READERS WRITE

Tax credit bill good for housing market

The AJC editorial “Tax-cut bills’ harm far outweighs benefit” (@issue, March 20) cites a misleading estimate that House Bill 261 would cost Georgia between $150,000 and $182,000 for every additional home sold under this program. This calculation is based on a flawed formula that assumes a 1 percent decrease in the price of a home corresponds to a 1 percent increase in homes sold. Data prove the assumption incorrect in this market.

The Georgia Association of Realtors firmly believes HB 261 will produce a net gain for the people of Georgia. The housing market has been and will continue to be the engine that drives our economy. We fundamentally disagree with the editorial and believe the state can and should create policies to stimulate the economy. In realty, this bill provides a maximum $3,600 credit per home sold. If as a result of this credit, all of the estimated 90,503 eligible homes are sold within the six months allowed by the bill, Georgia would experience an economic boom unparalleled in our state’s history.

This is a different marketplace than most of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Previous assumptions no longer apply and we cannot sit and wait for the market to improve. This is why the House and Senate showed great leadership and passed HB 261 overwhelmingly.

STEVEN FISCHER

Fischer is 2009 president of the Georgia Association of Realtors.

Everyone’s a ‘super speeder’

Has the governor driven the highways in Georgia lately? Eighty miles per hour is de rigeur for the morning commute.

ADRIENNE KENDRICK

Sharpsburg

Arts were easier to get to in Midtown

While I am sympathetic to the plight of the arts community that Lisa Cremin describes in her opinion piece (“Recession is crucial time to have heart for the arts,” @issue, March 24), the community has brought a bit of this on itself by essentially abandoning the city of Atlanta. With the move by Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center and the Atlanta Symphony’s expansion to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Alpharetta, these organizations have placed themselves out of the reach of those in Atlanta who prefer to use transit, have no wish to drive miles to the suburbs or live on the south or east side of Atlanta.

When these organizations based their performances in midtown Atlanta, they were inclusive to those from all points on the compass. Now, who wants to travel 20 to 30 miles in Friday-evening traffic to a performance? As a patron who previously attended many performances of these organizations on a regular basis, I miss them. But until they come back to Atlanta, I will have to keep missing them.

SCOTT CANTRELL

Atlanta

State’s rationale on infrastructure confusing

I’m trying to understand the state’s rationale on supporting infrastructure: First we have Grady Hospital, which serves the metro area and state. They beg for state money for services they’re obligated to render, but the state says it’s not run well and they have to clean up their act before they will think about handing over funds.

MARTA, the largest transit system in the country without state support, in a metro area choking on congestion in a state with no real transportation plan and a DOT in disarray, is a key part of a transportation system for the economic engine for the whole state. Again, the state says it won’t consider state funding because they’re so poorly run and managed. Now comes the Atlanta airport, the busiest in the country and run pretty darn well, which the state says is so poorly managed they may have no other choice than to take it over.

What gives? Could it be the state is interested in its obligations only when there’s money to be made on lucrative gate and permit fees, rents and concessions? This power and money grab is shameful. Georgia has to meet its obligations to service all of the state’s infrastructure needs, including the metro area which has for decades been the cash cow driving development in other parts of the state.

CLEO CREECH

Atlanta

Don’t blame the legislators for AIG

Bob Barr’s sarcastic proposal “Let Congress repay taxpayers for bonuses,” (@issue, March 25) was entertaining, but it also exposed the demagogic and dangerous principle that Barr and others espouse: If the authorities do not specifically forbid something, then they are as guilty if it happens as the perpetrators. If someone manages to take your money or your life in a novel way that current laws do not forbid, the legislators are guilty of the crime, because they should have thought of a way to prevent it. Barr considers taxation of the bonuses a “constitutionally risky maneuver,” which it is, but ignores the equally constitutionally risky nature of the original version of the stimulus bill that would have legislatively forced abrogation of standing legal contracts. Paying of the bonuses could have been avoided by actions of AIG, but to blame legislators for trying to avoid a constitutionally dubious provision is averting blame from the real perpetrators.

MIROSLAV MAREK, Atlanta

European model not so bad after all

Jim Wooten’s recent column quotes a conservative scholar who states the European model “drains the life from life” and “enfeebles” families, communities, vocations, and faith (“New culture: Cruel joke on fatherless kids,” @issue, March 22). I am sure my cousin, who is in debt for life because of the health care costs of her sick child, or my brother, who did not have a vacation for two years and then was given two weeks’ notice, would gladly appreciate health care or government benefits like those in France.

Wooten implies because the government gives money to single mothers (to help feed, clothe and shelter their children) it “takes their daddies” away. He is wrong in his implication but I agree with his conclusion. With over two million U.S. citizens in prison, over 40 percent for non-violent drug offenses, the government takes many fathers (and mothers) away from their children. The European model probably emphasizes de-criminalization and treatment but I doubt a conservative writer would write a column about that!

JEFF SMITH, Lawrenceville