Costs what?
It’s remarkable what Congress can do when money is no object, as the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure demonstrated when it put out a blueprint for a reauthorization bill to govern the nation’s spending on transportation. It’s a cornucopia of goodies that’s getting strong reviews from interest groups, mainly because it gives them nearly everything they’ve been asking for: Environmentalists get a new bureaucracy to encourage green projects, public transit agencies get a big influx of cash, high-speed rail enthusiasts get new trains, and states get billions in additional money to build and improve roads, bridges and highways.
Wrong way
Lee Iacocca had some interesting comments recently regarding the automotive industry.
Us too
The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq’s cities yesterday was the beginning of an end scheduled to be completed by 2012, when all American forces must leave that country.
Suggests reviewing America's start
EPHRATA — Independence, according to World Book Dictionary is the freedom from control.
Discussing the growth of potato patches
MOSES LAKE — For many, if not most Americans, the act of putting food on the table involves getting in a car and driving to the supermarket. For others, farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, neighborhood stores or backyard gardens are an option. For a growing number, getting food means walking to their neighborhood community garden and pulling fresh produce out of their own plot.
Can America's greatness be subsidized?
OLYMPIA — Every society that has lived for the moment has lived to regret it. Without the foresight to plan for the future, societies’ indulgences lead to inevitable downfalls. Is this what we’re seeing in America today?
Letters
GANGS
I grew up in the Yakima Valley and moved to Moses Lake in 2003, so I have some experience with seeing a community falling apart because of gang violence. I have heard the hollow words from both city and county leaders, “we do not have a gang problem,” and it is time to face facts and admit that yes we do have a gang problem. Granted it is not at the level of Los Angeles or Detroit, but now is the time to stop it before it gets out of control. The recent murder of Juan Vasquez should be a call to action for everyone to get involved in the community and with your children. Preventing gang activity starts at home with parents knowing what their kids are doing and who they are hanging out with. It also requires that law enforcement officers get to know the people in their community so that they have a good relationship with the citizens they are sworn to protect. Neighbors need to watch out for each other and report suspicious activity in their neighborhood. Gangs are a systemic problem and no single solution is adequate, the issue must be tackled on multiple fronts and everyone needs to be involved in the process. If we continue to ignore the problem it will only get worse. So we have a choice before us: be proactive and fix the problem before it gets out of hand; or be reactive and watch our community spiral into a cycle of gang violence that will be difficult to recover from. The choice is ours.
CASH FOR CLUNKERS
Here is my opinion about the “cash for clunkers” bill that President Obama is about to sign into law.
MOSES LAKE CITY COUNCIL
I think it is interesting to read the comments from Joyce Rector from her June 18th letter to the editor. My view on the two Liebrecht’s husband and wife running for separate city council positions is wrong. I believe that there is a hidden agenda for the both of them like stacking the votes at city council or trying to push personal or beneficial issues through city council. I also found out that they have both tried this tactic before to run city council a few times with only one the husband having success that is slightly suspicious to me. I believe that the city council should be neutral and biases with no possibility weighing votes or personal gain with the cities best interests in that persons thoughts. I know there is no such thing as “nepotism” in the city council but there should be something in the ordinance or regulations on only being able to have one member of a household or direct family “i.e. husband, wife, son, daughter, etc” run for city council.
LIBRARY EXPANSION
I am a boy scout in Troop #67 here in Moses Lake. I recently volunteered at the Moses Lake Public Library as part of come work for a merit badge. I learned that there is a lot more to the library that just books. There are DVDs, CDs, computers with Internet access, story times for babies and older kids and great reading programs. The library is always busy. There is always a line for the computers. People go there to do their homework and sometimes people do tutoring there too.
DANGEROUS TRAFFIC
My son has been going to North Elementary school for two years now. The teachers are great and they have a fantastic new principal! But even after two years of my son attending this school, I have found many failed attempts to regulate the process in which the parents pick up their children. Cars no longer line up to pick up their children. I find that they are parking illegally in handicap parking or fire access as well. I find that many parents race to the front so they can cut in line almost hitting children who are passing through or they park next to a car that is already in line and honk for their children to come out into moving traffic and get into their car. Further more, they seat their 10 year old and younger children in the front seats of their cars without booster seats. It seems as though the worse the weather gets the more dangerous the other parents driving gets. Although the new principal does a wonderful job directing cars she is not always available to do so. With school budgets cut so low, it leaves me wondering should our children’s safety be considered even after school is out? Or should we continue to allow these other parents to continue to violate not only school rules, but basic child safety practices.
TRUCK TRAFFIC
For several years traffic, mainly truck traffic has been running over the corner of my property destroying all efforts to provide a boundary between my property and the road right away. Complaints have been met with indifference and lack of solutions. I was told that nothing could be done about it because it is a public road. In my search of Grant County Municipal Codes I discovered there is a solution. Chapter 11.16 Urban Arterials and Chapter 11.16.010 Designated. There are designated Urban arterials which mean all other roads are not or arterial traffic is prohibited. It is time to resolve this issue and restrict traffic where prohibited. All efforts to add certain roads to designated arterials will be met with resistance.
U.S. PRESIDENT
I have just finished spending an hour listening to the President’ press conference, and the analysts version of what was said, and still don’t know the significance of the whole thing. To me it sounded like a desperate effort to justify throwing a trillion plus to remodel health care after the up to now debacle of the stimulus plan. Did I hear right it won’t cost more taxes because we will save that much by eliminating all the misuse and graft in the present system? Yeah, that sounds like the logic I find on the grocery store printout. All the dollars I have saved on today’s purchase. The more I spend the more I save. But I never get to spend the savings because they are just a figment of imagination... Sounds like the stimulus plan!
