Letters 04-13-2015

April 12, 2015

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Perplexing Eighth Street Changes

I’m writing to you about the way 8th Street in Traverse City is organized. I commute on 8th Street daily like hundreds of others. As we are all well aware, some changes have been made to this busy street. I commuted in Traverse City by bicycle for almost 5 years and then re-entered the car world last year. It was always common sense as a biker to either use the sidewalk or the TART Trail to avoid 8th Street altogether.

Then something perplexing happened. In a baffling decision, it was decided to congest the flow of traffic by adding two thick white lines for a bike lane and a shoulder wide enough to almost fit a whole lane of traffic. This street is a battlefield of potholes, yet the city insists on spending money to keep repainting these unnecessary bike lanes onto a street that cannot even be ridden on by a bike half the year due to snow and slush. Anyone with common sense knows that deliberately congesting a busy road is a bad idea. This is especially true during the summer, when there are more people and traffic. With wide sidewalks on both sides, these bike lanes are unnecessary and only can be used at a time when traffic is at its highest capacity. You cannot force an apple to turn into an orange anymore than you can turn a busy city street into a quiet residential street.

Andy Cuchetti, Traverse City

115 Years of Injustice

Investigative reporter Pat Sullivan’s March 23 article "BURNOUT" exposed for the first time to many northern Michigan residents the 115-year-old tragedy that took place at Burt Lake in October of 1900.

For anyone to suggest that arson could ever be legal under any circumstances is incomprehensible to me. The scholarly research concerning the burnout by Michigan history professors Dr. Richard White, Dr. George Cornell, Dr. Dennis Albert, and Dr. Alice Littlefield over the past thirty years reveals that not only was the arson that day immoral, it was also totally illegal.

It was only allowed to take place (and stand) as a result of state and local officials at the time not doing their jobs. They did not check the official historical records in Lansing and in Washington, D.C. to see that Indian Village, on Indian Point, Lake Cheboigan (Burt Lake) was a treaty protected Indian reserve. Indian Village was also placed "in trust to the Governor of Michigan and his successors" for perpetuity for added protection against loss of the ancestral land due to debt or taxes. The historical records are there to read! And, the Burt Lake Band of Indians still exist!

Richard Wiles, Petoskey

Kicking The Prop 1

Can "Proposal 1 consists of only 100 words, but if approved by voters on May 5, it would trigger into law thousands of other words in 10 bills passed by the state legislature in December." That is a statement from the beginning of a fact sheet put out by a leading Detroit newspaper to assist people like trying to understand Prop 1.

Even with bullet points, it is "fiendishly complicated." At one point the fact sheet even recommends that one get a fresh cup of coffee before reading on. But in continuing, you soon realize that - in spite of the process the legislature has chosen - it’s not all bad.

Though the full revenue from an increased fuel tax and higher user fees doesn’t go completely to roads until October 2017, there is increased school funding and a restoration of Michigan’s Earned Income Credit to pre-2011 levels for low and moderate wage workers. Also there is an increase in the state’s Homestead Property Tax Credit for low income seniors and people with disabilities. These benefits are the result of negotiations across the aisle.

What is irks is the fact that the fuel tax has not been increased in almost 20 years, resulting in what we all feel about our roads. But what really irks is that our lawmakers think they have painted the taxpayers into a corner, and they may have succeeded. By ignoring something as basic as transportation and in manipulating this vote, the legislative majority did more than kick the proverbial can down the road; they cynically kicked their responsibility to legislate down the road.

Daniel Smith, Beulah

Expose The Republican Playbook

There was much angst among Democratic Party loyalists after the November election about their failure to convey a strong populist message. Yet it appears the Democrats did get their message out, but who would guess it would be adopted by the Republican presidential candidates instead. Even Mitt Romney of the 47% fame began his aborted campaign by noting income inequality as the salient issue of the 2016 race.

So what to make of this apparent conversion by the very people who have railed against Obama’s policies to address the widening income gap. Clearly they read the polls showing Americans support living-wage jobs, justly taxing the 1%, reversing Citizens United, access to health care, punishing Wall Street criminals, expanding Social Security and Medicare, just for starters. What a great opportunity to cynically capitalize on some of these themes in their campaign rhetoric while resisting any Democratic legislation to actually achieve them.

But the greatest hypocrisy remains the reactionary policies they continue to advocate that pose serious threats to our democracy: weakening Wall Street and campaign finance reform; opposing a minimum wage increase; taking health insurance away from millions of Americans by repealing Obamacare; cutting taxes for the rich; privatizing Social Security and Medicare – all of which contribute to economic inequality.

As the 2016 approaches, Democrats and the media, must do a better job to expose Republican policies for what they are and inspire the electorate to definitively reject them at the ballot box.

Mary Easthope, Lake Leelanau

Unions Are Essential

Thanks to Stephen Tuttle for pointing out in his recent column how we have had trade apprenticeships for decades throughout Michigan and other states. I was able to enter the local construction field, and learn a trade that helped my family and I prosper, and end up with a skill set that allowed me to work both locally and abroad. Any forward-looking union realizes that to have a future, its members must remain competitive, and there must be ongoing training for new members entering the workforce, and existing members to continue to advance.

Part of every working member’s union dues go toward running a four-year apprenticeship program that trains young workers and offers upgrades for all members, such as carpenters learning welding, updated scaffolding training, etc.

With our current legislature doing its utmost to shrink unions’ membership and influence, they are also removing the funding that drives this training, at a time when business leaders are bemoaning the lack of available skilled trade workers. As Steve said, "ironic."

Tom Pixley, Traverse City