Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Mar 14, 2002 -- Light Rail Doesn’t Jog Either

To the Editor:

The only criticism authored by, or heard from, the president of People For Modern Transit has been about all the other forms of mass transit except Sound Transit's light rail.

In his latest diatribe against the monorail, he says it could run past the International Fountain and the Children's Theater in the Seattle Center and thread its way over Westlake Park. He claims that making a turn could take down the former Nordstrom building and the Seaboard building, if the ETC chose a certain route. No mention is made of the miles of buildings and property that Sound Transit is trying to take away in Rainier Valley. In order to put rail tracks in the streets, they have to be widened to accommodate the trolley-train. Many businesses, homes and apartments will be demolished and others will have the street and traffic very close to their building.

We should be looking at several alternatives to light rail, not just the monorail. Completing the High Occupancy Lanes and using them fully for Bus Rapid Transit, is a plan submitted by former Governor Booth Gardner. It deserves the most serious study and consideration. It could be implemented in a few years and cost much less that the twenty-billion dollars for the first leg of light rail and the twenty years it would take to build it.

Art McDonell

Peace Through Population Shrinkage

To the editor:

The state of our world is deteriorating in so many respects that it's hard to keep track. This year, I will make my annual pilgrimage to Washington, DC to talk to my legislators about the core issue—human population growth. I will spend time with members of the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Association and Zero Population Growth learning about the latest challenging statistics on species loss, pollution increases, crowding in cities and how the "developed" world is doing less and less about these problems. But just the other night I had a dream that won't leave my consciousness.

I dreamt that President Bush, instead of withholding $34 million in United Nations Family Planning funding as he is currently, was ordering that we increase our international family planning contribution by $48 billion. I dreamed we would spend money on comprehensive sex education instead of telling our children that abstenance is the only information they need. I dreamed we would prevent thousands of maternal deaths each year and free women from a life where they are forced to have more children than they want—more than their bodies can handle. What a dream, eh? If, instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year to create more death and destruction we actually went after a big part of the cause of human misery, imagine the results! What if instead of being the world leader in arms sales, the U.S. became the world leader in sensible policies which made this world a safer, healthier place to live for humans and other species?

What would happen if our human population began to shrink instead of expand? It would probably mirror what someone experiences who has been overweight who comes down to their natural weight. Since switching to a vegetarian diet recently that is exactly the experience I'm having. I feel better in my clothes, people remark positively that I'm looking good, my step has quickened and I'm thinking of more ways to strengthen the process. If human population were to decline, I can imagine a day when we'd finally get a handle on a more equitable sharing of resources; where suburban sprawl would not be needed. We could cut less of our forests down, and smog and other forms of pollution would be lessened. Imagine what $350 billion dollars in reproductive health, comprehensive sex education, improved opportunities and education for women (shown to successfully lower population rates around the world) would do. It would give us room to breathe and give us a chance to address other critical issues such as racism, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation.

Since I was born in 1961, the world's population has doubled to 6.2 billion. Our fresh drinking water supply, forests, farmland and other resources are all shrinking, but miraculously, we continue to grow at an alarming rate—77 million people per year (according to the Census Bureau)—about the population of Germany. If there's anything that this world and the people on it need to come to agreement on quickly, it's about providing the information and tools women and men around the world need—to have just the number of children they want. And that's why I'm going to Washington, DC.

Albert Kaufman
President, ZPG Seattle

A Modest Immigration Proposal

Dear Robert Wassman,

(Re: “Only the Intelligent Need Apply,” Letters, February 28) What an enlightening, simple and clear letter on heredity, demographics and democracy. I feel compelled to add my support. First, I do agree there may well be a link between heredity and intelligence; the Bush family sets a striking example of stupidity, from George senior right down to his grandchildren. Even though that's only anecdotal evidence, I am sure the research will come in someday to support your “Mendelian” theory, which puts human personality traits on the same level of plants and fruit flies. Sadly, there isn't much agreement yet on how to define intelligence in the first place, but I think smart folks like you and I know that regardless family background, intelligence naturally results in high educational attainment, and thus an understanding of complex concepts like democracy.

I also agree heartily with your implied premise that immigration, particularly of less educated people, threatens our democracy. Oddly enough, immigrants who wish to become citizens and vote must take a test on US civics and history which most native-born and supposedly educated, intelligent Americans would perform miserably on. But that doesn't account for all the illegal immigrants in our midst. Sure, at the most intrinsic level, those people who appreciate the meaning of freedom and opportunity best are those who come from countries lacking both; but if they don't know what the Bill of Rights is, and if they can't tell me what the stripes on the flag stand for, they should pack up and leave.

Finally, I am sorry to inform you that statistically, the more education one has, the less likely one is to be fruitful and multiply. but don't give up hope on your plan; maybe smart folks like you and I can do our part by going out and impregnating as many women as possible. We don't really have to worry about raising the offspring, since our intelligent genes will guarantee success. After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Now, some people say our economy depends on immigrant labor, and that without uneducated immigrants, no one would slaughter the chickens, and grapes would cost $8.00 a pound. But smart folks like you and I know there is no unemployment or labor shortage; the solution is under our noses. We should just force the undesirable work on our own native-born population of less-educated people, like African Americans, for example. Sure, they have been systematically deprived of education and employment opportunities from the beginning; but if they can't pull their communities out of poverty by the bootstraps in 35 years or so, it's only fair enough to give up on them as human beings. It must be genetic inferiority if they can't figure out democracy by now!

Then only one problem would remain; such laborers, although technically citizens by birth, are certainly not intelligent enough to vote. Let's make them pass a test before they can register! Don't want any flies in the ointment of our democracy. Our system may have functioned well in November 2000, but how much longer can it withstand all the dumb immigrants who mess it up?

Lee Sledd

Thornton Creek Salmon Need City Help

To the Editor:

Good article on Thornton Creek in the February 28 issue. The culvert under Lake City Way beautifully pictured on page 7 and others like it are a major problem for salmon and trout. As you can see, it would be a difficult jump to continue upstream and the gravity drop keeps digging the jump higher. Small streams also rarely have large enough pools for fish to get up momentum for such a jump. When will the city replace this culvert and other problem culverts after years of talking about Thornton Creek?

Dave Moore
Sierra Club salmon activist

Keep Super-Majority Requirement for Property Tax Levies

To the Editor:

The School Levy's 60 percent super-majority is necessary to equalize the representation of those who pay the tax. All registered voters can vote for the school levies, but only those who own property will have the tax levied against them. This is taxation with unbalanced representation at best.

I do not care how badly the money is needed, this is America. This is the country that fought the Revolutionary War in part over "taxation without representation." If we are to give up what created this country and that which has made it great, then let's mandate twice as much for schools and government. The liberals would be ecstatic if they did not need votes over excess taxation.

To do away with the 60 percent majority to pass a school levy is tactic of fascist style. Reduce the say of the taxpayer to increase the probability of maintaining the tax burden on only the property owners. Were the taxes to be levied upon all citizens, a simple majority would be prudent and fair. When the taxation is levied upon only some and not others with the others having a say, we have inequality.

America is the country where equality is promoted while inequality is maintained in the lack of representation of the levy payers. The 60 percent super majority helps to strengthen the voice of those who pay while still giving a voice to those with no vested monetary interest.

Maintain the super-majority or change the levy tax structure so that all who have a say, also pay.

Roger W. Hancock

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