Designer Crime
Comes with the territory: It's no surprise that crime could be a problem in the Design District even as a $312 million luxury development is underway ("Crime by Design," Francisco Alvarado, March 7). There is still a lot of poverty in the surrounding neighborhood. It's ridiculous to think that luxury stores and eateries adjacent to such areas would not be an easy target for crooks. Also, there is a large transient homeless population due to several shelters nearby. 305Native
No security: The Design District needs to get a better private security company. I saw two of their cars Monday night, and they were following right behind each other and heading into midtown. They should have random, separate routes. Also, there was plenty of crime there before. Just across North Miami Avenue you have crazy town. At least most of the rest of the Upper Eastside has closed off railroad tracks and the police have very distinct areas to watch any comings and goings from the hood. Need More Community Watch
Common sense: The Design District popped up in the middle of a crime-ridden area. Did they expect the crime problem to just vanish? Harry the Handy Man
No Diversity
Race to the bottom: I just love when morons like Uncle Luke play the race card in a column about a venture like the new Latin Builders Association's new charter school ("School Daze," Luther Campbell, March 7). It only proves how ignorant they really are. Any organization can apply to build a charter school anywhere it damn pleases. If the LBA wants to build its school in Hialeah, it has every right to do so. If you or one of your "associates" decide to build a charter school in a community with a predominantly black population, be my guest. Then again, also be prepared to hear complaints that you put it there only so white kids couldn't attend. Of course, those complaints would be as stupid as yours are, but that would only further prove my point. You should have stuck with making horribly offensive music, because you were much better at that than your feeble and half-assed attempts at journalism. Stephanie Kienzle
Put your money where your mouth is: Luke writes, "I'd certainly like to see Miami-Dade County Public Schools approach me" about starting a charter school. But why don't you approach them, Uncle Luke? Come on, dude, you're saying a school was strategically opened in a place so that African-Americans can't get to it, but you're not willing to put your own ideas on the line. Think before you write this stuff. MSol
Corporate Cocaine
The other white powder: After reading your piece about how bankrupt Hialeah firm Banah Sugar employed a number of former cocaine traffickers as top execs ("Sour Taste," Francisco Alvarado, March 7), I finally understand why one spoonful of this sugar in my coffee back in 1989 used to send me to the stratosphere for 45 minutes. daveswhitedog.com
Gunning for Rifles
Lies, lies, lies: The lies start with the third sentence of the article about the business of assault rifles in Florida ("Up in Arms," Francisco Alvarado, February 21), when the author talks about the "explosive recoil" of the AR-15. In the next sentence, he writes about the "heavy weapon." There is almost no recoil from an AR-15, and it is far from a heavy weapon. The lies and exaggerations go on from there. I have to wonder if this writer even fired the rifle as he says. He's probably too wimpy and metrosexual to even try. hlain9152
Abolish Florida: This piece is just the latest evidence that Florida has to be one of the most ignorant, backward states in the union. Rednecks with a second-grade education all have rifle racks on their pickups and are packing concealed weapons. Illegal immigrants are all looking for an open window or an unlocked door. What a shit hole this state has become. The old people who scammed people up North and relocated to the South now want everybody else to obey the law. Turn out the lights and cut off the state at the Panhandle. mckernan_b
Tests for weapons: Here's a quick fix. Instead of all the background checks and registries, how about a quick test of reading and math. To be fair, baseline the test at the GED level. Illiterate residents have no business with dangerous weapons of any kind, so this can be extended to any other weapons with a sharp edge or pointy end. Stan_Mute
