Weighing In on the Post Office
If the Post Office worries about the dropoff in items of mail posted each day (and the drop in revenue), just wait ’til our overnight delivery system turns into two days or more (“Postmark Hartford?”, November 17, 2011). Ever more people will abandon the PO for email or private services.
Cut subsidies on small POs and eliminate Saturday service: that I can live with. Slower service I cannot. Better to franchise postal services in rural areas and innovate more. Introduce other services (government or otherwise) inside PO buildings. Many of them occupy prime real estate. Use it!
Celt C. Grant
via Internet
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No More Outages: Bury Wires
I have proposed in writing that Springfield needs a signature challenging goal that will be of benefit to all sectors of the city; will have a significant and long-lasting positive impact on the city; will inspire the general public; will put people back to work in a wide range of jobs; can engage all levels of government; is quantifiable; is doable; and needs to be done.
I believe “under-grounding,” the process of burying overhead power, telephone and cable lines and removing the utility poles which currently hold them, is that signature challenging goal. It certainly is an idea whose time has come.
Springfield could be the prototype city to do it in a cost-efficient and timely manner, utilizing all the many stakeholders this would affect: the general public, city, state and federal government, power, telephone, cable television and insurance companies.
There already are sections of Springfield that have done this. All of these entities would benefit greatly with the vast improvement in reliability, safety, property values, efficiency and aesthetics.
I urge Mayor Sarno, the Springfield City Council, the Springfield School Committee, the state legislative delegation, U.S. Congressman Neal, both U.S. senators Kerry and Brown, and the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce to seriously consider “under-grounding.”
Other towns in Massachusetts, including Concord, Wellesley, Bedford, Duxbury, Nantucket, Holden and Needham, have completed limited projects to bury wires. Other towns that currently have projects underway include Chelmsford, North Andover and Westwood.
Robert E. McCollum
Springfield
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How Different Are the Two Parties?
Are Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress really different?
* Both have increased our country’s debt for more than three decades.
* Both are corrupted by corporate/lobby money.
* Both spend too much time trying to get re-elected.
* Both blindly follow their party’s platform.
* Both have failed to solve the nation’s serious problems, like illegal immigration, our enormous debt, and our declining educational system.
The answer is, there is no significant difference between these parties. In order to get better results from Congress, we need to change how we select and elect the members.
There is a new process to select and elect True Citizen Representatives for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 who are independent of a political party, will serve a limited term, and will refuse to accept lobby money. Learn more and join up by going to www.goooh.com.
Billy D. Clifford
Austin, Texas
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Countdown for Iran
Recently the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency concluded Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The evidence, including satellite images, overwhelmingly points to the manufacture of nuclear weapons within the short term, probably on the order of a number of months to a year. U.S. intelligence information corroborates this assessment.
The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, along with the capability to deliver the nuclear weapons via missile systems, poses a threat to the Middle East and Europe.
Sanctions and diplomacy have not worked to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The countdown to prevent Iran from possibly launching nuclear attacks is approaching action time by threatened powers in the Middle East.
Donald A. Moskowitz
Londonderry, N.H.
