from the county courthouse to the county jail in May. Too many people allowed themselves to get caught up in the anti-cop sentiment that has been raging across America and were too eager to blame the sheriff’s deputies, alleging police brutality. The Medical Examiner’s report identified the cause of death as a reaction to a prescription medication.
14. That we remember the rescue of 80-year-old Dick Gower, who fell into a canal near his Indian River Estates home in May and was rescued by a team of friends and strangers. When someone is in trouble, stop and help. You might save a life.
15. That two of our home-grown sports stars, former Atlanta Falcons safety Zeke Motta and top-10 tennis player Mardy Fish, find purpose and happiness in the next phases of their lives. A neck fracture ended Motta’s budding career. A severe anxiety disorder took Fish off the courts in the midst of a late-career surge.
16. That home-grown country music star Jake Owen, who sang his way from the taverns of Tallahassee to the top of the charts in Nashville, continues to remember his Vero Beach roots. His annual shows here are as appreciated as they are anticipated, and we’re proud that he’s one of us.
17. That the family and friends of Peter Meyer – the 72-year-old Orchid Island winter resident killed a year ago in a hit-and-run incident in Savannah, Ga. – can eventually feel some sense of closure with the November arrest of a Jacksonville woman police say admitted to striking him with her SUV as he waited to cross the street. He was traveling from his home in Vermont to Vero Beach when he was killed.
18. That the Florida Legislature toughens the texting-and-driving laws and local police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers are especially diligent in enforcing them. Texting while driving is every bit as dangerous as driving drunk, and it appears to be more common.
19. That the good kids in our schools step up and step in when they see their classmates being bullied by the bad kids. And when they do, they should be praised, not punished or prosecuted – as long as they don’t go beyond defending the victims and, if necessary, themselves. That’s an old-school approach, but, hey, I’m an old-school guy.
Last but certainly not least …
20. That all of you continue to support, embrace and appreciate the efforts of the largest, most talented and most committed news-gathering team in Indian River County that I’m now proud to be part of with this news organization. I’ve spent 35 years in this business, working at newspapers of all sizes from New York to Los Angeles, and I know compelling journalism when I see it. I hope you do, too.
Happy New Year!
