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Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

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The transportation plan on the May ballot is extensive, regional and well-integrated. It will improve hazardous intersections, rebuild and widen crumbling and congested roadways and revolutionize the urban core with the addition of a high-capacity modern streetcar.

I object to the contention that buses could provide the same service as the streetcar, but for less. The fact is that over a 20-year period, the streetcar will cost less to build, operate and maintain than a bus system, and we can get federal funds to help build it.

The fact is that rail transit consistently attracts more riders than buses. The limited weekend service provided by Old Pueblo Trolley carries five times the riders of the former Monday-Saturday Sun Tran Downtown/University of Arizona shuttle. In Portland, Ore., the modern streetcar carries eight times the riders of the preceding bus route.

Local traffic congestion simply means too many cars on the road. The mindless sprawl and our addiction to cars are the immediate cause. The massive housing construction promises more cars on the road. The Regional Transportation Authority's plan embraces and encourages sprawl and promotes our dependence on cars.

An alternative is a convenient bus system. More people taking the bus means fewer cars on the road. An efficient bus system can be implemented economically and immediately, unlike tram lines, which are costly and disruptive due to track, station and cable construction as well as ensuing maintenance. The Transportation Authority's plan moves us in the wrong direction.

Citizens of greater Tucson deserve a visionary, comprehensive and fair regional transportation plan. The Transportation Authority's plan is not it. Stop the train wreck. Vote no on the RTA plan.

I find "Dear Abby" is often idiotic and out of place in a by-and-large intelligent newspaper such as the Star.

There's got to be a better use of the Accent space, and I'm assuming there's cheaper and better syndicated material that could be printed there. I strongly recommend searching for replacement material.

Re: the April 20 article "Minutemen say they'll erect fence if Bush won't act."

That's what hate does — builds walls.

Having driven the nation into financial crisis with a carelessly executed war, the electorally desperate Republicans now race like roaches from the light of midterm elections, scrambling to regain the halo of fiscal responsibility they renounced in a power-drunk stupor. Their admission of the failure of neo-conservative theory is tardy but welcomed by those who knew it from the outset.

What is not welcome is the despicable practice of forcing officers in the field to defend the failed policies of those who avoided serving the nation when their name was called.

As a member of the group that has adopted the stretch of Los Reales running in front of the landfill, I've watched in dismay as the road gets littered up while we're cleaning it. The culprits, time and time again, are the city's own Waste Management trucks.

Plastic bags and loose papers fly out of the open tops of these government vehicles almost constantly, as they drive all over the metro area. If someone could find a way to close the tops of the trucks, at least while they're on the open road, I feel certain that it would decrease the city's litter problem by more than half.

Re: the April 19 guest column "Atheism is a liberating world view."

Dr. Gilbert D. Shapiro has been articulate and accurate in his analysis of atheism. I commend him for writing such a logical and thought-provoking piece.

I write this letter of support because I expect he will hear from many detractors.

Re: the April 19 guest column "Atheism is a liberating world view."

Gilbert D. Shapiro is guilty of fallacies of presumption at best, flat-out ignorance at worst. There are so many unsupportable claims made that I'm surprised the Star agreed to print the column.

Evolution is not a "nondebatable scientific truth." Informed Christians are happy to keep an open mind and enter the debate because, from their worldview, the evidence would lead a thinking person to the conclusion that there definitely is a creator.

There is an axiom in Christianity that says, "If you (the atheist) are right and I believe in God, when I die I've lost nothing. But if I'm right and you don't believe in God, when you die you've lost everything."

In the future, please stick to columns where the author at least backs up his position with some relevant facts and not just spurious claims.

There's lots of foolishness about illegal immigration in Arizona. Punish employers? Ha ha. Is anyone silly enough to think that Republicans are serious about that?

Undocumented workers are victims of entrapment, of an exploitation conspiracy of their employers and the government. The Social Security Administration banks tax payments for obviously phony Social Security numbers, figuring that they will never have to pay benefits to these workers.

The felons are the employers, our congressmen and bureaucrats. Let our legislators arrange for their own arrest.

The April 22 article "10 Pima districts would join vocational ed plan" was fabulous and long overdue.

Vocational institutes are the secret to Arizona's economic success. An even bigger secret is that Pima County taxpayers are already paying for vocational education in every other county, including Maricopa County.

We need to pass the vocational education initiative in November so that we can bring our money home now.