The Times

Wednesday, February 9, 1977, page 6 (of 36)

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opinion

| • editorials | • commentary | • letters

Aqua pura?

The most precious commodity in Dade County is the public's drinking water. With this in mind, we question the wisdom of the Metro Commission last week when it granted permission for a synagogue to construct a septic tank within 800 feet of one of Dade County's major drinking water well fields. Officials in Metro's own office of environmental resources management say that they are concerned for the public health if this type of Metro commission legislation is permitted to continue. Metro Commissioner James Redford believes that pressure was influential in swaying a Metro Commission majority toward appeasing the synagogue. For the public's sake, we hope this is not so. As a result of the Metro Commission action last week, Redford says he will introduce legislation controlling the proximity of septic tanks to well fields. The South Dade County already has felt the effects of a septic tank being too close to a well field. Some 1,200 residents in Richmond Heights in 1974 suffered dysentery and could have come down with typhoid as a result of waste material from the septic tank finding its way to the well field. In all realism, South Dade County is too spread out for the total area to be sewered at this time, a remedy which would prevent all septic tank irritants. But Metro could and must think of the public first, listen to its own environmental consultants and pass Commissioner Redford's bill which will set distances between septic tanks and the public drinking water.

Insurance risks

While the City of Coral Gables phased out its motorcycle police officers some years ago, and most other cities have phased theirs out in the interim, the City of South Miami last week announced that theirs were going, too. Costs and a limited use for the motorcycle are primarily responsible for the municipalities doing away with the two wheelers. Since South Miami's police duties include the control of traffic on such arterial roads as South Dixie Highway, 80th Street, Ludlam Road and 62nd Avenue, the motorcycle had its place in the South Miami police department. The city reports that insurance and repair costs have now put the motorcycle out of range as a practical tool of the police department. The municipalities are finding more and more that insurance is playing havoc with budgets and the use of equipment which is pertinent to the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. If insurance costs are playing this big a part in the daily operation of the municipality, we hope that such vehicles as the garbage truck, the police car, the ambulance and the fire engine won't ultimately be phased out by skyrocketing insurance costs.

the gables publishing company

serving south dade and coral gables since 1926 leonard h. chusmir publisher bea moss managing editor bob levine advertising manager richard linn circulation manager address: 4627 ponce de leon blvd coral gables, fla 33146 telephone: 666-7981

camera comment | Who loves ya, baby?

Photo by FRANK TURSI camera comment Who loves ya, baby? No, it's not Kojak, it's a Coral Gables policeman keeping a watch on happenings at the recent Gables High School carnival. But what's that in his back pocket? An eye witness? A suspect? A doll who goes for uniforms? Could be he took a chance at the band benefit and came away a winner. A cop's life is never dull.

reader response | Property owners being victimized

reader response Property owners being victimized EDITOR: Owners of older (even though well-kept) properties are being viciously victimized by arbitrary committees who sit in municipalities in the name of H.U.D., and these have assumed powers to transgress the laws as they were written to put these useful and direly needed properties out of business. In spite of the fact the only affordable accomodations for our poor (and this comprises the majority of our entire country-wide population today) are in these older renovated buildings in which rooms can be rented at amounts such as $12 to $20 weekly, these committees operating undemocratically and without taking into consideration the inalienable rights of owners are railroading private property ownership to the point where the result is condemnation without compensation. And these buildings can never again be replaced at a cost commensurate with the wherewithal of the multitudes of low-level income renters. Only the very few favored owners who come before them out of the many are momentarily excused from annihilation. Although built to all the original requirements of local and national codes, and which are still in step with practical thinking and safety, these committees have told owners, for example, that rooms are a few inches shorter than their newest fancies dictate, or although the code books have said 16 people of one sex can use public bathrooms with the existing numbers of basins, toilets and showers, these people under a cloak of be six, thereby placing owners in the position of supplying unnecessary cosmetic facilities at a price which today is outlandish and which is not justifiable with the economy in its unhappy state of chaos. Despite the fact that only a few months ago all buildings over 40 years of age were obliged to have a thorough inspection for safety by professional engineers or architects at costly amounts and many only acquired clearance and permission to continue to do business after a great expenditure of owner's meagre income, these unreasonable people on localized H.U.D. committees, without due process of law, now come in it's wake to make the additional back-breaking burdens mandatory on property-owners so that few will be able to afford to keep their buildings going. Many have been operating at a loss for some time already and without the money for superfluous additions and cosmetic improvement will be forced to close, and the needy who are perfectly happy and comfortable there will be ousted. SYLVIA BRUMMER Coral Gables

Thanks for publicity

EDITOR: The Coral Gables Woman's Club has appreciated your excellent coverage of the club's Salethon to raise money for financial aid to community needs. Our ad, coupled with your attention-getting story, made the Trash and Treasure project a success. We also are grateful to you for alerting the public to our consumer aid program, our sew-a-rama, and other meetings of general interest. Your news aids our members in their efforts to serve the community and we thank you for your interest and assistance. MRS. GEORGE F. STEBBINS President Coral Gables Woman's Club

Letters welcome

The Times/Guide welcomes letters and commentary on matters of local interest and import. Letters submitted must be signed to be considered for publication, but names will be withheld upon request. Letters may be edited on the basis of space considerations.