To the editor:

The proposal for a new police station is about a building, a building that would provide an effective working space. It’s not about the general direction of policing in this country, or enforcing drug laws that some people don’t like. It is about replacing space that is 30 or more years old.

However, what is the City Commission’s record as far as building? The recreation center is over time and over priced. It required repair before it was finished, and it was not designed to allow the area around it to be livable. Apparently there is not enough money available to keep it going, as we’re bidding off naming rights.

There was a study purchased in 2011, but I cannot feel confident about carrying through of construction plans.

I must, therefore, support Jerry Harper’s recommendation and not support a new building until there is some assurance that it will be built in a cost-effective way. Someone we can trust needs to be in charge of getting any station or stations built.