Re: Howard Forman had a heart as big as Broward, by Steve Bousquet
I was the Broward County housing and community development director in the 1980s, and I had to present affordable workforce housing developments at County Commission hearings.
Back then, the Broward Housing Finance Authority was ahead of its time. It was one of the first agencies in the state of Florida to finance affordable rental housing for teachers and public safety workers.
I held local hearings and took bashings from angry crowds, who clearly thought affordable housing was only for minorities, and they did not hold back.
Many speakers argued against a particular project, and their prejudice was blatant and obvious. Their argument was that “those people” should stay in their own neighborhoods.
One speaker told Commissioner Howard Forman that if he voted to approve the development, “We will not vote for you.”
Forman was the only commissioner who spoke up, and his reply was along the lines of “Hearing what you have said, I don’t want your votes.”
It is rare for someone to stand up to such prejudice in public, and back then it was much harder. I will never forget that day. Forman was a man of courage and honor.
Ray Popkin, Boca Raton
The brutality and savagery of Hamas must be remembered when moral relativists start criticizing Israel’s response as “disproportionate.”
If those who champion that description of Israeli’s response to the atrocities by Hamas prefer that Israeli’s response be more “proportionate,” then Israeli defense forces should be able to duplicate Hamas’ barbaric and uncivilized torment.
They should attack a Hamas concert and murder 260 concert-goers. They should go house-to-house, killing women and children and decapitating babies in front of their parents and slaughter parents in front of children. They should rape women and terrorize entire cities. Maybe those “proportionate” actions would satisfy the “disproportionate” coalition.
Donald Kogan, Boca Raton
I am grateful that Gov. Ron DeSantis imposed sanctions on Iran after Hamas attacked Israel. But I am not fooled by his backing of Israel.
This was done not because he cares about Israel or about fighting antisemitism. It was done purely to garner publicity for his floundering presidential campaign. If he really cared about Israel and Jewish people, why has he not uttered a word about Nazis marching in Florida streets? If he really cared, why did he not lash out at Donald Trump, as other Republicans did, when the ex-president hosted antisemites Kayne West and Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago?
If DeSantis cared, why does he repeatedly invoke the name of a Jewish billionaire and philanthropist, George Soros, when lashing out at Democrats? “’Soros-funded prosecutors” is such an antisemitic dog whistle that there is no mistaking DeSantis’ intent.
These imposed sanctions by the governor on Iran, like everything else he says or does, are strictly a political calculation. Don’t believe for one moment that his purpose is noble. Publicity is his goal.
Martin Kleinbart, Aventura
I read with interest (and a chuckle) Mike McKenney’s letter urging the government (of course) to find an excuse to “de-program” MAGA Republicans, and I assume anyone who voted for Trump. The idea of putting everyone who disagrees with you in a camp of some sort, to be deprogrammed for their own good, has been tried countless times in the past. Hitler’s Germany, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Mao’s China — you get the idea. So read your history, Mr. McKenney.
Osvaldo Valdes, Hollywood
