Readers Write 9/16

TRANSPORTATION

MARTA Web site, staff fabulous to visitors

I traveled to Atlanta with family over Labor Day weekend for a sporting event. We were aware of several events taking place in the city over the same weekend, so we anticipated a bit of chaos, annoying traffic and transportation headaches.

We were thrilled and surprised that we had no problems throughout the weekend.

The MARTA Web site was fabulous. Thank you, thank you (to whoever is responsible) for staffing Five Points station with plenty of workers to help with directions, maintain order and provide safety.

In this economy, it was nice to see that these jobs are still deemed valuable. They were to us. Thank you to the MARTA employees at the Dunwoody station who helped get Breeze cards for our entire family.

And thank you to the city of Atlanta, for putting into place a well-organized and clearly communicated system of transportation. We had a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to returning for another visit.

Laura Issenmann, Black Mountain, N.C.

POLITICS

Dismissal of Obama speech to schools racist

I find the article “Some schools to tune out Obama” (Metro, Sept. 4) outrageous, disgusting and blatantly racist. No United States president has ever been subjected to this censorship. What are the schools trying to teach our children? Is the lesson that you should never listen to anyone who has an opinion different from your own, or that of your parents? Does disagreeing with someone on one subject mean that you must disagree on all subjects? Is the lesson that you can disrespect our country’s president, and ignore any message he wants to convey to citizens if he is nonwhite? Students and citizens should listen to their president talk about any and all issues. How else can a bipartisan consensus ever be reached? How can anyone intelligently debate an issue if they always hear only one side?

I wonder how many of these critics of Obama have ever heard one of his speeches.

Helen H. Craig, Acworth

MEDIA

AJC letting president 
put fascism in place

The AJC, along with most of the mainstream media, are standing by while our president attempts to instill fascism into our country. Doubtful? Look up the definition of fascism.

Tom Gambeski, Jasper

MEDIA

Too many conservative columnists in paper

Regarding editorial balance: When we came to Atlanta in 1958, Ralph McGill was with the Atlanta Constitution, and pointed the road forward for Atlanta, and for Georgia. The paper helped shape a progressive approach that resulted in decisive leadership by mayors William Hartsfield, Ivan Allen Jr. and others.

Now, the AJC has tipped the scale in the opposite direction, with editorials by Bob Barr, George Will, Kyle Wingfield, Thomas Sowell and Charles Krauthammer — a balance that can hardly be restored by the not-so-frequently heard Cynthia Tucker, Leonard Pitts and Jay Bookman. Has the AJC lost its desire to give leadership to Atlanta? I hope not.

Ted Runyon, Atlanta