Delta made mistake with Fox Theatre
As much as I love our hometown airline and agree with basically everything the letter-writer of “Delta right to cut off Fox Theatre” on May 30 says about employee benefits, the Fox Theatre is an event venue and is not in the business of passing judgment on worldwide businesses that do business at our world-class airport. I think Delta makes a mistake by separating itself from one of the most beloved public institutions in Atlanta.
WINSTON JOHNSON, ATLANTA
Stop cutting metro area trees
Thank you so much to Chris Joyner’s Watchdog article “Can metro Atlanta’s tree ‘massacre’ be uprooted?,” News, May 27.
I am a relative newcomer here, and I almost felt like the county must be paying developers to bulldoze trees, so barren are the sites of future developments. Look at developments underway now: two on Barrett Parkway, one that will house the so-called earth-friendly Whole Foods, and a massive project on West Dallas; they look like well-organized war zones at the worst, or future football fields at the best.
When you go shopping at any shopping center built in the last 20-plus years, you and your car will bake in one of these thoughtlessly stripped parking lots that are made despicable by the lack of shade.
The developers of these projects stand to make millions on their investments, and it would not stop a single developer if they had to leave, say, a minimum of 50 percent of trees standing — the locations of saved trees to be negotiated. Tree saving should be an important part of every planned unit development. The piddling small fees that developers pay to saw down trees now does nothing for the cause. Please, all boards of supervisors, stop the clear-cutting!
PAUL CUMMINS, MARIETTA
Graduation behavior lacks courtesy, respect
Graduation season is winding down and behavior at graduation ceremonies seems to be getting worse every year. It’s not the graduates, but those attending. Of course, every family is proud of their child’s achievement and wants to celebrate. We attended our granddaughter’s high school commencement this past week and, sadly, never heard her name called because of the outbursts, screaming and cheering going on all around us, and I’m certain we were not the only ones. Several announcements had been made requesting no outbursts during the awarding of diplomas and to hold applause until the end. All that succeeded in doing was to turn the screaming into a competition. What has happened to common courtesy and respect? Commencement is not a sporting event or a tractor pull.
JUDY GODDARD, MARIETTA
Editor’s wrong on Gov.’s legacy
AJC Editor Kevin Riley thinks it’s wonderful that Governor Deal’s veto of religious liberty legislation “defied the agenda of the state’s social conservatives,” as if our “agenda” were somehow radical (“A trait of leaders then and now,” Opinion, May 29). Most of us social conservatives want Georgians to have the same religious liberty protections that are already codified into law in more than 20 other states. We want nonprofit faith-based organizations to have the right to factor religious views into their hiring practices. We want to preserve bathroom safety, privacy and modesty. We want our leaders to pay heed to Georgians, not to entertainers, Hollywood moguls, big businesses, sports czars, journalists, and others who use lies and threats to impose extreme policies on us. We want government to stop dictating every aspect of our lives. This commonsense agenda isn’t going away anytime soon.
CHARLES D. EDEN, ATLANTA
