Letters 08-03-2015
July 30, 2015
Our simple rules: Keep your letter to 300 words or less, send no more than one per month, include your name/address/phone number, and agree to allow us to edit. That’s it. Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!
Real Brownfields Deserve Dollars
I read with interest the story on Brownfield development dollars in the July 20 issue. I applaud Dan Lathrop and other county commissioners who voted "No" on the Randolph Street project.
Brownfield funds were originally intended to clean up and develop sites that had been contaminated in the past. Later the use of these funds was expanded by the legislature to include "urban core" areas (Traverse City being designated as such) to fund projects unrelated to site contamination.
This is the larger issue here. Once again, a law originally written with very commendable intentions is broadened in scope to where it loses its proper focus and intent. This kind of legislative maneuvering is what really irritates and frustrates the larger electorate. If environmental contamination can be found in the Randolph Street project then fine, use Brownfield funds to spur development, but do not use these appropriated monies to help business interests develop an area that is not designated as environmentally damaged or contaminated.
Other communities that truly need site cleanup and development shouldn’t have to compete for funds with communities that are using them to spur development regardless of the law’s original intent.
Rich Cenci, Lake Ann
Hopping Mad
Carlin Smith is hopping mad ("Will You Get Mad With Me?" 7-20-15). Somebody filed a fraudulent return using his identity, and he’s not alone. The AP estimates the government "pays more than $5 billion annually in fraudulent tax refunds."
Well, many of us have been hopping mad for years. This is because the number one tool Congress has used to fix this problem has been to cut the IRS budget –by $1.2 billion in the last 5 years.
In May, the Inspector General for Tax Administration reported that revenue officers in 2014 collected 7 percent less than in 2011, thanks primarily to fewer revenue officers and increased computer downtime. The latter came to 66,448 hours, "the equivalent to losing 32 full-time employees for the year." Little wonder Mr. Smith’s identity thief could slip through the net.
There’s no question that the IRS, like any government entity, needs close monitoring. But the IRS is one department where, historically, yield has not only tracked with investment, but vastly exceeded it. In 2013, the IRS collected $255 for every dollar in appropriated funds.
As the National Taxpayer Advocate commented, if the CEO of a Fortune 500 company "were told that each dollar allocated to his company’s Accounts Receivable Department would generate multiple dollars in return, it is difficult to see how the CEO would keep his job if he chose not to provide the department with the funding it needed. Yet that is essentially what has been happening to IRS funding for years."
This year, the President has again proposed a substantial increase in IRS funding. The counter-proposal from House Republicans: An $838 million cut.
I do hope you’re hopping mad.
Porter Abbott, Northport
Just Grumbling, No Solutions
Mark Pontoni’s grumblings [recent Northern Express column] tell us much about him and virtually nothing about those he chooses to denigrate. We do learn that Pontoni may be the perfect political candidate. He’s arrogant, opinionated and obviously dimwitted. If there is a proposed solution to any problem, even the electoral one about which his grumblings are written, he has managed to cleverly disguise them so that they are invisible. When it comes time to consider information about who may receive my future votes, I think Mark Pontoni’s alleged opinions will be absent from my deliberations.
John Michael Casteel, Traverse City
A Racist Symbol
I have to respond to Gordon Lee Dean’s letter claiming that the confederate battle flag is just a symbol of southern heritage and should not be banned from state displays. The heritage it represents was the treasonous effort to continue slavery by seceding from a democratic nation unwilling to maintain such a consummate evil.
For the last century, southern apologists have understandably preferred to use the excuse of states rights - as if any evil perpetrated by a state could also be easily excused.
Interesting how Dean claims that this treason symbol has nothing to do with race, while he uses the racist quote of Abraham Lincoln during the pre-war Douglas/Lincoln debates (Lincoln was wrongly but understandably attempting to justify his opposition to slavery by drawing a line against the then more "radical" concept of racial equality). But the real point here is that Dean unwittingly connects his southern heritage claim to racial inequality, thus undermining his own convoluted argument.
Any government use of this racist symbol is not much different than a German province wanting to fly the Nazi swastika.
Still, Dean has a protected first amendment right to display the flag on his person or property. The rest of us can freely choose to associate or disassociate from those who display such symbols.
The heritage of racism associated with display of the confederate flag will probably be a permanent scar on our national character.
However, the use of taxpayer funds to display the flag is quite another matter. In a free society, even the vilest personal expressions remain perfectly legal. The hope is that, as morality slowly progresses, those choosing to identify themselves with confederate or Nazi symbolism will continue to be ridiculed while their numbers grow ever smaller.
Leonard Page, Cheboygan
Not So Thanks
I would like to thank the individual who ran into and knocked over my Triumph motorcycle while it was parked at Lowe’s in TC on Friday the 24th. The $3,000 worth of damage was greatly appreciated. The big dent in the gas tank under the completely destroyed chrome badge was an especially nice touch.
Unbeknownst to you was that I was to attend my annual family reunion the very next day, and was eagerly anticipating showing off my bike to my relatives who had only heard about it.
I wish you had left a note or notified someone in the store. Yes, I work there. But you instead simply chose to just leave the scene as if nothing had happened. So I give you that opportunity now. Come into Lowe’s any time and see me. I surely won’t be holding my breath"¦
Michael Dost, Traverse City