MLK ROAD NAME
Real issue is improving the quality of life
Kudos to the residents and homeowners for standing up to the DeKalb County commissioners (“Road to get MLK honor, not rename,” Metro, Aug. 13).
There are many roads named in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. If he were alive, he would surely be fighting hard to improve conditions in south DeKalb.
Commissioners need to focus on Covington Highway, which is a sea of gas stations, car lots and dollar stores. Clean it up!
All Americans acknowledge the work of King. Renaming a road is not overdue — but improving the quality of life in south DeKalb is.
A. JEAN RICHARDSON, DECATUR
ENTITLEMENTS
Limit time people are on programs
Recently published information noted that over 100 million people are on some type of entitlement program. Most of those programs require ongoing proof of limited liquid assets and income. If those assets and income exceed specific limits, the recipient will no longer be allowed to continue in the program.
Our entitlement programs need an exit strategy. For those who are physically (and/or mentally) unable to take care of themselves, permanent lifetime coverage should apply.
For all others, there should be only limited programs (one to three years) to allow them to overcome their current situation.
To reduce the poverty levels in America and to encourage productive citizens, changes are needed in our entitlement programs.
BOB MORRIS, ALPHARETTA
T-SPLOST
Sales tax would have exceeded tolls
I admit that I’m confused by the letter “State too generous to non-citizens” (Readers write, Opinion, Aug. 10).
A boost in the gas tax would catch some non-residents who find themselves filling up on their way through Georgia. But even if they buy 30 gallons of gas when filling up, a 10-cents-per-gallon tax would only net $3.
As for toll roads, where do you put them? The most likely spots would be stretches of I-20, I-75 and I-85, but doing so in the metro areas most heavily used would likely drive commuters onto secondary roads to avoid the tolls, thus making gridlock worse in those areas.
By contrast, visitors to the state who are here for various purposes do shop here and would contribute to the sales tax T-SPLOST would have imposed.
Even people with time to kill between flights at our airport who decide to buy something at one of the shops would be contributing the extra penny (had the T-SPLOST passed).
I submit that the sales tax revenues generated by visitors to our state, had the T-SPLOST passed, would far exceed any increased revenues from non-residents generated by increases in the gas tax or by tolls.
BILL FARKAS, NORCROSS
