Letters to the editor
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A buddy of mine sent me the news that Myron Cope had passed away ("Former Steelers Broadcaster Myron Cope Dies," Feb. 27 Web). I grew up in Johnstown during the '70s and '80s, and Myron Cope was synonymous with Pittsburgh sports, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While it is extremely sad that Mr. Cope is no longer with us, you can't help but smile when you think about him. He had a face for radio and a voice for newsprint and, despite that, he was as big and engaging as any dashing leading man in Hollywood ever could be.
PAUL PASQUALINI
Etters, York County
There will be a T station at Heinz Field. Why not name it for Myron Cope?
GEORGE H. FOSTER
Orlando, Fla.
The writer is a native of the South Hills.
I was wondering if Melanie Hall, a foreman for the city Department of Public Works who wrote the Feb. 20 letter "About Snow Removal," could provide any actual data to support her contention that her department "has done a most excellent job of clearing the ice and snow from the city streets."
In addition, I don't see the relevancy of her statements concerning driving practices and, in particular, bicycling, to the snow-clearing practices of her department. Her contention that cyclists are a "major hazard to driving in any weather" is not exactly what I would call open-minded, to say the least.
I believe that our city employees are quite dedicated for the most part, but Ms. Hall's defensive posture and lack of forward thinking is somewhat worrisome.
ROBERT HOFFMAN
Point Breeze
Melanie Hall's statement ("About Snow Removal," Feb. 20) that bicyclists "are a major hazard to driving in any weather, but especially in bad weather" is perplexing to say the least. But over and above being backward (a person on a 25-pound bicycle a "major hazard" to someone surrounded by 4,000 pounds of steel and airbags?), it is irresponsible given that she is putting her opinion forth as a city employee, thus attempting to legitimize this uninformed point of view.
In 2006 and 2007, there were at least five pedestrian deaths in Pittsburgh, and many more injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians due to crashes involving motorized vehicles. Never was it reported that the driver was injured in these crashes.
Instead of blaming our unsafe streets on the most vulnerable users, and instead of advocating limiting our freedom to choose how and when we get to work, shop and exercise, our city's employees should be working to increase the safety of our streets for everyone, regardless of mode of transportation and weather conditions.
SCOTT BRICKER
Executive Director
Bike Pittsburgh
South Side
I am writing in response to Melanie Hall's letter ("About Snow Removal," Feb. 20). Ms. Hall says bicycles "are a major hazard to driving in any weather, but especially in bad weather."
While Ms. Hall is right on the mark about safety concerns like headlights and speed in inclement weather, she is dead wrong when it comes to bicycles. Cyclists have just as much right to be on the road as cars do. (See page 46 of the Pennsylvania driver's manual if you do not believe me.)
One could easily flip her argument and say that cars are a major hazard to cycling in any weather. Does she also advocate the banning of pedestrians from crosswalks because they can be hazardous to drivers? Just because most Pittsburghers choose 3,000-pound gasoline-powered hunks of metal as their preferred mode of transportation, we should not marginalize those who rely on less expensive, healthier and more environmentally friendly ways to get around.
JOHN DAWSON
Shadyside
Melanie Hall's letter ("About Snow Removal," Feb. 20) contained a real shocker for me. She had my sympathy at first. But then we learn that for Ms. Hall, bicycles are "a major hazard to driving in any weather"! Unfortunately, the law (which it seems she ought to know) and most rational people do not agree.
Bicycles are legal vehicles and have a right to the road. They have numerous benefits, even to drivers who feel slighted that they must focus on the road rather than their latte or cell phone for a few seconds. Bicycles take cars off the road and make traffic lighter.
If anything, we should all get on bicycles in the snow; when you get stuck, you get off and walk. Try that with a car.
SCOTT KIESLING
Squirrel Hill
Paul Krugman's column on the devastating effects of childhood poverty ("Losing the War," Feb. 19) gives us another regrettable justification to be embarrassed about our country's failure to adequately address poverty in America.
Issues of the needs of the poor have been replaced by regressive tax cuts, reduced domestic spending, laissez-faire breaks for big corporations, policies that continue to exacerbate destruction of the environment and continuing deadly warfare. Where is our soul? Where are the Roosevelts, Kennedys and Edwards? (Yes, often the privileged have led the struggle against poverty.)
Our true test as Americans should be how we treat our most vulnerable citizens.
Read the story of the last judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. We now have three "Christian" candidates hoping to lead our country as the next president. Will we hear anything from them on the moral principles of ending poverty in the most prosperous country in the world?
JANE PILLAR
Mt. Lebanon
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9).
It seems as if Barack Obama is being criticized for what seems to me to be his very strength: a willingness to parley with people we don't like! That seems to me to be the whole purpose of diplomacy, i.e. to pacify one's enemies, not one's allies.
It is useless for the forest deer, rabbits and squirrels to sign a nonagression pact, unless they also have the signatures of the wolves.
ANDREW GERENYI
Franklin Park
Allegheny County alone has more than 108,000 uninsured adults. Maybe that's why Gov. Ed Rendell recently stated that health-care reform is his No. 1 budget priority this year.
Practically the next day, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced it was granting $15 million across 12 states that were considered to be primed for meaningful health-care reform. Pennsylvania was selected as one of those states. In Pittsburgh, the PHI-Health Care for Health Care Workers Campaign and the Consumer Health Coalition are part of the statewide, coordinated effort to ramp up advocacy for health-care reform.
Part of this grant money in Pennsylvania is being used to start the Pittsburgh Health Access Network, a coalition of organizations working to protect quality health insurance coverage for individuals and businesses and expand coverage to the uninsured.
We cannot sit back and wait for the federal government to pass health-care reform or wait for the next president to do something about it. Our Legislature has the responsibility to uncover exactly what funding streams, compromises and trade-offs are necessary for potential changes to be made. In Pennsylvania, health care is among the largest expenditures in the state budget, and the only way for the state to control costs, increase quality and ensure access will be to continue to search for health-care policy solutions.
We are hopeful that the momentum generated around the release of the governor's budget and the announcement of this grant will help create a mandate toward serious health-care reform for the uninsured and underinsured.
TRACY L. LAWLESS
Pennsylvania State Campaign Director
Health Care for Health Care Workers
Marshall
With the increasing cost of motor vehicle fuel, more people are finding bicycles a viable means of transport. I would be willing to bet that when motor vehicles supplanted horses and buggies, there were street sweepers who complained about the hazards created by motor vehicle operators.
In some ways we are coming full circle as bicycles preceded motor vehicles.
As a bicyclist, I take exception to Melanie G. Hall stating "[bicycles] are a major hazard in any weather, but especially in bad weather" ("About Snow Removal," Feb. 20 letters). Bicycles, more accurately pedacycles, are vehicles under the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code, as are 4,000-pound SUVs or snow removal trucks. Operators are subject to the same rules and regulations as SUV and snow truck operators. It is called the "same road, same rights, same rules" principle. I hope her supervisor explains this to her.
Just like there are motor vehicle operators who believe stop signs mean yield, red and yellow lights mean go faster and speed limit signs indicate half what the speed limit is supposed to be, so are there bicyclists who sit on their brains when riding. They can often be recognized by riding without helmets, at night and in low-light in dark clothes and without lights, and doing as good a job of ignoring traffic rules as many SUV and other motor vehicle operators in Pittsburgh and its environs.
Ms. Hall did hit on the crux of the problem, which would be for all vehicle operators to adhere to speed laws and safe driving practices and for all motor vehicle operators to remove snow and ice from their vehicles to include all glass surfaces so their vision is not limited.
Bicyclists can do their part by following the rules and regulations as other vehicle operators are supposed to do while on the roads.
It is called "sharing the road."
MARC YERGIN
Squirrel Hill
Today, every three seconds a child will die from extreme poverty -- because they don't have enough food, don't have access to clean water or have been stricken by an entirely treatable condition like diarrhea, measles or malaria.
Sadly, the issues about extreme poverty are not making it into the debate and media coverage during the presidential primaries. Voters need to hear commitments on how the next president plans to erase malaria, increase access to clean water and deliver more life-saving AIDS drugs to the people who need them. And the American public needs to hear the specifics about the candidates' plans.
The benefits of seriously taking on extreme poverty are multiple. Helping those who live each day suffering without the most basic services can give America a new credibility in the world and create even more momentum for positive change. Instead of validating extremists' ideologies about the United States, our actions will speak louder than our words. I urge voters to educate themselves on candidates' positions on global poverty before voting in the primaries.
Let's speak out for those without a voice.
KATIE COOK
Washington, D.C.
The writer is from Upper St. Clair.
I write to support the Feb. 13 letter "Save This Landmark" by Barry L. Henderson.
There indeed have been historic concerts at Mellon Arena.
One such event was on Dec. 31, 1976, when Elvis Presley gave a concert for the New Year's Eve crowd of more than 16,000 fans, of which I was one, seated about three rows from the top of the arena.
It was a wonderful concert, and I think of it whenever the Civic or Mellon Arena is mentioned.
ROBERT N. FOREMAN
Wheeling, W.Va.
In response to letter writer Frederick J. Rokasky ("More Armed People Would Bring More Impulsive Shootings," Feb. 21 Web):
Please do not superimpose your fear onto a situation that has nothing to do with your personal situation. Many people in this state and the entire country go about legally armed every day with very few incidents. The vast majority of these people are everyday private citizens who believe in exercising their right to bear arms and do so in a competent, adult and responsible manner.
The ban most college campuses have against allowing students and staff to legally carry firearms is ridiculous, as it allows and invites the kind of wholesale slaughter we have been witness to lately. In the case of the latest slaughter, the campus police had a well-practiced contingency plan for just such an incident They arrived on scene within two minutes. Very impressive. But they were two minutes too late to prevent any of the dead or wounded from becoming so.
If just one of those present had a firearm and was able to return fire, there would have been almost no casualties. Even if the armed student returning fire was hit, the time the gunman had to spend dealing with him would have saved countless lives and injuries. This result would have been echoed at Virginia Tech, as well as any of the dozens of other school, mall or church slaughters we have borne witness to recently.
It is people like you who have whipped this country into the deluded anti-gun frenzy it is currently in. And to what purpose? All you and your ilk have done is make the average citizen more likely to be killed or wounded by a criminal using a firearm, because criminals by definition do not obey laws. Making it harder, and in some places impossible, for a responsible citizen to legally carry a firearm has not only emboldened the criminal element (who now knows the chances of his victim being armed are very low), it has also endangered the welfare of every law-abiding citizen in this country by removing their best method of being able to defend themselves.
JOSEPH TUDDA
East Stroudsburg, Pa.
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.
First Published February 28, 2008 12:00 am
