Don't punish drivers, fight congestion

Great ... let's spend our collective (government) money by punishing the beleaguered little guy just a little more for making that fast left turn on a red or yellow light (have you ever noticed that all of the yellow lights in the city seem to stay yellow for different lengths of time?) by positioning cameras on traffic light poles!

Another government insult and intrusion into our collective private lives and wallets -- and does this proposal actually make our commutes safer or more pleasurable?

Instead, why not do the average Joe/taxpayer a real favor? Why not spend money on a comprehensive citywide or countywide system of electronically controlled closely monitored traffic signals -- with countdown yellow lights -- designed specifically to ease traffic congestion, provide fair and safe left- and right-turning patterns and reduce both road rage and our dependence on foreign oil? Such a system might actually help to improve the quality of life here in Pittsburgh! And we wouldn't have to wait a generation for the hydrogen-fueled car to save us lots of money -- such a system would automatically return our hard-earned tax dollars directly to our bank accounts!

Does such a system exist? If not, why not tap the intellectual resources at property-tax-free Carnegie Mellon University and other local institutions to help all of us taxpayers/drivers?

Proposals to have "Big Brother Catching Us" ought to be summarily replaced with an "Invisible Hand" easing our way.

ALLEN WOLK
New Kensington

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Install the cameras

Regarding the Dec. 19 editorial "Candid Camera": You write that city Councilman Bill Peduto's plan for city traffic deserves a "trial." Why wait? Don't waste time and money to demonstrate what has already proved successful in other locations.

Locate the trouble spots, then hire a responsible firm to install the necessary equipment in exchange for a contract entitling it to a slice of the profits from the $100 tickets. Voila! -- fewer accidents, safer pedestrians, increased revenue.

Win, win, win.

CORNELIA SMOLLIN
Whitehall

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A front-page break

It was refreshing to see the Dec. 19 article ("Next Time You Hear 'Messiah,' Listen for 'Word Painting' ") on Page One. With "attacks at record level," "mine roof collapse death" and "discontent" dominating the news, we deserve uplifting and informative news to start the day.

Bravo to Andrew Druckenbrod -- and to the decision to go front page with his story.

BRIAN WELLER
Downtown

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Misguided media

You have to wonder what ever happened to our great nation's moral conscience, with all the atrocities happening in a war-torn country as our patriotic soldiers help Iraq get its so-called freedom.

It's very upsetting what the news media find important. While watching CBS Evening News the other day, 15 minutes of the half-hour program was about the adventurous mountain climber whose body had been found. I'm sure we all sympathize with the three climbers involved in the incident, but trying this stunt -- the hardest part of the mountain in that kind of weather -- seemed like a foolhardy stunt.

Where's the news about our real heroes, the 3,000 Americans who had barely started their lives and yet were sent by our government to war?

Now that is surely something to bring tears to our eyes.

RAYMOND A. KOLAR
Jefferson Hills

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18-point message

Regarding the article "Santorum May Be Down, But Many Think He's Not Out" (Dec. 26): Some Republicans say don't discount Sen. Rick Santorum, despite his 18-point loss in the November election.

This is exactly why he lost by 18 points -- because he was not responding to the will of his constituents. He did only what Rick Santorum and the Republican Party told him.

Come on, Republicans and Mr. Santorum, this a democracy, not your kingdom -- and that was the 18-point message.

RONALD HAMER
North Versailles

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Bring table games

So, we are going to have legal slot machines. I'm all for that, but what about the many thousands of men and women who like to gamble but would not spend a nickel in a slot machine? What we want is table games (blackjack, roulette, poker, dice, etc.). This also would bring in more money (in the millions) from out-of-state gamblers who would not come here otherwise.

RUSTY JOHNSON
North Side

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Senators lose

I have been following with great interest the Democratic frontrunners for the 2008 presidential nomination.

Not since 1960 has a sitting U.S. senator been elected president. The public has a low opinion of members of Congress, which has only a 17 percent approval rating.

Personally, my money is on either Al Gore or John Edwards, both of whom have distanced themselves from the Senate.

JOE McKENDRICK
Grampian, Clearfield County

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Appreciating what Italians did for Pittsburgh

As a Pittsburgh native, I've found myself in the city for more Christmas holidays than I'd like to count. I haven't lived in the area for more than 30 years, but since youth is indelible in the imagination, my memories remain sharp regarding my childhood and my family's story. Frequent visits keep those memories active.

So it was with great dismay that I read your article on Martin Leisser's beautiful portrait of "Oakland," circa 1914 ("A Painter Captures the Stillness of a Winter's Morning in Oakland," Dec. 25). The article gives a good overview of the artist's life and work and goes into fair detail on the development of Carnegie Mellon University. The piece breezily refers to "Junction Hollow," before going into a deeper description of the buildings of what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology.

I had never heard of Junction Hollow. My people called it Panther Hollow. And my people were living there when this painting was made. My mother would have been a 3-year-old running about the place. Your modern-day photo looks over the San Lorenzo club on South Bouquet Street, which was built by my grandfather and his associates just a few years after the painting was made.

The hollow was an enclave of Italian immigrants raising their American-born children in the hopes that one day they could climb that hill and live like the other "Amerigani" who could attend that institute or the other great educational institutions in Pittsburgh that where then mostly out of reach for that first generation. They were mostly ignored then, I'm told, and they've been ignored now in a paper that wants to celebrate a new "tradition."

The Italians who lived in Panther Hollow worked the mills in this city, built the roads, went down into the mines, ran the corner stores and restaurants, and undoubtedly helped erect the very structures mentioned in your article. Yet they are completely absent from the narrative.

It's the people who make history, not buildings. And that group of immigrants with all of their energy and dreams and joy for living made an incredible mark on the location that the painting so eloquently shows dusted with snow.

There are none left now from that time and place. But there are those of us who will not let them disappear from memory for we have found in our American lives a deep sense of gratitude and respect for what they accomplished.

I hope you continue your tradition to mark wonders and blessings and that you don't forget the people who make them possible.

PAUL PAOLICELLI
Chapel Hill, N.C.