Atlantans should be proud of themselves
So often, we see times of hardship and trouble bring out the best in people. We realize that we’re all in this together and we’re willing to work to get the problem resolved. The collapse of a section of Interstate 85, due to fire, has resulted in an extraordinary display of cooperation and effort in reacting to the problem, its aftermath and its eventual solution. We can take pride in the way Atlantans; including the first responders, everyday commuters, local businesses, the media, GDOT, MARTA, and government officials have responded to this disaster and will persist until it is resolved.
JERRY SCHWARTZ, ALPHARETTA
Atlanta traffic is past the tipping point
All of your readers here in the Atlanta area, (I am a 20-year veteran reader) are very concerned about the realities of Atlanta-area traffic — present and future.
We have a beautiful city and metro area, but we refuse to recognize reality. We can build two new stadiums, but we do not change our traffic patterns and commuting habits to adjust for our growth, and now we are ranked in the top Top 10 of traffic-gridlocked cities in the world. I have visited most of them, and it is obvious that not only do we need to build more roads for our current and future economic growth, but we must expand our rail availability. MARTA does a good job so far, but without expansion along every interstate and major roadway in the six-county area, we will eventually pass the tipping point and our business, economic and population growth will stop or decline. Politicians and voters in every metro county must recognize this realty and vote for those pro-growth, pro tax-supported outcomes. We can argue about traffic problems to the new Braves stadium and cry over the current closure of I-85 in the Buckhead area, but if we do not get real and drop all our prejudgments against solutions and stop “putting our heads in the sand”against planned managed growth, we will choke on our current myopic impotence about the reality of how we live.
Wake up Georgia, “the end is near” if we do not act.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD JONES, ROSWELL
Filibuster has worn out its welcome
The original purpose of the filibuster was to assure that opposing views be heard, a good and useful purpose; any senator could filibuster, hold up consideration of a bill or nomination, until the senator felt their view had been heard.
The filibuster is now being used as a “get-even tool” by one party against the other; thus the filibuster needs to be revised with each senator having 15 minutes to state their view, with any senator having the right to assign their time to another senator.
After the usage of allotted time, a vote on the issue would be conducted on an up-and-down vote, requiring a majority of one vote for approval.
The filibuster should no longer be tolerated in its present form, and used as a “roadblock “to the work of the Senate, the work of the people and the job the senators were hired to do. No more playing of their get-even game.
BILL SMITH, STOCKBRIDGE
Can’t compare Minneapolis to Atlanta
Bill Torpy compares the traffic problems caused by the I-85 bridge collapse to a similar problem Minneapolis had in 2007 and opines that since Minneapolis residents were able to cope with it, so will Atlantans. I wonder if Torpy looked at a map of Minneapolis. There are more blue lines indicating limited-access roads of at least four lanes in and around that city than you can shake a stick at.
By the late ‘70s, many states had changed their interstate exit numbering system from sequential to mile marker. Twenty-five years later, Georgia followed suit. In the late ‘70s, Ohio was in the process of building an outer belt around Cincinnati so far out of the city that it went into another state. Georgia can’t even get a “Northern Arc” started around Atlanta. Cope we will, but it won’t be easy, and there’s no one to blame but ourselves.
DAVID PAUL, SANDY SPRINGS
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