City future must involve manufacturing

Your June 9 editorial -- "Baltimore: 'Sick City'?" -- touches the most important long-range aspect of Baltimore's life, employment.

The reason behind the sick city, however, is not the loss of our work ethic. Rather, it is the changed type of jobs.

Manufacturing jobs are disappearing from Baltimore, as testified my own daily 100-mile trek to Federalsburg so that I may work in a manufacturing company as a mechanical engineer.

In their place are jobs in insurance companies, banks, federal government offices and high-tech medical research facilities.

Absenteeism, while still important, plays less of a role in an environment of reports and studies than it does in a production facility where timing is everything, and the facility must run.

Christmas paper cups have little value in January; lawn mower sales are non-existent in November. And the changing work force which now includes both parents must use more sick time to allow one parent to take care of the sick kids.

The real significance to all this is that our government leaders must work to bring back that which made Baltimore great -- big industry.

Let the headlines read ". . . Company to employ 1,000 workers relocates its manufacturing plant to Baltimore" rather than the recent headline, "Medical research facility coming to Fells Point to employ 50 highly trained personnel."

Manufacturing is where it's at.

David Heston

Glen Arm

Mona and Bob

You broke the camel's back June 13 with two articles on the Other Voices page. You were correct to run them on that page because I definitely would like to know what planet the authors are living on.

You have Mona Charen hailing Oliver North as a conquering hero ("Ollie's our man). Here's a guy who openly defied and lied to Congress and who voters now want to join that body. I guess their reasoning is, "at least we know he's a liar and a crook before we elect him so there's no surprises."

Is the Republican Party this hard up? I sure hope so. Maybe it will lose a few more congressional seats. But I always thought Republicans took their voting seriously.

Then you have Bob Herbert explaining the woes of the poor who work for jobs that sadly underpay, but let's blame the Clinton administration ("The job-killer policy").

Wasn't it the Republicans who nixed the idea of supplementing the incomes of the poor who wanted to work until they moved up the ladder in terms of pay? Maybe their thinking was that, since the poor had cushy jobs paying minimum wage, it would be ludicrous.

The fact that President Bill Clinton is just pondering creating jobs and a program to teach working skills is enough for me after a year and a half in office. It's more than all that was was accomplished over the last 12 years.

Cindy McKenna

Baltimore

Incinerator vote

On June 13, the City Council voted to delay a hearing on a bill that would permit replacement of the present polluting Pulaski Highway incinerator by another incinerator at the same site.

It is unfortunate The Evening Sun's report on the meeting did not include the results of the roll call vote on the motion to delay, which was made by Councilman John Cain ("Council delays incinerator hearing," June 14).

This issue is one of concern to all Baltimore citizens, as is evident from the extraordinary number of people who attended more than 13 hours of hearings before the City Planning Commission on May 26 and June 2. More than 80 groups and individuals spoke at these hearings.

If the people of this city are to hold council members accountable it is important for them to know how these representatives vote on important issues. The Evening Sun could perform a public service by printing the results of roll call votes on major issues before the City Council.

For the record, the results on the motion to delay were:

In favor: City Council President Clarke, council members Cain, D'Adamo, Sfikas, Ambridge, Branch, Stokes, O'Malley, Bell, Murphy.

Opposed: council members Cunningham, Curran, Welch, Hall, Reeves, Spector, Stukes.

Abstaining: council members DiBlasi, Dixon.

Anneke Davis

Baltimore

Ignorance

In one day, George Balog's Department of Public Work's mowers destroyed four year's worth of environmentally beneficial growth. Mr. Balog's environmental ignorance is documented in June 11 Sun article on park grass.

Mr. Balog's rationale for mowing a stream-buffer on park property is, "You want to wait for a child to get bitten by a rat?"

That comment is reminiscent of President Reagan's infamous quote blaming trees as a major source of air pollution. Rats live and breed where there is ample food: garbage and dog feces mostly. Rats don't eat grass.

That is why rat infestation is an urban problem. Otherwise wouldn't the countryside be wall-to-wall rodents? If you don't want rats, get a metal trash can with a lid, use a "pooper scooper" and tell your neighbors to do the same.

Baltimore park chief Calvin Buikema has educated his employees on basic environmental management of park land. Other city employees, some politicians and a good number of average citizens have a lot to learn.

I hope that Mr. Balog will keep his mowers off park property unless invited. Public work employees can better handle complaints of rat sightings by locating and removing trash, not grass.

Jeremy B. Levine

Baltimore

Simple question

As a parent, city taxpayer and friend of education whose third child is currently enrolled in a city public school, my question is simple: Why not adopt the Calvert program, the Barclay experiment for all city elementary schools?

Apparently, their test results hold up even under scrutiny. It was reported that Barclay may even lose federal dollars due to its success with the Calvert model.

In view of this, implementation of the Calvert program on a city-wide basis may, over time, obviate the need for Educational Alternatives Inc., state take-overs and other alternatives the city school system looks to as it ignores a solution in its own backyard.

Judi Callanan Devlin

Baltimore

Alarm monitoring fees tax consumers twice

The Baltimore County Police Department is sponsoring a bill that would route emergency calls from home burglar alarms to a 900 number and bill the resulting fee to the alarm monitoring station.

This means that many alarm owners, especially the elderly or others on fixed incomes, may opt to turn off their alarms because of the 900 number fees and the additional administrative costs.

We might as well leave the key under the mat. If ever there was a "criminal assistance program," this is it.

It means that people who subscribe to monthly alarm monitoring will be forced to pay an exorbitant fee for police service that is already paid for through taxes. Did someone say double taxation?

Crime rates are astonishing. Home and business owners are justifiably fearful. Fear, coupled with the lack of security formerly provided by an alarm, will surely promote some into buying handguns as a form of protection. Yet it is a fact that people who own handguns often fall victim to them; they are killed by their own guns.

A fee for each alarm call could deter the use of alarms. What happens to the home or small business owner who has a limited income? They will undoubtedly cut off alarm service because it places a strong financial strain on the budget. Thus those with less money will be discriminated against as they are forced to abandon their right to alarm service because local government has made it too expensive.

The burglar and fire alarm monitoring industry is eager to work with the County Council, the police department and the legislature to bring an end to false alarms.

The industry has proposed a bill which details false alarm penalties as well as licensing and permit requirements that will better regulate alarms as well as reduce false alarms.

Alarm systems provide a deterrent to burglary. In a national survey of police, 90 percent said alarms both deter burglary attempts and increase the probability of a burglar being apprehended.

A fee for requesting police service will not solve the false alarm problem. It will only create more problems.

Marc Sauer

Baltimore

The writer is president the Maryland Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, a trade group that represents burglar and fire alarm monitoring companies.