Speak Out 10/23/09

What he's done

AFTER less than a year in office, the president succeeded in dividing his own nation, promised to withdraw from Iraq (which will cause more deaths than ever in a civil war), will charge every individual about $8,000 a year for health care (even if they do not enroll), hosted a beer brawl at the White House and made arrangements to balloon our deficit more than President Bush ever imagined. That deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

City's ROI

I am all for modernizing Cape Girardeau. However, if only $100,000 is saved yearly with the new trash system, Wouldn't that make the return on investment 35 years? How does that help our budget? I would like some clarification on this.

Street opposition

REGARDING the Transportation Trust Fund 4 projects list: Citizens who live on Vantage Drive are against the extension of Veterans Memorial Drive to Hopper Road. It would only add to the noise of the interstate by cutting down trees, which are our only barrier. I have been concerned about this since I moved into my house and heard about these plans. We were not informed of these future plans when we bought our house. The extension would only lower our house values.

Landlord complaint

I am glad to hear there is a landlord association being started in Scott City. I live in an apartment building, and the music is so loud on the weekends that it knocks pictures off the wall and dishes out of the cabinets. The landlord does not fix anything in the apartment building that we tell him is messed up. When he is doing some kind of construction he does not give us any notice. I hope the landlord association will help us.

TTF-4 projects

As projects are discussed for Transportation Trust Fund 4 funding, it seems the work is being directed in the wrong areas. If the city were really interested in spending those funds wisely, it would look to the west and north instead of rebuilding old streets. The Broadway portion of the plan should be scrapped until the property owners there put some effort into upgrading. A new street there would be like lipstick on a pig. Proposed projects on West End Boulevard and Bloomfield Road are pandering to special interests. The LaSalle Avenue project is a nice road to nowhere, and now the Missouri Department of Transportation must spend a few million to upgrade Route W just make the full circle back to Kingshighway. The best bang for the buck would be Lewis and Clark Parkway as a direct route to the new interchange. A possible coalition with the Cape Special Road District to upgrade County Road 620 should also be discussed as traffic on it has increased since LaSalle Avenue was completed.

Jackson policing

PART of the reason for the speeding problems in Jackson may be that the Jackson police are now responsible for part of Interstate 55. Police officers do their best to cover all areas, but with the extra area they are expected to cover they can't be on all sides of town. They are having to cover much more area for the manpower they have. You might consider contacting the mayor's office or city council members to get more officers hired to help with the overload. Speeders may be the least of our worries in Jackson. As the town grows, so does the crime.

Turn them loose

REGARDING the overcrowding of prisoners: If they're not a danger to society, they ought to be turned loose and put to work.