We don't need a $35.6 million bridge to nowhere: Letters
We don't need a $35.6 million bridge to nowhere
June 29 − To the Editor:
If you don’t want our government wasting $35.6 million please communicate to Senator Shaheen and the NH DOT that NH does not need a pedestrian bridge to nowhere.
There is a perfectly fine bike and walking path that was added to the operating General Sullivan Bridge. I ride my bike over it with no concerns. The old dilapidated General Sullivan Bridge has been closed for years and doesn’t go anywhere. While there is Hilton Park on one side, there is not much of anything on the Newington side, so is this just going to be a $35.6M fishing pier?
If “safety” is a concern it will cost much less to add bike lanes and crossing areas when using the existing bike path on the Hilton Park and Newington sides. I would rather see funds go towards addressing PFAS in Rye water or the fecal contamination flowing towards our beaches.
Steven Borne
Rye
Ellis Park and Short Sands Beach look great thanks to trustees
June 27 − To the Editor:
I read with interest the article in the June 26th edition of Seacoast Sunday about York Beach's Ellis Park and Short Sands Beach. I write to address concerns expressed by "The Committee for Ellis Park Transparency" that the park and beach are not being properly cared for under the oversight of the Ellis Park Trustees
I have lived near Ellis Park and the beach for over 75 years. When I was a kid, the park was pretty much an overgrown sand lot with an untended tennis court, a shabby summerhouse under which boys hid their girlie magazines, a rudimentary playground, and an aging bandshell and restrooms.
Compare that to today's Ellis Park. It is a landscaped, well maintained green space by the sea. There are new and refreshed benches, a shady pavilion, a gazebo with a new roof where concerts are scheduled throughout the summer, a modern playground, and a multi-hoop basketball court. The restrooms are located in a new state-of-the-art building which is handicapped accessible. Park lighting is not only stylish, but LED, and complies with the International Dark Sky Initiative. It is a lovely place to spend time and is in constant use by the public.
I, for one, am grateful for the time and energy the volunteer park trustees devote to the health and welfare of Ellis Park and Short Sands Beach. I think that what the Ellis Park Trustees do is very transparent.
One only needs to look.
Alfreda Furnas
York Beach, Maine
Wentworth Homecare and Wentworth Hospice are angels on earth
June 28 − To the Editor:
The family of Blanche Fortier would like to thank Wentworth Homecare for their amazing care of our Mom when she needed it and also Wentworth Hospice for their help and support of her and us when we needed it. They were all so supportive and kind which made our journey through this trying time a bit easier. Thank you to everyone who was there for us. You are truly angels on earth.
Roger Fortier
Dover
Sadly, Americans do not have the best healthcare in the world
June 29 − To the Editor:
Kudos to T. Stephen McCarthy in his recent letter in support of gun safety legislation such as age limits, safety and storage, closing gun show loopholes, etc. (Fosters/Seacoastonline, June 28th). We need gun rights advocates and gun safety advocates working together to develop the effective gun laws needed to reduce the senseless number of firearms injuries and deaths in this country.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCarthy’s letter misfired on his statements about healthcare. Sadly, Americans do not have the best healthcare in the world, we have one of the worst, and we pay two to four times as much per person for it than other industrialized nations.
Of the 11 most industrialized countries on earth, the US ranks dead last in infant mortality, maternal mortality, and overall life expectancy. Only a poorly regulated, privatized “system” of sick care that puts profits over performance could achieve such horrendous results in the world’s richest country with among the best trained physicians, nurses, medical specialists, and medical facilities.
Our medical system is based primarily on profits from diagnosing and treating diseases as well as overpaying for the medications needed to treat them. That incentivizes a medical work up for every symptom as if it were the worst-case scenario, because more tests mean more money. It also disincentivizes preventive care because the only way to make money from healthy people is to sell them expensive health insurance policies that they’re never going to use.
Mr. McCarthy’s letter also misfired about the cost of overhauling our system. Taking almost 19% of our GDP and with the highest rate of medical-related bankruptcies in the world (no other country comes close), we can’t afford not to overhaul our medical system. If ten other highly industrialized nations can deliver better health outcomes and longer life expectancies at a much lower cost, then we can too.
We can give better care to all Americans and cut our medical expenses in half by developing a nation-wide plan that treats our health as a right, not an option. That means minimizing or eliminating the profit margin on our healthcare and emphasizing public health options, primary care, and sickness prevention.
James Fieseher MD
Dover
Why would anyone choose to vote for Trump Republicans?
July 2 − To the Editor:
Help me choose here. The Candidate: A twice-impeached, criminally indicted (3x so far, with many coming) tyrant-loving, secret document-stealing-and-sharing, insurrection-starting, election-denying, Covid-recklessness causing millions of deaths, 757 airplane owner who collects money from willing supporters for every incriminating headline; Candidates who embrace the unabashed Fascist Moms for Liberty (school parents banning books they haven’t read, deleting gay kids/teachers/facts, un-teaching documented American history and science, and quoting Adolph Hitler in their marketing ads (“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future“); candidates of color who claim racism doesn’t exist despite having “the talk” with their driving kids, racist shooter headlines, and Supreme Court white and Christian-based decisions.
The Party: Engineers and puppeteers of the current corrupt SCOTUS majority erasing women’s rights, voter rights, civil rights of all colors, creeds, genders; doing nothing for their constituents, but taking credit for the Biden successes they voted against; taxing schoolteachers the same as American oligarch zillionaires and price-gouging daily needs suppliers; making sure EVERYONE has lots of guns, qualified or not; disregarding—unless they’re Native American-- they’re ALL descended from immigrants like those they systematically punish or refuse entry.
If you’re reading this, you and your loved ones have been daily recipients of at least 3 life-enhancing programs the Blue choices enacted for you.
Carol Selsberg
Eliot, Maine
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: We don't need a $35.6 million bridge to nowhere: Letters
