State Rep. David Levdansky makes some welcome points in his Jan. 16 commentary on achieving at least partial property tax relief ("Achievable Property-Tax Reform").

However, one of his statements is laughable: "We could get rid of the Legislature and save $300 million, but who would represent us in government?" The question is, "Who is representing us now?" Certainly not the sneaky bunch of parasites enthroned in Harrisburg currently.

Another of his solutions for funding the eternally escalating, greedy school industry is extremely problematic. While the rest of the country is suffering from wage cuts and loss of pensions, medical benefits and even jobs, teachers are going on strike because they want 7 percent or more in annual raises instead of the "paltry" 4 percent they are being offered. As for being underpaid, many teachers are already making double what the bulk of taxpayers make. Property tax relief will never work as long as school system elitists can keep raising tax rates to feed their mushrooming demands.

Most Americans cannot dictate what their wages and benefits should be. Only those with the ability to impose taxes on others can enjoy a regal way of living. Taxpayers will suffer endlessly as long as there are no controls on school system spending.

DAVID A. TOMKO
Butler

---

Prominent in recent Post-Gazette stories have been efforts of a Hill District neighborhood organization to bargain for necessities ("Arena Plans Get Go-Ahead; Hill Group Still Lobbying," Jan. 15). One is the chronic injustice of abandoned supermarkets, which infuriates this retired social scientist and neighbor of our Hill District fellow Pittsburghers.

I am of European extraction (erroneously called "white") and a human being who rankles at the cavalier treatment of our minority fellow Pittsburghers/Americans who suffer bigotry in so many ways -- the absence of a neighborhood food store being a more heinous and lousy example, another insult to human dignity.

Our neighborhoods are starkly and unconscionably segregated, the poorer and more minority-populated ones being unusually neglected and ignored, with their people treated as "invisible," as Ralph Ellison portrayed them in his classic work, "The Invisible Man."

Now, at last, our Hill District neighbors and friends can use a stronger bargaining chip than the mere appeal to human decency.

When I lived on the North Side a few years ago, I met some neighbors who were so dismayed by the brutality of some Pittsburgh police toward African Americans and by other conditions of neglect and bigotry, that they were ready to depart from the city entirely.

I cannot continue to realize that my minority friends and neighbors must fight to restore their lost grocery stores, so as to avoid traveling as far as the South Side to shop for food! Aren't you, too, disgusted with this injustice, if you consider yourself a moral human being?

BEVERLY L. DARWIN
Squirrel Hill

---

Regarding John Hayes' excellent article "Deer Meat Is a Welcome Treat: Food Pantries, Their Patrons Get a Healthy Share of Pennsylvania's Hunters' Bounty" (Jan. 18): My only disappointment is the (typically) uninformed and biased comment from Michael Markarian of the Humane Society of the United States. Anyone who might do minimal research would determine:

1. There is no real risk in eating venison that has been handled and processed properly.

2. Hunters are not hunting because it's a cost-effective way to obtain food. In fact, the hunters who take the deer that are donated are spending their money to hunt without any need to keep the food. It's a sport, not a shopping trip.

MIKE MARKS
Upper St. Clair

---

The voter ID issue ("Justices Are Skeptical About the Burden of Photo IDs for Voters," Jan. 10) reminds me of the debate about flag burning.

Where exactly is the epidemic of crime that we are attempting to stamp out? How many actual cases of voter fraud have been prosecuted nationwide in the last five years? And I mean actual cases, not some Ronald Reagan-ish welfare Cadillac fantasy that says a bunch of Mexicans in Arizona tried to vote. Who has been prosecuted and when and where? I would be interested to see what cases, if any, are out there.

We appear to be attempting to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Or are we just trying to keep certain groups that the powers-that-be don't like from voting?

DAVID ARNOLD
Moon

---

I was disappointed by the comments made by letter writer Russell DeJulio regarding voter ID legislation ("A Valid Measure," Jan. 19). I can't imagine why anyone, regardless of political affiliation, would be in favor of an unnecessary law that addresses a nonexistent problem. There has not been one documented case of voter fraud, anywhere. Perhaps this is the case because currently it is a felony to vote using someone else's name.

The bigger picture is that this legislation is supported by Republicans and opposed by Democrats because it will have the (un?)intended consequence of denying thousands of eligible voters the opportunity to vote. Many of these eligible voters, despite the contentions of people like Mr. DeJulio, do in fact struggle to obtain a valid ID and would therefore face an additional obstacle to casting a vote. They are also likely to be struggling economically.

If free and fair elections are an opportunity for political parties to present their ideas and their vision for the direction of the country, one wonders why the Republican Party is devoting so much energy to blocking certain segments of the population from voting. Do they not trust in the power of their ideas?

JOE SCHREIBER
Shaler

---

I am amazed at the number of letters the PG is receiving regarding the 10 percent drink tax. Where were all of these "concerned citizens" when the city raised the parking tax to 50 percent back in 2004? Tax commuters and rental car patrons, but not my booze! Nice priorities.

KATIE NICHOLAS
Penn Hills

---

While President Bush does not lack accomplishments for which he deserves legitimate criticism, Maureen Dowd is a little over the line in blaming him for the trade deficit ("Red, White and Blue Tag Sale," Jan. 21 column). We all are responsible for the recent fire-sale purchases of our financial institutions by foreign entities.

Americans have consumed more than we have produced every year since 1991, with a trade deficit over $700 billion in each of the past few years. The Mideast and Asian producers of oil and cheap manufactured goods have graciously been willing to lend us the money to buy this stuff.

Our government policies, with the enthusiastic support of the population, encourage consumption by keeping energy prices low and by taxing income rather than consumption. That's why, with only 5 percent of the world's population, we can afford to consume 25 percent of the world's oil. It is also why the government is in such a panic over the current economic slow-down that the two warring parties have agreed to a stimulus package to get $150 billion into the hands of consumers. The $150 billion will be borrowed from China and sent back via Wal-Mart. The Fed is aggressively lowering interest rates so that consumers can resume their habit of borrowing against their home equity to supplement consumption.

The money that we owe our foreign benefactors, represented by treasury bonds and, more recently, shares of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup stock, are claims on our future production. Sometime in the future we will need to consume less to service these claims. The adjustment may occur gradually, as it has so far, with a falling dollar and a resultant increase in the relative price of imports, such as oil, French wine and London hotel rooms. If it occurs abruptly in a dollar crisis, where foreign investors are no longer willing to invest in our securities, it will be very unpleasant and disruptive. We will become substantially poorer instantly.

Either way, Ms. Dowd better get used to it. We have to sell something to finance our habit.

DAVID T. JACK
Baden

---

We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.