Letters: New jail, removal of trees, response to crime, fiber causing sewer line issues
Suggestions about new jail
While the discussions abound about what to do for a new jail, let me offer the following:
1. Do no wrong.
2. Look downtown, it will save money, gobs of money.
3. While looking, staring at us right in the face are the three older, wooden homes right across from the jail. This would be a perfect place for a tall jail and there would be room underneath for a garage for sheriff vehicles. There would be an overpass bridge to the old jail as well, which could be a work release center or treatment center.
Roy Graham, Bloomington
As Bloomington grows, its urban forest shrinks
The recent removal of a nice row of maturing oak trees on Rogers Street highlights a continuing problem for the city of Bloomington. Economic growth, whether for expanded housing via multi-story apartment buildings, expanded roads and utilities, etc., means the removal of trees and less tree canopy remaining for Bloomington residents.
It seems inevitable that with economic prosperity the trees lose out, but this should not be the case. Yes, I know Bloomington is Indiana’s oldest Tree City USA, has a long-standing tree commission and other environmental/sustainability-oriented governance infrastructure that supports the urban forest, but we continue to lose canopy.
What we seem to need is a more forceful set of advocates for trees to fight harder to reduce tree loss. Just hoping that planting new trees will stop the loss is not enough, the canopy of young, small trees does not replace that of larger, older trees.
Burney Fischer, Bloomington
Upset by recent bus assault
We were deeply upset to learn of the hate crime against an Asian-American student on a Bloomington bus last week. We offer our prayers and well-wishes to the victim and her family and express our solidarity with Bloomington's Asian-American community.
As Jews, we believe strongly that every person is created b'tzelem Elohim, "in God's image," regardless of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other group identity. We seek to create and promote with our neighbors of all faiths a diverse community in Bloomington where all residents and visitors can live and thrive without fear for their safety. Hatred has no place in our community and must be unequivocally condemned.
We must love our fellow human beings as ourselves; as Rabbi Akiva put it in the Talmudic "Sayings of the Fathers," that is the Torah's foundational principle and "all the rest is commentary." Or, as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Rabbi Brian Besser and Lesley Levin, president Congregation Beth Shalom, Bloomington
Fiber installation causing sewer line issues?
Bloomington neighbors, apparently there have been reports of the fiber optic line installers hitting sewer lines and causing backups and expensive repairs, as reported on Reddit r/bloomington. Your sewer lines from the house to the street are not the city's responsibility, and good luck making the companies running the fiber pay.
The City (Utilities) is apparently aware of these reports, but the city has not spoken publicly about this situation. FYI, it's either AT&T or Meridiam/AEG, since there are two projects going on.
John Stigall, Bloomington
Cooperation needed between Republicans, Democrats
With my 80th birthday coming up, I have some thoughts about the problems facing our democratic governments and how they might be addressed here and throughout the country.
The most serious problem now troubling this country is the large and growing gap between the elite of well-off, university-educated, and usually Democrat minority and much of the working, rural, and dependent populations, many of whom support the Republican Party when they vote. This divide accounts for Indiana’s “red” political domination, except for a few cities such as Bloomington, which has been “blue” for many years. The Hoosier conservative orientation is consistent, though sometimes yielding moderate officials such as the present governor. In Bloomington, the entire city council and our last four mayors have been Democrats. Our social structure, which expresses the gap I have described, accounts for this reality.
When I have run for election and re-election locally, serious and well-intentioned Republicans have expressed to me their awareness of being a permanent minority here. Indeed, our next mayor will also be a decent, middle-class Democrat like John Hamilton.
In a recent New York Times editorial, economist Paul Krugman repeated the description of the USA as “an insurance company with an army!” This is to overlook only small civilian expenses, such as weather forecasts, which would seem to limit the federal government's room to spend much on social reform. Not so, I thought. Yes, we must stop adding to the federal deficit, even in prosperous years, too. We could do that by collecting increased taxes on “tax cheats” who make more than $400,000 a year, if the current Republicans would agree to fund the IRS for reasonable audits. Social Security payments can be adjusted to account for lower costs of living in rural counties, where most of the “Freedom Caucus” Republicans are elected. Such adjustments would allow free kindergarten and public college education and medical care for low-income citizens.
We need cooperation between urban and suburban Democrats along with reasonable northern Republicans.
Martin Spechler, Bloomington
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Letter writers share takes on jail, urban canopy, crime, fiber install
