Reader feedback 7.9.03

The crab example

Regarding recent letters
about the transit terminal from Paul Haney, Doug Midkiff, and others (The Mail,
June 25):

                  A couple of years ago, during one of our
community’s endless and self-defeating rounds of bickering about something or
other, I asked a business leader how we could change the culture of our
political, cultural, and business leaders to focus on the positives instead of
the negatives.

                  He responded with the story of the Maryland
crabber. It seems that two tourists were walking along the shores of the
Chesapeake Bay, when they came upon a crabber. The crabber was picking up crabs
and throwing them into his open-topped basket.

                  The tourists said, “You’d better put a top on
that basket, or else those crabs will crawl out.” The crabber replied,
“There’s no need. You see, these crabs are so stupid, every time one of
them starts to climb up towards the light, another one pulls him back
down.”

                  It’s well past time that we find ways to work
together to move our community forward. Those crabs wound up in a steam pot.

                  Bill Nojay,
Pittsford (Nojay chairs the board of the Rochester-Genesee Regional
Transportation Authority)

Use the aqueduct

Rochester already has an
underground transportation terminal: the Broad Street canal aqueduct across the
Genesee River and the former Rochester subway station. There even seems to be
adjacent property available for office space, on the corner of Broad and
Exchange.

                  An Aqueduct Station would have many advantages over
the Mortimer site:

                  1) Hardly anyone would take a trip just to see a
bus terminal, but many people would take a ride to tour the old subway station.
(See the many websites dedicated to
pictures folks have taken exploring down there.)

                  2) An Aqueduct Station would not only serve people
from the east side of the city and link them to the skyway system, but it would
also finally give skyway access to westsiders. This would get even more folks out of the rain and cold, Mr.
Nojay!

                  3) An Aqueduct Station would be a destination in
itself all week long. Folks could take the bus to work, to the Convention
Center, to the hotels. Jurors would finally not have to fight for parking due
to direct Aqueduct Station access to the Civic Center complex.

                  How about taking a bus direct to the War Memorial
arena? The library borders the Aqueduct Station, and the station would not be a
long walk from High Falls and Frontier Field. It would also provide a great
link for taking the bus to the Corn Hill Festival in the summer. How much more
of a central station could it be?

                  Jim Buckheit,
Gold Street, Rochester

Changing our culture

Thank you for the
illuminating article by Jack Bradigan Spula on the project bringing Greece
religious youth into city day camps, child-care centers, etc, to bridge divides
and bring together people from different communities (“The Bridge at the Edge
of Town,” June 11).

                  The article made me think of something social
policy professor Paul Stein of the U of R spoke of recently, about the
importance of “relative deprivation” in our quality of life and our
understanding of ourselves. He said, “Social inequality kills you not
through allotment of resources but through mediation of that allotment.”

                  Our experience of our relative social position
builds us up if we are near the top, or brings us down if we are closer to the
bottom, even slowly kills us. This is not to discount the fact and harm of
absolute material poverty, only to add the social and emotional parts of
deprivation in a wealthy land.

                  Stein also talked about changing what the
“pie” is made of, from financial and other material resources, to
social relationships —that is, changing our culture.

                  Your article about suburban youths participating in
city camps, etc., and enjoying this helping out, made me think of this kind of
culture change. If we as a people can change our focus from material goods to
relationships in the widest sense, and develop feelings of obligation for each
other’s well being, maybe we can eventually achieve a humane county, state,
nation, and world.

                  Claire
Olson, Benton Street, Rochester (Olson is a student in the Greater
Rochester Collaborative Master of Social Work Program)

French, after XXI

After the sudden visit from
the Lord-High Executioner, I simply can’t just disappear into the ether after six
years of a relationship with classical music listeners at WXXI-FM. It’s been
too personal. I absolutely must say “thank you” for being so supportive and
kind with your many phone calls, letters, and items you’ve sent. Thank you for
sharing your comments, insights, and even corrections so warmly.

                  I was doing what I intended to do for the rest of
my work days, but a radio career has now come to a premature end. We were
dealing with what I call “God’s original soul food,” which I eat,
drink, breathe, enjoy, and love so passionately. What I will miss most is the
ability to share it with you (and that door swung both ways).

                  Several persons have said, “You’re a
well-known voice in this community. If you ever lose your job, you can at least
sell your voice.” I answered, “Yes, but while they know who I am, I
don’t know who they are.” If you liked my work over the years and if you
can use it in voice-over work in audio or video production in advertising,
promotion, sales or training or education materials, etc., do contact me. I now
need you. I’m in the phone directory (224-9655) or at gilfrench@yahoo.com

                  Gil French,
Wisconsin Street, Rochester

Losing Gil French

Fans of classical-music
radio 91.5 WXXI will be devastated to know that Gil French, the station’s peerless
weekday announcer, was summarily laid off recently, apparently the victim of
the management’s decision to make room for additional automated programming.

                  It is disheartening enough to learn that WXXI-FM
would allow the further depersonalization of its airwaves by subscribing to
such a service, but to pave the way for it by firing its finest classical-music
announcer (and voice of the RPO) is nothing less than a tragedy.

                  Not one of the live announcers remaining on the
WXXI roster comes close to being able to fill the gap left by French’s abrupt
dismissal, and indeed quite a handful of them fall light-years behind him. A
big loss for serious music lovers in this area, and a big mistake on the part
of a station trying hard to maintain support from a community as culturally
adept as ours!

                  E. Thomas
Glasow, Oaklawn Drive, Rochester (Glasgow is editor of The Opera Quarterly)

The flag’s meaning

Regarding “Flag This Vote”
(Metro Ink, June 25): Surely the Congress of the United States has more
important matters to discuss than a proposed amendment to the Constitution to
ban flag burning. When will the honorable members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate realize that the symbol is replaceable, while
the rights, privileges, and protections the symbol represents are often
difficult and costly to replace?

                  What the flag represents was not won by the symbol.
The rights and privileges we enjoy today have their foundation in what happened
574 years before the Constitution was adopted, when the Magna Carta was
approved at Runnymead, England.

                  The ideals embodied in the Bill of Rights,
especially the First Amendment, have been nurtured by men and women who fought
against the very tyranny Congress would impose on the nation with this foolish
amendment. Has not the Supreme Court made it clear that such an act is in clear
violation of the First Amendment?

                  Freedom is a messy business. Yet out of this
messiness has come the strength of this nation. I believe it was Ben Franklin
who, when asked what the Founders had created in July of 1776, said, “We
have given birth to a republic if you can keep it. ” An amendment banning
flag burning undermines the principles on which this nation was established.

                  While I may disagree with the person who is burning
the US flag, I will gladly defend their right to do so. Their right to protest
and disagree with me is more important than the flag. It is also the very
embodiment of what the flag represents.

                  Wayne
Dillenback, Cedarwood Terrace, Rochester

Next week’s mail:Readers’ comments on the WRUR-WXXI partnership.

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, Rochester 14607.

                  Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters
— and we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. 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 once every three months.

This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2003.