TRANSPORTATION
Reader off track about roads, education link
A letter titled “Priorities are foolishly mired in asphalt” (Readers write, Opinion, April 8) complained about spending too much money building roads, and neglecting education.
I can’t recall any new roads being built in Atlanta in the past 10 years. Resurfacing is maintenance, not building new roads.
If one wants to make complaints about transportation, how about the spending required to change the I-85 HOV lane to an HOT lane (without adding one square foot of road surface)? To relieve congestion, eliminate empty HOV lanes.
Another waste is spending millions building a downtown trolley system over the same route a MARTA bus couldn’t generate enough passengers to pay for its operation.
Roads are not the problem concerning intellectual achievement in this country. The problem is high school seniors who have never heard of Shakespeare holding press conferences about the colleges they’re attending to play football or basketball.
Jim Rust, Atlanta
GOVERNMENT
Assault on public workers is misplaced
I am appalled by recent attacks on public workers’ rights and their modest pensions.
City workers keep our water clean, collect our trash, and make Atlanta a place where families want to live.
As a city worker, I am not eligible for Social Security, so I pay into my retirement plan. While we face extreme scrutiny, corporations continue to abuse tax loopholes and receive tax break after tax break. It is shameful to blame workers for the city’s failure to raise revenue, and hold businesses accountable.
It’s time for Wall Street to share some of the sacrifice.
Greg Reynolds, Riverdale
SOCIETY
Character counts more than demographic shifts
As we contemplate the racial (and other demographic changes) in our country that the census has revealed, we need to remember that the most important thing is not the color of our skins, but the content of our characters.
David Lawson, Decatur
POLITICS
Reader resents attempt to legislate women’s body
How fortunate women are that male Republican lawmakers are so concerned that we are unable to make intelligent decisions about our bodies and our health, that they are eager to step in and legislate guidelines for us.
Should we look forward to the day when they so want to protect us from men’s glances and uncontrollable urges, that they cover us from head to toe?
How charming to see this level of concern from that segment of society whose usual response to being told “I’m pregnant” is, “You didn’t use birth control?”
Bless their hearts.
Patricia Evans, Mountain Park
