Regarding "Disability transit exacts a rising toll" (April 9): I remember how the world receded from my 84-year-old mother after she lost her battle with glaucoma. Disabled and lonely, entirely dependent for mobility upon her busy adult children, she lost her freedom and her sense of having a purpose in life. She deteriorated mentally, physically and spirituality. She lost her will to live.
Now in my mid-70s, I vowed never to be deprived of my freedom and dignity simply because I could no longer drive. I live within walking distance of shops and restaurants, and have easy access to public transportation, including services like Metro Mobility should I become disabled. But Republicans in the Legislature want to take Metro Mobility away from thousands of elderly and disabled people by cutting its funding.
Boston may want to "think outside the box," but I'll be damned if I'm going to ride with largely unregulated Uber or Lyft, gig-enterprises that undercut the business and decent wages of taxi drivers.
There must be a way to fully fund Metro Mobility with a combination of funding sources, including slightly higher fares. Elderly and disabled people are members of our community who deserve to live out their lives with the basic dignity and independence provided by its services.
L. Hope Melton, Edina
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Two recent family ambulance bills of $3,600 per trip reminded me how expensive medical transit can be. There are various ways to reduce the increasing deficits on disability transit and all public transit in our metro area. Choosing any public transit offers great savings from the high costs of car ownership. The average cost of a car and parking could easily be $30 per day. Charging only $4 for a $24 average Metro Mobility ride is certainly not the answer! Individual fares should be based on income and wealth — some could easily pay $24 for Metro Mobility rides or $5 for bus and light-rail rides.
Many families move their disabled members in their personal vans, and churches often provide some of these services. We should study the best-financed transit systems of other cities countrywide for ideas to improve our system. Perhaps competitive bids could improve the costs, along with more efficient scheduling. Employers often subsidize parking and bus transportation and could do likewise for any disabled workers' transit needs.
The financial drain of public-transit deficits will continue to be criticized by taxpayers until all riders pay their fair share. We can no longer continue to escalate subsidies on this broken financial model. Save the subsidizing for the individuals who truly need them.
Michael Tillemans, Minneapolis
THE LEGISLATURE
Raid on Legacy money
It's impossible to follow everything at the state Capitol, so my friends tend to ask me how the Clean Water Land and Legacy funds are doing, because they know I track them. Up until this session, the answer has been "pretty good." The money accelerated on-the-ground work, and the Legislature has mostly followed the citizen councils' transparent advice.
This year, a year with a large general fund surplus, all the players at the Capitol — House, Senate, governor — are departing widely from citizen recommendations in order to use dedicated funds to pay for things that historically have been paid for from the general fund or bonding dollars. Needless to say, it is not what the various citizen councils created through the legislative process have recommended.
Ask your state senator to speak up about following the citizen recommendations for Legacy and lottery funds.
Steve Woods, St. Paul
GEOPOLITICS
Getting worried …
Am I just being paranoid? North Korea is preparing another, more dangerous nuclear weapon test, and an American armada is rushing toward the Korean Peninsula. Both Pyongyang and Washington have unpredictable and unseasoned leaders. President Trump's Cabinet is overstocked with military men, and civilian oversight of our military has all but disappeared.
If Kim Jong-un ignites his nuclear device and the U.S. attacks the site, the repercussions would be devastating and deadly. It could well be America's "Reichstag fire," further opening the door to the Republican agenda of curbing immigration, and the erosion of civil and voting rights.
War is a horror, though certain industries have always profited from it. Would Trump's billionaire friends stand to profit from a major military conflict? Am I just being paranoid? Ja, you betcha. I hope all of this is simply a bad dream!
Curt Oliver, Brooklyn Park
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Trump is quoted as saying "What I do is I authorize my military" in response to a reporter's question about the use of a massive bomb in an assault on Islamic State of Syria and Iraq group positions in Afghanistan.
Only despots, dictators or royalty own their military. The military of the United States is not Trump's military; it is the military of the American people, who pay for it.
His use of language is starting to evolve as if he were a despot, dictator or royalty — or perhaps all three rolled into one. Americans should be on guard.
Stephen M. Dent, Golden Valley
IMMIGRATION
Not a zero-sum game
Just a quick note regarding the April 14 counterpoint "The last thing we need is more political snake oil." The writer's comments about immigration assume that immigration is a zero-sum game. Any American traveling to other countries will immediately recognize that we here in the U.S. have a massive country with an average low population density. A "dreamer or anchor baby" doesn't take away the ability to recruit talented foreigners. The only limiting factor is our laws placing an arbitrary cap on people desiring to immigrate or remain here. One group doesn't take away from another; only our laws do. And laws can be changed.
Tom Saylor, Minneapolis
St. PAUL GARBAGE HAULING
The flotsam in Frogtown
There's a lot of talk about how St. Paul residents ought to be able to choose their garbage hauler ("St. Paul navigates bumpy road toward organized trash hauling," April 11). The flip side of the coin is equity. Everybody in St. Paul should expect their neighborhood to be clean.
Here's how it actually works. If you live in Frogtown, like I do, a certain number of your neighbors either don't have the money or, maybe, the interest, in paying to get their garbage hauled. If they have two or three mattresses they need to get rid of, and they have the choice between paying $100 or so for disposal or dumping them in your alley, they're choosing door No. 2. The result: tires, mattresses, TVs and furniture scattered freely throughout the neighborhood.
Needless to say, this is not my "choice." Real cities find a way to pick up trash in every neighborhood. St. Paul's current system doesn't get the job done.
Anthony Schmitz, St. Paul
U.S. BANK STADIUM
Thanks for the skating. More?
I want to thank the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority and the Minnesota Vikings for the opportunity to Rollerblade in the new U.S. Bank Stadium this winter. There were 14 dates available, and I made almost every one. I hope more dates will open up for people to use this wonderful public facility. I prefer to be out on the bike trails, but having this option during the long winter months sure is refreshing. Maybe two days a week would be possible, maybe even on a weekend?
