Mr. O'Connor, give us practical ideas, not streetcar folly
I don't think Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Bob O'Connor's plan to run streetcars from Downtown to Oakland is such a good idea ("O'Connor Gets Behind Streetcar Idea," March 1). I can see it now -- buses getting stuck behind streetcars and streetcars getting stuck behind buses.

What is the benefit? All that for $11 million per mile paid partly by funding pitched in by the businesses in Uptown and the Hill?

I too believe Pittsburgh needs some new ideas and a new vision for its future, but I also believe in being realistic and practical. We've seen in the last 12 years where ideas lacking those two qualities get us -- almost bankrupt with our Downtown falling apart.

If his streetcar idea is an example of the type of economic development Bob O'Connor hopes to bring to Pittsburgh as mayor, my eyeballs are going to get dizzy from spinning around for four years. Pittsburgh, please don't let my eyeballs get dizzy -- I'll need them to hopefully see Pittsburgh go from being a good place to live to become a great place to live.

JOHN RIEGERT
Lawrenceville

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He's kidding, right?
Pittsburgh is a wonderful city with free-flowing traffic in the Downtown area not enjoyed by other large cities. I suppose you might say it's because no one shops there anymore, but I think there is another reason. We no longer have huge immovable objects known as trolleys lumbering along causing chaos and angry, frustrated automobile drivers. They were a menace to everyone.

If this idea is the best Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Bob O'Connor can come up with to answer our central city's monumental problems, we're all doomed. Surely, there is someone, somewhere in this city with more vision and better answers.

MARY L. KIENTZ
Collier

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About sex education
The Feb. 27 letter "The 'Safe Sex' Myth" by Mary Reichel seemed to label all non-"abstinence-only" education programs as teaching "safe sex." The fact is that all sexuality education is abstinence-based and one of the big misconceptions about the whole debate is that there's an abstinence proponent side and an anti-abstinence side.

Comprehensive sex education teaches that abstinence is the best and only way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Understanding that America is culturally and economically diverse, sex education goes on to teach about sexual health, including the physiology of our bodies, self-esteem issues, condoms, risk of pregnancy, disease and the like while stressing abstinence. All of these lessons are important for lifelong physical and emotional health. There is also no proof that comprehensive sex ed increases early sexual activity.

Reichel herself states that "condoms provided an 85 percent reduction in AIDS/HIV transmission risk" and "merely decrease the risk of ... unwanted pregnancy," contradicting an earlier point that "medical researchers continue to prove that there is no such thing as safe sex."

The biannual Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1990 to monitor the sexual behavior of 9th- to 12th-graders, reported in 2003 that 46.7 percent of all high school students report they have had sexual intercourse. Fortunately, the percentage has decreased 13.7 percent between 1991 and 2003 (54 percent to 46.7 percent). According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, more than 1 million American teenagers get pregnant each year, and although the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is now at its lowest in 20 years, it remains the highest among industrialized nations. Until that number is zero, comprehensive sexuality education is needed.

MARGOT CALLAHAN
Mount Washington

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Trusted television
In a recent column, George F. Will once again cites a familiar litany of cable channels to recycle the argument that public television has been replicated and is no longer necessary ("Public Nuisance: The Government Has No Place Subsidizing PBS," March 3). A random check of his own local listings on the very day his column appeared would quickly suggest there are serious holes in that theory.

Mr. Will could have tuned into his local PBS station for a special report on evolving treatments for cancer, the most serious health crisis in America. Compare that to A&E, where he could have watched "Presumed Dead," the true story of a woman's body hidden in a refrigerator. The Discovery Channel offered "Human Cannonballs," revealing that the most common cause of death for human cannonballs is landing outside the net. Bravo would have given him "Celebrity Poker Showdown."

Mr. Will also dramatically implies that the public may no longer value PBS. A Roper poll conducted just last month tells us emphatically that the public does. Americans cited PBS as the most trusted national institution in the country, and ranked public television as the second-best value for their tax dollars, behind only military activities.

Of course we don't always disagree with Mr. Will. A few years ago, he wrote of Ken Burns' landmark documentary "The Civil War," which appeared on PBS, "If better use has ever been made of television, I have not seen it." Spend more time with us, Mr. Will. There's more where that came from, every day of the week.

PAT MITCHELL
PBS President and CEO
Alexandria, Va.

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Why let talent go?
In your excellent Feb. 27 editorial ("School Daze: Let's Not Forget the Interim Chief Is Just That") on the "bold" actions of the Pittsburgh Public Schools interim superintendent, Andrew King, one question ("Can the chief of staff be let go?") should instead be, "Can this chief of staff be let go?"

In eliminating the position, the school district loses a talented administrator who has served with distinction not only former superintendent Dr. John Thompson but also his four predecessors and whose efforts in development over more than two decades have annually attracted millions of federal, state and foundation dollars for innovative initiatives he helped to design.

Indeed, Phil Parr's vast knowledge of public education and his demonstrated commitment to the Pittsburgh Public Schools would more reasonably support his candidacy for superintendent than for dismissal.

The actions of Dr. King and the six board members who supported him are precipitous, shortsighted and anything but cost-effective.

MARGARET C. ALBERT
Point Breeze

Editor's note: The writer is president of Matrix Communications Associates and has worked in the past with Mr. Parr.

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We must stop the tragedy in Darfur

Rob Rogers' March 3 editorial cartoon expresses the concern that Sudan will become the next Rwanda. In a sense, it already has. A U.N. investigative commission reported recently at painful length the destruction of villages, the displacement and sufferings of their inhabitants, and the torture, rape and murder of countless innocent civilians in the Darfur region of Western Sudan.

However, Rogers is right. According to the U.N. report and independent observers on the ground, including members of the African Union monitoring team, the violence in Darfur is continuing, and the preconditions are in place for a yet greater conflagration if governments and nongovernmental organizations do not act quickly and decisively. Though U.S. officials have designated the Darfur violence as "genocide," and though some U.S. government officials are promoting efforts to sanction the Sudanese government and to strengthen the African Union presence and mandate, our measures to date have been halting.

The Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, an interfaith group formed last summer, is currently taking part in nationwide efforts to call attention to this crisis. Specifically, we are sponsoring a "Weekend of Conscience for Darfur" on April 2-3 to provide information and suggestions on ways to help influence decision makers on this issue.

Events will be held in East Liberty on April 2 and in Squirrel Hill on April 3. We strongly urge individuals and organizations concerned about this human emergency to support our efforts.

DAVID ROSENBERG
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition
Point Breeze

Editor's note: The letter was signed by five other coalition members.