Turnpike won’t bring career class jobs | Letters to the Editor

What is going on here? Your editorial Thursday, July 12, “The highway is coming; plan smartly” is on the opinion page, but stated as fact. It goes on to tell us we should put it along the power lines for the least environmental impact. Then ends by saying we should wait to see what the studies say at the end of the year.

So what is it? Is it a fact? Are you in contact with someone from FDOT? A politician on the state transportation commission? A local business owner or business group in the know? Because if it’s a fact, I think you need to cite your source. Citrus County residents deserve to know if the state has already made their decision and is just playing games with us and it is your duty to tell us.

Or is it still anyone’s guess what the state will decide? Just tossing out the power line idea in the hopes it’ll quell the concerns about the environmental impact? Well there’s still the impact to our quality of life to consider.

Growth is coming to Citrus County but we don’t need to ease traffic off I-75 to increase it, if that’s your goal. And we don’t need the turnpike to plan for growth. Nor do we need it to attract career class jobs. The turnpike hasn’t helped Orlando attract the career class jobs they want to date, it won’t help us either – especially when we lose what sets us apart.

Laura McKee

Dunnellon