Letters to
the editor
Admissions articles
The Reporter recently published two articles in the same issue both about the difficulty encountered by students in gaining admissions to college. “UW, Western deny top students” and “College ‘legacies’ are fading tradition.” Both of these articles ignored for the most part the success found by numerous students in getting into their top choices. The resulting impression is that nearly no one gets into their ‘dream school,’ which isn’t true. My larger objection, however, is the Reporter’s poor journalistic form. The newspaper utilized interviews with one student and his father to write two articles — one largely based on their anecdotal experience. That is ridiculous. While I am interested in what the Schorrs have to say, there is no need to quote them twice.
Letter to vandals
On April 18, under cover of darkness, you and your criminal friends thought you were having great fun throwing rocks at car windows along West Mercer Way. I saw three broken-out car windows in a six-block area. One was the smashed-out driver’s window of a grandmother’s car. She has not been able to drive it, and the repair quote is about $800. So just what are the consequences of your stupid idea of fun? Since it is over $200, it is a felony. You will never be able to say that you have never committed a felony. If you do under a lie detector, you will fail. If you ever develop a conscience or manhood, you will have to repair the damage you have done. You will not only have to pay for the damage but will have to personally apologize to this 60-year-old grandmother, to her nine children and some other two dozen grandchildren who are wondering just what kind of low-life would do such a thing to their grandmother’s car. I must assume you also have a mother or grandmother; how would you feel if someone smashed out their car windows? Pretty funny, huh? You must make your parents proud, as you must have bragged to them about your rampage? Sadly, the world is full of victims and predators, workers and exploiters, law-abiding citizens and the criminally insane. The life you choose entails certain benefits or misery. You have chosen poorly.
Reichert on
2008 GI bill
On Thursday, May 15, Republican Representative Dave Reichert of the 8th Congressional District had the chance to vote for our veterans, on the 2008 GI Bill.
The World War II GI Bill was not only the morally right thing to do for our troops, it also laid the foundation for the greatest expansion of our middle class and our economy ever. However, since then, the cost of college has gone up along with everything else.
Voting to modernize the GI Bill was the right thing to do, and the price tag was a tiny part of the Pentagon budget. But, Reichert decided to vote against our veterans anyway.
You can look it up. He made his choice; now you make your choice.
Merrimount – ICW planning
Having used this intersection several times daily for nearly 50 years, I have observed (and participated in) the evolution of traffic patterns there. I’ll admit to some bias.
Your article on May 14 sets forth three options for permanently replacing the temporary experiment begun there last summer. Of the options described in your article, the third seems like a no-brainer, and I hope it can be adopted without further agony.
Another of the proposed concepts is to install curbs down the center of ICW to prevent turns to northbound ICW from Merrimount. Resulting adjustments in traffic patterns are expected to work themselves out over time, a curious approach to traffic planning.
In effect, a large section of the southwest Island will be denied access to the north and northeast, with the unintended consequence of making matters much worse elsewhere.
Hopefully that concept will be seen as the non-starter it is, although it’s being touted by some as the simplest and cheapest solution. City Council member Dan Grausz is quoted in your paper with a rather cavalier prediction that the “community will eventually realize it’s no big deal to use other intersections and routes…”
Since Mr. Grausz resides on First Hill, he’s certainly not among those affected. But is he really as unfamiliar as it appears, with the dearth of routes and intersections available along West Mercer below and above Merrimount?
For those not familiar with this part of the island, here are the options that would be available to the (3000?) affected motorists:
Continue north on West Mercer to I-90. But if one’s goal is to get eastbound on I-90, or to other NE parts of the island, this option loads up the downtown traffic grid that’s already dealing with the results of development there.
Instead, most motorists will likely continue north on West Mercer, then 78th, then east on 40th, and finally join northbound traffic on ICW there. In so doing, motorists add significant distance to their trip, and must pass thru a school zone, twice! Safety and environmental costs must thus be added to the equation.
Perhaps drivers will instead proceed north on 78th and then through the downtown core. As asked above, is this really what we want? Time for a reality check?
One last remaining choice might have been to get to ICW via SE 46th, a terrible idea for this one-lane neighborhood “street”, wisely foreclosed on in proposal #3 by including center curbing there as well.
While I’m no traffic engineer, and certainly lack the insights and wisdom of a City Councilperson, it does strike me that the “simplest and cheapest” solution supported by Mr.Grausz would turn out to be neither cheap nor simple.
Hans O. Orth
