PARENTS ARE KEY
The vicious relationship between poverty and poor education has
been with us for generations, despite continuous hand wringing and countless
programs that have met with limited success, if any at all (“Facing Our Storm,”
September 21). I don’t pretend to have the answer, but I know no solution will
come without first recognizing the essence of the problem and if necessary,
putting political correctness aside.
To begin with, “A Call to Arms” has got it reversed. Poor
education is not caused by poverty. Poverty is caused by poor education.
Poverty rates among high school dropouts are about twice that of high school
graduates. Furthermore, Superintendent Manuel Rivera’s solution of dealing with
outside sources that affect children will help only if they significantly
affect sources closer to home.
The National Education Association points out how crucial it
is for parents to be involved in their children’s education. Studies
consistently show that when parents are involved at home — reading to their
children, talking to them about books and about school, helping with homework
— children do better in school, are absent less frequently, and behave
better, says NEA.
We are fortunate in this country to have schools that are
free and accessible, and while we might find fault with curriculum, school
policies, teacher competence, etc., these are not the primary causes for low
graduation rates and poor performance.
There is a cycle of uneducated parents living in poverty
raising kids who will also be uneducated and live in poverty. The birth rate of
women with an 8th-grade education is twice that of college-educated women.
Until these poor children have a home life that both allows and encourages them
to learn, the cycle will not be broken.
Michael Spitulnik, Winona Boulevard, Irondequoit
DOING THE MATH
I enjoyed reading Paul Haney’s op-ed on county budgeting
(“It’s Time for Some Truth,” October 5). It’s important to draw
attention to the tricks that have been used to “paper over deficits.”
At the same time, it’s important that we do the math
correctly. Mr. Haney writes: “Total public-safety expenses increased 79.9
percent in the 10 years ending last December. That’s an average of 8 percent
per year.” Not so. As anyone who has saved for retirement can tell you, a
modest interest rate, compounded over the years, can add up to a surprisingly
large amount, because you get interest on the interest. In the case of the
public-safety budget, an average increase of less than 6.1 percent per year,
held steady for 10 years, would yield a total increase of 79.9 percent.
Michael L. Scott, Brighton (Scott is
professor of computer science at the University
of Rochester)
THE BIG ‘COMMITMENT’
Poverty and violence are running rampant in our city.
Children are being murdered in the streets. The school district issues an urgent
call for the community to come together, in the form of a Rochester Children’s
Zone, to address the root causes, including illiteracy, unemployment, and poor
health conditions. The acting police chief calls for a similar unified front
against violence. A Blue Ribbon Task Force calls for 10,000 mentors for
students.
Everyone and their brother voices a “commitment” and “strong
support” for these measures. But when it comes to action, what do we see our
community’s business leaders doing? Bob Wegman closes 14 Chase-Pitkin stores,
adding more fuel to the city’s unemployment fire. Michael Finney of Greater
Rochester Enterprise leaves town for a position in Michigan.
And Sandy Parker, CEO of the Rochester Business Alliance and a Blue Ribbon Task
Force member, won’t put her money where her mouth is when it comes to helping
fund the Children’s Zone project.
All the lip service in the world won’t save a city whose
pillars of business crumble when the real work needs to be done. That’s not
only disappointing, it’s disgraceful.
Jim Emmi, Janes Road, Greece
LOVING HOMEGROWN
I am very disappointed to read that Chase-Pitkin is closing.
The big-box stores are awful: no help, impossible to find anything, too far
away. C-P may not have carried everything, but they had 90 percent of what I
needed — plus C-P is part of the community. The big-box stores could care
less about the local community.
Finally, the C-P plazas are always clean, attractive and
accessible. The big-boxes are in Henrietta — a huge shopping wasteland — or
near a mall or junky plaza. I’m unfortunately in the minority, or they wouldn’t
be closing, but it is an awful shame.
Dave Giambattista, Rosscommon Crescent, Fairport
STOPPING THE NOISE
Regarding Beth Abdallah’s letter, “Stop that Sound” (The
Mail, September 21): You’ve had it! A lot of us have had it! And there is a
group of people trying to do something about it.
Since 2001, the Rochester Soundscape Society has worked to
focus city leaders’ attention on the unnecessary noise polluting our city. They
have held yearly public forums on noise pollution, and at this year’s forum in
April, not only did they have the chief of police and his chiefs of staff, but
they also had an hour-long question-and-answer session with all four mayoral
candidates.
This group of fed-up and dedicated people meet on a monthly
basis to come up with workable and effective ways to do something about the
growing illegal noise problem in the city. Within just the past few months, the
group has gotten the police to send “noise violation warning” letters to
violators of the city noise ordinance. They are on police-department stationery
and are signed by Chief Cedric Alexander, letting people know they were
observed violating the noise ordinance.
Any citizen of the city can ask to have one of these letters
sent to someone they hear violating any of the several noise ordinances.
Although they aren’t tickets, they are logged in the police database and become
part of the police department’s record.
Soundscape members have even had many discussions with the
local school-bus companies about not using the bus horns as doorbells, with
some success.
I invite all those interested in doing something about the
illegal noises in the city to attend the next Rochester Soundscape Society
meeting on Thursday, October 13. For information, call 647-3484 or go to the
website: yahoo.com/group/rochestersoundscapesociety. Working together, we can
and will make a difference in the soundscape of our city.
JoAnne Metzler, Meigs Street, Rochester
FREE MARKET?
I take issue with Steven Landsburg’s glossing over of labor
practices, particularly since he invokes the competitive-market idea regarding
minimum wage. Labor is a commodity like any other. When there is short supply,
the price goes up. That principle is short circuited by US
business on two fronts.
The first is the manipulation of political decisions to
create a reserve force to handle the peaks of production demand. In other
words, a built-in labor surplus (3 to 5 percent) is planned, supported by unemployment
programs meagerly subsidized by government. True, this reserve force does
change and probably leads to reliable employment for individuals in time.
The existence of the reserve force also holds down
prevailing wages. A zero unemployment rate would definitely push wages up.
Hence the second front, which is to circumvent a full-employment condition by
allowing porous borders to Mexico,
and subsidizing the deportation of jobs via favorable taxing. Such antics are
not free-market behaviors.
So, yes, I agree with Landsburg’s concept regarding minimum
wage, if and when business takes full responsibility for its “reserve
force” and it ceases its endless attempts to artificially and, too often,
illegally manipulate the available labor force.
Robert Bush, Merriman Street, Rochester
LIBERTARIAN?
As a one-time Libertarian who has since worked with the
Green Party and may work with the Democrats, I was shocked to read Steven
Landsburg described as “a Libertarian who tends to vote Republican.”
A libertarian is defined as a person who allows other people
their freedom (an admittedly abstract concept). How Libertarians can support any Republican is beyond me. Republicans
are the purveyors of the winners-losers mentality that results in the losers
not having freedom.
The Republicans are not advancing their agenda through “free
trade” but through promoting the military, an organization based on hierarchy
(hardly a Libertarian ideal) and monopoly (no-bid contracts). It is true that
Democrats also sometimes have this agenda. But they are not in power now and
are probably accurately perceived as the more egalitarian of the two major
parties.
Greg Stark, South Clinton Avenue, Rochester
WRITING TO CITY
We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester14607.
Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and
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publish letters that have been sent to other media — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words have a greater chance of
being published. We do edit letters for clarity and brevity. And in general we
don’t publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces) from the same writer more
often than about once every two months.
This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2005.
