KEEP THE ART!
Imagine this breakfast conversation somewhere is middle
America:
“Hi, honey; good to have you home. How was your
business trip?” “Not bad; I was in Rochester
for a couple of days. While waiting for my flight, I saw this great business
center by an anonymous business-center designer. Have you heard of her? I think
you would like her anonymous business-center-designer work.”
What are the airport managers, CountyLegislature, and county executive
thinking about? Rochester has all
these cultural resources that are a great way to distinguish our fair burg from
all the rest. Please, please reconsider this ill-conceived plan to remove this
signature work from our airport!
Tom Burke, Birch Crescent, Rochester (Burke is president of RoCo –
the Rochester Contemporary and a business traveler.)
KUHL SCIENCE
I am deeply dismayed by Congressman Randy Kuhl’s immoral
decision to support President Bush’s veto against embryonic stem cell research.
This pivotal research is the key to unlocking biomedical pathways for cures in
diabetes, Parkinson’s, Lou Gherig’s disease, and many more. These embryonic
stem cells could have been salvaged for promising research at the University of
Rochester Medical Center. Now they will be destined to be discarded by
fertility clinics.
I pose this question to President Bush and Representative
Kuhl: Can science and religion coexist?
Ramesh Padman,
Pittsford
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
The Center for Governmental Research may have the best of
intentions with their efforts this election season, but based on your report
(“We’ve Got Issues,” Metro Ink, July 19), they do not seem to
understand why voter apathy exists. The problem is not issue-based. The problem
is with “the system.”
People are fed up because no matter who is elected, the
results are always the same. Elected officials are committed, in this order, to
their own re-election, party loyalty, and then maybe their constituents. And
their re-election includes an overriding loyalty to corporate interests. People
lose their jobs, health care, and human dignity while our “representatives”
commit to funding tourist attractions, corporate welfare, and campaign war
chests.
Based on my interactions with the electorate, CGR would best
serve the community if they were to push for Instant Runoff Voting, transparent
counting of ballots, and public financing of elections. There will never be
substantial, progressive change in our society until the fundamental structure
of our government is changed. The disaffected voters understand this; they just
feel powerless to do anything.
Dave Atias, Berkeley Street, Rochester (Atias is co-chair of the
Green Party of Monroe County.)
STOPPING THE CARNAGE
Our government can
hardly bring a stop to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict (“Cease Fire,” Urban
Journal, July 26).It shows no inclination to even try.
Israel
had released prisoners previously in exchange for hostages. Why not this time?
Why are they holding more than1000 women and children prisoners? When Israel
kills of hundreds of people to retaliate for its soldiers who were taken
hostage or killed, President Bush calls it “defending itself.” He
sends weapons — then blames Syria
and Iran for
helping to arm Hezbollah.
Sure, we
will negotiate, just not with anyone involved: Hezbollah,
Syria, or Iran.
Of course, Mr. Bush’s idea of negotiating is to list all the top items
requiring negotiation, then to tell the parties involved that these items are
nonnegotiable.
Since we
have armed Israel
for a very long time and clearly sided with its government against Palestine,
how can we be included in any brokering of deals? The United
States should recuse
itself, as judges do in cases where they are too biased to be fair or
objective.
Granted, it
is difficult to find objectivity, as Israel
has lost credibility and provoked many of those who have supported it since
1967. But countries that are more removed than we are should be allowed to try,
as a committee, to settle the present situation without our meddling. Then all
involved must follow any recommendations made by such a committee.
Byrna Weir, Brighton
FOR SUOZZI
I am writing to support Tom Suozzi for governor and to
comment on Eliot Spitzer’s long-running, expensive, yet still largely unfocused
campaign.
I am a long-time local resident and very politically active,
having served for five years in my town government and continuing to advocate
strongly within my town. I consider myself a Democrat, though I have voted for
Governor Pataki and have flourished within my town’s Republican political
setting. I am planning to vote Democratic this November.
What I like about Tom Suozzi and the reason I joined his
campaign is that he is fresh, energetic, and unfazed; he brings a strong
financial background as a tax attorney; he has a proven track recordas a county executive in a state
district with many needs, and he has flourished as a Democrat in a Republican
stronghold in New York State, which I know from personal experience is no easy
feat.
As an Upstate New Yorker, I take issue with Spitzer’s characterization
of this area as “Appalachia.” He offers no real program
to help jump-start the Upstate economy, and by that comment he made fairly
clear his lack of appreciation for the people of this region. His entire
history is centered around Wall Street and the very wealthy of New
York City.
Tom Suozzi offers substance. Eliot Spitzer offers ambiguity.
Judith Wolf,
Pittsford
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
we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. We don’t
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 Aug 2-8, 2006.
