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The Voice welcomes all correspondence. We remind readers that the opinions expressed here are those of the writers. While we strive to print every letter, we reserve the right to refuse any which we deem inappropriate for a community forum. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. Please include name, address, and daytime phone number with letter.
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Scroll down to read Letters to the Editor
or click on a month:
Jan08, Feb08, Mar08. Apr08, May08, Jun08, Jul08
Progressives sell out
[July 2008] Abby Bardi really missed some key points in her column “Girl Power”. Worse, she demonstrated the progressive movement’s insistence throughout this campaign on acting as though true progressives must support Obama. So she offered suggestions to “explain” the “intensity of [some women’s] devotion to Clinton and the conviction of some that Barack Obama should not be the Democratic nominee no matter how many delegates he has.”
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Another side to adoption
[July 2008] In a recent issue, the “Going Green” columnist Sat Jiwan Iklé-Khalsa suggested that ethically-minded people might consider not having children or adopting children instead of having their own biological children. I am fully in support of discussing the environmental merits of chosen childlessness. However, I must find fault with his endorsement of adoption in this context.
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Hazardous road conditions
[July 2008] Nobody who lives in Takoma Park could fail to notice all the road work being done on our streets for the last six months. Infrastructure as old as the hills, a water delivery system badly in need of repair: tax dollars well spent. Around the corner from where I live on Hancock Avenue, construction crews have been working on a section of Carroll Ave. just down from Takoma Junction. First they would dig a trench about four feet deep and then by they end of the day they would cover it up with steel plates and soft tar. What a tough job, I would think to myself, as I waited for the flagger to let the one-way traffic through after a five minute wait so the traffic could pass from the other direction.
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Choosing to remember
[June 2008] On Memorial Day I decided to keep my business—Summer Delights—closed for the day. I was surprised to find that my decision displeased one of my patrons so much that he came in and yelled at me. Therefore, I’d like to publicly set the record straight about what Memorial Day means to me.
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Discriminating politics
[May 2008] It is surprising that Shari Jackson Small would allow skin color to so greatly influence her choice for president when she herself was discriminated against on the same basis as a child (Voice Mail, “From Alabama to Obama,” April, 2008). Hopefully, there are better reasons to vote for Mr. Obama. To write that “citizens of good conscience prefer Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton” is an insult to thoughtful people.
—Sam Pancake
Takoma Park, Md.
Blowin’ in the wind?
[May 2008] Kate Elizabeth Queram’s report in the March issue of the Voice (“Wind power meets resistance in Maryland”) on a proposal by a private company to build a wind energy project on public lands in Garrett County, MD, neglected to mention one very salient point—that the “public lands” involved in the prospective deal are two State Parks!
If you register them, they will vote
[April 2008] This past Valentine’s Day, the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee of the Maryland Senate heard testimony on a bill that would set a uniform voter registration age of 16-years-old, offering young people more opportunities to register to vote before reaching voting age. At the hearing, Senators were greeted with valentines from students from Montgomery Blair High School that read, “Don’t break my heart!; Vote for S.B. 92.”
Stand up for animals
[April 2008] As we stroll through the aisles of a grocery store or sit down to eat at a favorite restaurant, few of us question the safety of the food we’re purchasing. But a recent investigation inside a southern California slaughter plant may forever change the way we think about where our food comes from.
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From Alabama to Obama
[April 2008] Clearly the man was outraged. His face was red and he spat when he spoke. His hand, holding the cigar shook spasmodically. “Who do you think you are, walking right alongside a little white girl like that in this town?” he roared. “N_____, you better learn your place!” He jabbed his burning cigar into the chest of the brown-skinned six-year old where it sizzled for a few seconds through cloth and against flesh.
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Is Takoma Park becoming a gated community?
[April 2008] Recently I received a proposal from the City of Takoma Park for “traffic calming” in my neighborhood. One option called for building “bump-outs” in two paces on Glenside Drive and two places on Wildwood. These bump-outs would block one lane of traffic in order to divert traffic from Wildwood to Glenside and back again (west-bound) and from Glenside to Wildwood and back (east-bound). The purpose of this proposal would be to improve traffic on the affected streets by discouraging “cross-through” traffic, i.e., traffic traveling from one side of the neighborhood to the other without stopping.
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Our Purple Line vote: What we learned
[April 2008] At our recent General Meeting, the Park Hills Civic Association discussed and voted on key Purple Line issues affecting this east Silver Spring community. With this vote, we learned several things that should be of interest to the Montgomery County and State of Maryland officials who are planning this important East-West transportation link.
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We want Live Nation
[March 2008] I am writing this letter in support of the current initiative to develop the former J. C. Penney site in Silver Spring into a live music venue to be operated by Live Nation. I am writing because it seems that only a vocal minority is being heard, and we, the small businesses and residents of Silver Spring, want to make it unequivocally clear that we support this venture and consider it crucial to the economic health of our community and its vitality as a viable city center.
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We deserve better city services
[March 2008] It seems that the City of Takoma Park has lost its institutional memory for what do in the event of an emergency road closure. Twice in the past couple of months, water main breaks have caused road closures in the vicinity of New Hampshire Avenue and East-West Highway, a major intersection and City gateway within City limits. On both occasions the City failed to undertake any sort of traffic control or to otherwise assist motorists. Consequently, hapless drivers were left to fend for themselves on unfamiliar side streets, causing havoc in affected neighborhoods. Stressed out drivers making confused decisions created dangerous conditions for other drivers and pedestrians alike.
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Thanks from the Alt Gift Fair
[February 2008] In December, shoppers at the 9th annual Takoma Park Alternative Gift Fair captured the true spirit of generosity that the season is all about. Instead of buying stuff for people on their shopping lists who already have everything they need, shoppers used that money to shape a better world.
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Tenants should stand up for their rights
[February 2008] Recently, I was greatly troubled to learn that the president of large Silver Spring property management company has refused to recognize a newly created tenants’ association and that his local resident manager had removed public notices of an upcoming tenants association meeting, shortly after they had been posted.
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Resolution vegetarianism
[February 2008] I’m surprised your January 2008 article, “Resolution Earth: how can I reduce my carbon footprint?” did not recommend switching to a vegetarian diet. Eating organically and locally isn’t enough, much of the Eastern Shore’s poultry industry, one of the largest sources of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, is within the recommended 100 miles
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Do we really need a performance space in Takoma Park?
[February 2008] I recently saw a published report that the City of Takoma Park intends to renovate the city council chambers council so that it might also be used as “performance space”. The new mayor, Bruce Williams, opined that spending more than $1.2 million to make the chambers useable for “community musicals and theater performances” “seems like a good hybrid at the moment”. According to the report, funding for the renovation would require “reprogramming” funds long earmarked for construction of a gym.
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Cut social services to illegal residents
[February 2008] In light of the projected record 400+ million dollar Montgomery County budget deficit and County Executive Leggett’s proposed multi-million dollar cuts in county services, it has become more imperative that the county revisit its costly policies and programs in support of illegal immigrants.
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Election coverage was incomplete
[February 2008] Following the recent Takoma mayoral and council elections, newspaper accounts failed to list first and second choice selections from candidate vote tallies. Since this was Takoma’s first “Instant Run-Off” election—where voters would be able to rank candidates—I was disappointed to see such critical information absent. And not too surprisingly, this same information is absent on the City’s own website.
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Love animals, don’t eat them
[January 2008] Thank you for the December 2007 article, “The Ethics of Eating—Local non-profit promotes compassion at the dining table.” This article about the local group Compassion Over Killing really embodies the ethics of Takoma Park in that it’s a small group of individuals working for great change.
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Good and bad in climate change
[January 2008] Rick Docksai and Mike Tidwell have contribute excellent articles (“Maryland could pay heavy price for global warming,” November 2007 and “Enough with the bloody light bulbs,” November 2007). I agree entirely with Mike’s content and I do have supplementary action proposals.
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Anti-gambling orthodoxy is at odds with liberal values
[January 2008] Setting aside for the moment the baffling liberal orthodoxy against gambling (I’ll get to that) I have to take exception to Michael Tabor’s attacks on Maryland Secretary of Labor and fellow Takoma Parker Tom Perez. (Tots for Slots December 07)
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Expand your VISTA to fight poverty
Every day, million of Americans—including 14 percent of Marylanders—live in poverty. They may have to choose between eating dinner, obtaining a vital prescription, or paying the monthly heating bill.
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