08/31/2007

Letters to the Editor

An important issue

H.R. 676, the comprehensive health insurance coverage bill now before Congress, is an issue is of monumental importance.

I've been researching this issue for weeks, and nowhere on earth is there any system in existence that is less expensive and as high quality as the single-payer approach. Some are better than others, but all are better than the nightmare we are currently enduring.

In countries where there are appropriate government services, everyone has more money left at the end of the month than we do. All the yammering about "taxes” is just a scare tactic. They're paying the bills the same as we are, but they're actually getting something for their money.

Please support this bill — it's vital to our survival.

Catherine Snetsinger
Traverse City

Proposed park a fiasco

This is regarding the proposed Grayling "Amazement” Park. If the Grayling Township Board votes to put one dime into this fiasco, they should be recalled.

The township supervisor, Terry Wright, has stated that he wasn't aware of all the "details.” A quick Google search by me several weeks ago revealed everything in the article plus much more. If the township wasn't aware, they're incompetent. If they were aware, they were untruthful.

If the property is sold by the state and the project fails (which it surely would), those who end up owning the land will be free to use as they see fit.

How do you think a 1,200-acre garbage disposal site would go over?

Bruce Johnson
Grayling

Downtown vs. sprawl

On Aug. 26, business editor Bill O'Brien wrote critically and harshly about city Commissioner Scott Hardy and Tax Increment Financing for downtown development. He expressed philosophical concerns about enriching landowners and developers.

But when he referred to an impact of growth as "growing stretches of roads that resemble Anytown, U.S.A.,” he seems to be confusing downtown development with urban sprawl. Perhaps he is the one who, as he said "doesn't get it.”

Developing downtowns is the alternative to, not the cause of, urban sprawl. I applaud those who strive to make downtown Traverse City an even more vibrant and exciting place to work and live near.

Ed Kalat
Traverse City