Letters 07-18-2016

July 15, 2016

Correction: In our recent article on Alpenfest music, we accidentally printed a photo of country singer Alan Jackson instead of Alpenfest country performer Alan Turner. Express regrets the error.

More Density?

Many discussions/debates have been held re: 10-story buildings and increasing the density in Traverse City. I wonder how many people have considered the possibility of Cherry Festival-size crowds and density 365 days a year in Traverse City? Is this the Traverse City we want and or need? Let’s concentrate on responsible growth that will benefit all the citizens of Traverse City!

Carole Daniels, Traverse City

Send Them Packing

If [Grand Traverse County Commissioner] Christine Maxbauer had killed or injured a child, would [County Administrator] Tom Menzel continue to make the statement that "this is personal?"

Anyone drunk and driving a car at 3pm has made a poor judgement call.

Neither of them, Menzel nor Maxbauer, has the "right stuff " for the privilege of serving and making important decisions to govern the people of this community.

Marsha Gillespie, Traverse City

No Raise

From reading your recent letter on raising minimum wages to $15 an hour by 2018 you should’ve studied your Economics 101 course a little harder. A business just cannot raise their employees’ wages to $15 an hour and not come up with a way to offset that high of a wage increase.

Should they raise the price of their product and lose patrons who can’t afford their product anymore? Do they fire employees and make fewer employees do more work to make up the difference? How is this $15 an hour minimum wage high going to affect employees presently making $15 an hour? They will certainly want raises. Or, maybe the business should offer a cheap substitute of they were offering before?

Not everyone out there is a PhD and will be able to afford your idea of a $15 an hour minimum wage. However, maybe Traverse City should enact a "Rose Colored Glasses" tax for customers with a PhD who could afford to pay more for their goods and services, unlike someone like me living on a pension with little or no inflation pay increases.

Bernie Mueller, Gaylord