Our air quality is not as bad as this study says

Your June 26 front-page article on air pollution ("City Has Poor Air Quality Ranking") is misleading.

Although the Pittsburgh area does have an air pollution problem, the Environmental Protection Agency rating of measured air quality for 2005 says Pittsburgh had only 14 "bad" air quality days in 2005, with an additional 33 "bad" days in the smaller Liberty/Clairton area, not the 121 days stated in the Texas Transportation Institute study.

This doesn't mean there isn't an air pollution problem, but it's not as bad as what was described. I follow various methods of ranking air quality by governments and others, and I travel to other cities. Most of these measures show our air quality, and traffic congestion, is not among the worst in the country.

Air quality continues to improve in southwestern Pennsylvania, due to the work of many professionals and volunteers. We have seen improvements in the last two years, due largely to new controls on power plants. In addition, this fall, low-sulfur diesel fuel will provide a noticeable reduction in vehicle pollution.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership is a cooperative effort of business, government and others dedicated to promoting air pollution awareness and voluntary pollution control measures. If anyone is concerned with outdoor air, such as the elderly, parents of young children or those exercising, the SPAQP distributes the daily Air Quality Index forecast on its Web site, www.aqpartners.org.

HARRY KLODOWSKI
Pine

The writer, an environmental lawyer, is on the board of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership.

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Effective model

Discussion regarding the "controversial" Prevention Point needle exchange program has gone round and round since 2002 when the Allegheny County Board of Health gave this program the go-ahead to combat a public health emergency -- the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and hepatitis B through dirty needles.

The discussion started again recently when Allegheny County Council member Vince Gastgeb decided the successful program did not have a proper ordinance to continue its good work.

While the Board of Health has thankfully decided to let Prevention Point continue its work, it has proposed a set of regulations that would provide serious barriers to care for those in the most-vulnerable populations depending on this program ("Needle Exchange Rules Raise Concerns," June 14).

Under the new rules, "exchangers," or those looking to get clean needles, would have to present multiple personal identifiers, and providers would be required to basically coerce them to get tested for diseases. These kinds of requirements could prevent drug users from seeking clean injection apparatus if they become afraid that their anonymity will be violated or they'll have to submit to tests against their wishes.

Beyond that, Prevention Point's current model has been shown to be effective. While it may not be shutting down Prevention Point altogether, in bowing to the pressures of County Council, the Board of Health is substantially undercutting the efficacy of this program.

Leave this program alone so that it can continue preventing the spread of disease without having to constantly battle bureaucrats.

MAGGIE WHELAN
Squirrel Hill

The writer is a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh.

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Not American-made

My wife and I wanted to purchase a red, white and blue banner to put up on the front of the house for July Fourth. Most stores we checked had flags, not all made in the USA. The majority of foreign-made flags were from China. The display that we wanted was not available unless we would accept a Chinese-made one.

I served our flag in the U.S. Navy. I would never have those colors represent anything other than this country and American labor on the Fourth of July.

JEROME W. SILVERSTEIN
Penn Hills

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Cool war stuff

On Saturday afternoon, my husband and I were on our porch discussing some matter of home and hearth when suddenly we were interrupted by what can only be described as a series of sonic booms. My husband stopped what he was doing, looked at me with alarm, as did our dog, Eli, who was even more puzzled then we.

I craned my head upwards, and covering my ears spotted the cause of this disruption. There in the skies above Polish Hill was a B-2 stealth bomber.

I was terrified. "What the ...?"

Gone was the serene day working in the yard of our new home and the ease with which I navigated my Saturday thus far. "How dare they!" I said aloud.

During one of the bloodiest, most violent times of this current war, local officials and Regatta planners deemed it appropriate to fly a B-2 stealth bomber over our city.

Instead of glorifying the violence, they should be spending this so-called patriotic weekend reflecting on reasons why this country is still at war, and more importantly, how to make it stop. But I guess that's too hard, and clearly not what the Fourth of July is "supposed" to be about. Stealth bombers, fireworks, funnel cake and beer .

The next time a stealth bomber buzzes Polish Hill, I'll just smile and know that at least we're all safe and sound here in good ol' Pittsburgh.

SUZANNE PACE
Polish Hill

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No 'spot zoning'

Today City Council votes on an issue that threatens the quality of life and property value of every homeowner in Pittsburgh -- and the city's economic future as well.

So it's critical to be clear about two points raised by Rich Cummings in his July 3 response ("Homeowner Rights") to Jim Hart's June 28 letter ("In Jeopardy"), which challenged a commercial developer's efforts to rezone residential lots in Park Place for a Walgreens drive-through.

First: No one questions Mr. Cummings' or any other property owner's right to sell their houses to anyone they choose.

However, the vast majority of local homeowners do object to this blatant attempt to rewrite our zoning laws to serve only the interests of this one developer and the owners of those three lots -- at the expense of all the other community residents.

That's exactly the kind of illegal "spot zoning" the city code was written to prevent, because it sacrifices the good of all for the benefit of a few.

Second: The real problem here is that this rezoning is "eminent domain" by another name (not simply "extending the commercial district another half-block into the residential area," as Mr. Cummings says). Voting "yes" will set a precedent that allows appointed officials to auction off the rights of any city homeowner to the highest bidder.

MARY HUPE
Vice President, Greater Park Place Neighborhood Association
Park Place

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Be good to Earth

For years, I have believed that global warming is real and that we humans are contributing to it. I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" and exhort you to do the same. But let's suppose that I am wrong, that global warming and the human contribution to it are fiction. We should still labor to care for the planet, including the environment, as much as possible:

1) This is the only planet we have. Even if global warming is not a threat, we still want to take good care of our home. We spend much time and money to maintain, improve and protect our houses. Surely we can do likewise for our planet.

2) We want to minimize pollutants so we can maximize the quantity and quality of life for ourselves and our descendants. I don't want our children inhaling pollutants. I'll bet you don't, either.

3) As a Christian, I believe that the world belongs to God, not to us, and I certainly want to take good care of that which does not belong to me but to the One for whom I exist. We humans may have dominion over the planet, but God has dominion over us, and the planet is God's, not ours.

Surely Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, politicians and citizens can lay aside their dysfunctional sibling rivalry long enough to make caring for the planet a higher priority than it has been, regardless of whether global warming is a genuine threat.

REV. DAVID Von SCHLICHTEN
Latrobe

The writer is a Lutheran pastor.

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Our leaders are trying to dismantle the very freedoms the flag represents

Regarding the June 29 editorial "Flag Waving: Senate Plays Political Games with Old Glory": I'm not sure if I'm losing my mind or my country. The razor-thin defeat of the Senate proposal to amend the U.S. constitution to outlaw flag burning is the latest in the "I can't believe this is my government" episodes in recent months.

The intrusion into the privacy of telephone records without warrants, the civil liberty-robbing efforts to exploit the gay minority for political gain and now the easy willingness by so many in the U.S. Senate to dismantle free speech assurances has me wondering why my government wants to keep putting all of us into a tighter and tighter box.

It's not enough that flag burning has served well enough to allow for nonviolent dissent for generations without causing the dissolution of the Union. It is the very revulsion that is felt at the sight of a burning flag that is at the heart of its effectiveness as a tool of dissent.

It is not a slap in the face of our military deployed abroad but rather a notice given to those who would put them in harm's way without sufficient cause.

N. MICHAEL FAZZINI JR.
O'Hara