As we prepare to embark on another trip around the sun, there are issues, challenges and unresolved problems that need to be tackled in the coming year – and concerns I hope to see addressed.
No. 1 on my wish list for 2022?
That we do not allow all the growth we’re experiencing to change who we are as a community.
According to the 2020 census, the county’s population increased by more than 20,000 over the past decade and continues to climb as newcomers flock to the last vestige of small-town life on Florida’s Atlantic coast.
That growth has spawned a construction boom, inflated real-estate values and crowded our roadways, some of which already are being widened to accommodate the surge in traffic.
It was inevitable, I suppose, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted many folks to move here from more heavily populated regions in the Northeast, Midwest and South Florida.
But it also has infected our once-folksy community – where locals and visitors alike smiled at passersby, waved to neighbors and showed consideration for others, even while driving around town – with a coarseness and callousness that is eroding our “Mayberry by the Sea” feel.
We can’t let that happen.
We can’t give in and let these newcomers change us, as they seem to have changed everything south of the Martin-Palm Beach County line.
Instead, let’s set an example and show them how it’s done here, proudly embracing the civility, courtesy and Rockwellian charm that defined this community for decades.
Let’s not become Port St. Vero.
As for the rest of my wish list …
- What Vero Beach does with its lagoon-front utility parcels will impact the future of our community for the next 100 years, so city leaders need to get it right.
The proposal adopted by the City Council – one that includes a hotel, restaurants, shops and other amenities – seems to check all the boxes. But as we’ve seen throughout the years, especially when confronted with decisions concerning development, the city too often moves at the speed of erosion.
With a referendum scheduled for November on allowing a yet-to-be-selected developer to lease the so-called “Three Corners” property and build the waterfront social and dining gathering places the Vero mainland so sorely lacks, city leaders must make sure voters have all the information they need.
Looking at the long term, this decision is arguably bigger than the city’s sale of its electric utility. We can’t get this one wrong. - With home prices and rents skyrocketing locally, our county officials must get serious about providing affordable housing if we hope to attract the new teachers, law-enforcement officers, fire-rescue personnel and nurses we need. These professionals should be members of our community and not be forced to commute from neighboring counties. But it’s nearly impossible to find tolerable places to live on their entry-level salaries, especially if they’re not part of two-income households.
- Elite Airways is scheduled to resume its non-stop jet service between Vero Beach and Newark, N.J., in March, after the runway-resurfacing project at our local airport has been completed, and flights connecting us to Asheville, N.C., and Portland, Maine, are expected to be added next summer. Given Elite’s success here, let’s hope the new year brings new destinations – perhaps somewhere in the Midwest or the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area.
- Those of us who remember when citrus was a vibrant industry in our community should be rooting even harder for the backups at U.S. ports to dissipate – because those bottlenecks are delaying the shipping of locally grown, harvested and packed grapefruit to lucrative markets in Europe and Asia. The costly delays are the latest devastating blow to our citrus industry, which is already reeling from two decades of diseases and hurricanes that destroyed groves and crippled production.
- Let’s hope the School Board, which was capably led by now-former chairman Brian Barefoot for the past year, continues to fend off the needless distractions from local fringe groups that are trying to hijack public education in our county. To that end, pay close attention to next year’s School Board elections, which will be pivotal in determining the direction of the district and, possibly, the fate of Superintendent David Moore, who has performed spectacularly in his two years on the job.
- Sheriff Eric Flowers should be commended for his decision to welcome public input and create a Citizens Advisory Committee to examine and assess his agency’s policies and procedures, and how they were applied in particular cases. But he didn’t go far enough. This year, he should expand the committee’s role to review individual incidents – such as those involving deputies’ use of force, line-of-duty shootings and official misconduct – and issue timely public reports on its findings. Or he can welcome the creation of a completely independent citizens review board that wasn’t selected by him or his political allies. This would be done, of course, in keeping with his desire for transparency and accountability.
- Kudos to Vero Beach’s City Council and police department for their decision to crack down on panhandling at intersections and outside businesses. Please continue your efforts in the coming year. They appear to be having the desired impact.
- Let’s hope the new year brings the arrest of those involved in the fatal, February 2017 shooting of off-duty sheriff’s deputy Garry Chambliss in Gifford and the discovery of Susy Tomassi, the 73-year-old woman who disappeared near the South Vero Square shopping center in March 2018.
- Something we all should hope goes away when the calendar turns to 2022: blatantly divisive political signs posted outside local restaurants and stores. This is Vero Beach, folks. We’re better than that.
- It probably won’t happen in 2022, but Major League Baseball should move at least one Grapefruit League game each spring to the Jackie Robinson Training Center. Taxpayers here are spending plenty to renovate the former Dodgertown complex. Is it too much to ask that MLB show its appreciation by giving us one nostalgic afternoon of spring training? Let’s face it: The Jackie Robinson center isn’t for us, and most local folks I know haven’t been out there since the Los Angeles Dodgers left on St. Patrick’s Day 2008, relocating their spring-training headquarters to Arizona. But it would be fun to see a major league game there again, and I think we’d pack the place.
- I don’t know what the future holds for The Patio restaurant property or the Indian River Mall, but it’s sad to see what has happened to both. Nobody seems to want The Patio, possibly because of its location – too far from Miracle Mile, not close enough to downtown – and even in the weeks leading to Christmas, the mall was almost lifeless.
- Last but certainly not least: It’s my fervent hope that, as more of our friends and neighbors get vaccinated and boosted, 2022 brings the final phases of this stubborn pandemic.
It’s gone on long enough.
Happy New Year, everyone!