FALCONS STADIUM
Response to “Going inside the Falcons stadium,” Metro, Nov. 3
As “wow” as the stadium shown here is, the architects’ disrespect for the nearby neighborhoods is brutal. Marooned in a sea of parking lots and after-thought landscaping, the proposed stadium would reinforce existing dead zones in its shadow.
As planned, the new Falcons stadium is a 10-carat diamond set on a dime store ring.
It’s not too late.
Imagine, instead, a water-themed park on the Dome site. Storefronts along Northside Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive would provide pedestrian-friendly frontages that would enliven and connect to areas that would see significant new mixed-use redevelopment.
I believe that the Falcons want to be good neighbors. It would be tragic to lose the opportunity to create an urban showcase. Atlanta’s City Council must insist on connective interaction between the stadium and its neighbors.
MIKE DOBBINS, ATLANTA
EDUCATION
Quality preschools help
build a stronger nation
As a retired admiral and former chief of naval personnel, I would like to mark Veterans Day with a salute to the men and women who have served and sacrificed to defend our country, and to express concern over future military readiness.
The Department of Defense estimates that 75 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 cannot qualify for military service — many, because they are academically unprepared.
High-quality preschools are proven to prepare children for long-term academic success. Studies of state preschool programs in New Jersey, Michigan, Arkansas, West Virginia, New Mexico and Pennsylvania have shown a range of benefits — including lasting academic gains, and reductions in special education or being held back in school.
These results are why hundreds of retired admirals and generals who are members of Mission: Readiness strongly support a proposed state-federal partnership to give states the resources to create, strengthen and expand preschool programs.
JOHN C. HARVEY JR., VIENNA, VA.
HEALTH CARE
‘Substandard’ beats
ACA cost, inflexibility
Regarding Mike Luckovich’s recent cartoon (Opinion, Nov. 6), I actually like my “substandard insurance policy” as it, and other versions like it, have protected my family and me for the past 40 years.
As a small-business owner, I have been accustomed to purchasing my own medical coverage, and have done so by working with very helpful and knowledgeable insurance agents who have advised me well through the years. As my needs — or those of my family — have changed over time, I’ve always had the opportunity to shop for the plan that best served us.
Obamacare is not a benefit to me. It’s a very inflexible and expensive burden.
WAYNE KERR, STOCKBRIDGE
AGRICULTURE
What does state know
about onion growing?
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black’s edict on harvesting Vidalia onions reminds me of the bad old days of the USSR (“Bitter battle for sweet onions,” News, Nov. 6). State planners would direct that fields be seeded on a certain date — whether there was three feet of snow on the ground or not!
PHIL DAVIS, POWDER SPRINGS
