Traffic woes
Rail transit is only way to bypass congestion
Will rail transit eliminate traffic congestion? That’s the wrong question to ask.
Atlanta-area highways will always be congested because of a phenomenon known as “induced demand.” We’ve seen it on Ga. 400 (among other places). When road capacity is increased, it stimulates new development that quickly overwhelms the added capacity.
So, how can Georgians bypass the road congestion that will always be with us? The answer to that question, of course, is rail transit.
Jim Dexter, Decatur
Editorial cartoons
Slant against Obama needs to be changed
Enough is enough. Please find a more balanced editorial cartoonist than Michael Ramirez, whose guest cartoons are nothing more than anti-Obama propaganda.
The drawing of the Rick Perry Texas economy versus the “poopy” Obama economy (Opinion, Sept. 5) completely disregards the fact that much of the success in Texas is related to federal spending and funding. There has to be a more rational guest cartoonist who can raise the level of discourse on the AJC’s editorial page. Keith R. Propst, Sandy Springs
Politics
Election officials still ignore ‘vote for’ signs
Here we go again, with the “vote for” signs polluting our neighborhoods.
There are other means to advertise a candidacy. The signs say nothing about qualifications for office. Are voters that stupid that they need only a familiar-sounding name to mark on the ballot? Maybe so.
Every election, we see a proliferation of these signs on school property where the polling places are. It should not be necessary for the voter to run a gantlet of candidates (and their signs) on the way to vote.
The law intends that neither the candidate nor his sign be within a certain distance of the polling place. Yet, year after year, we see the same thing on the entrance drive to the schools. The election officials seem to ignore this. Why?
Ray Banigan, Alpharetta
Unemployment
More without a job learn to game system
The jobless situation has become nothing short of ridiculous. While factories, merchants and businesses are advertising and calling for help, there is no sound of marching people to answer the call.
The obvious result of the continuous handing out of unemployment checks (with no supervision) is that more are learning to game the system. Why don’t we make certain that a person has not been offered a job before this money is handed out?
Mel Matuszak, Dacula
Leadership
We need to re-examine discourse with citizens
Regarding “Leaders must unite for the good of us all” (Readers write, Opinion, Sept. 7 ), I applaud the spirit of the letter. If the leaders we send to Congress are the collective voice of the people, then we must also ask ourselves if our civility is a reflection of Washington, D.C. (or vice versa).
I submit that we need to re-examine our public discourse with our fellow citizens, as we demand the same from our elected leaders.
Tom Byron, Marietta
