Curbside Problems
I must reply to Charles Reighart's Feb. 3 response to my questions about the use of blue plastic bags in curbside recycling.
Yes, Mr. Reighart's reasons of "cushioning the bottles" and being easily identified were covered in the pamphlet we received.
Since I was not satisfied with these excuses, I went to the meeting hoping to find out if there was a more sensible reason and if sensible alternatives could be found.
I have taken tons of bottles to the Western Acceptance Facility in bins. I have had little problem with breakage, and I cannot imagine a tissue-thin layer of plastic helping anyway.
The person running the Jan. 3 meeting was unable to even reiterate the pamphlet's explanations, because she seemed incapable of recognizing when anyone asked a question which diverged from which bags were to be used for which recyclables. Several times her answers bore no relation to the questions asked.
I called the number on the sticker attached to my easily identifiable blue bin of bottles, marked "recycle -- bottles and cans," which, as I expected, was rejected for pickup.
A very helpful person there explained that the main problem is that Baltimore County cannot afford new trucks like Howard County's MORT vehicles, so that different colors of bottles could not be sorted at curbside.
Large trucks full of bottles are more susceptible to breakage than a small bin. The bags possibly help the collection workers be more gentle rather than dumping things together roughly.
Now this is a solid difficulty I can understand. There are enough budget worries these days without throwing away perfectly good garbage trucks. But I think there might be viable alternatives to more proliferation of plastic bags.
Perhaps some large bins which can be inserted into the garbage trucks on recycling days would be affordable. I would gladly set out my bottles sorted by color.
At the very least, the plastic bag solution must be considered a stop-gap measure, until we can afford the proper equipment.
In the meantime, I continue to use the Western Acceptance Facility for bottles and cans, and I'm glad the paper, at least, is picked up at curbside.
Carl Aron
Catonsville
Clean Cars
J. Hugh Ellis took a pretty mean swipe at the recent decision to require cleaner cars in 11 northeast states (Opinion * Commentary, Jan. 24).
But his arguments against the decision -- that technology to support the clean car program is not yet here, and that it would cost too much -- would have been much more persuasive if not for the fact that Honda recently announced it has a model meeting the clean car requirements now. It is currently undergoing certification in California.
Mr. Ellis and the American Automotive Manufacturers Association would do well to stop spending so much time fighting the Clean Air Act and get to work designing cleaner cars to compete . . .
Terry J. Harris
Baltimore
A Vital Force
While it is not unusual for a public official to be misquoted, your Jan. 30 article regarding Salisbury's growth attributed a remark to me that in no way reflects anything I have said, under any circumstances, at any time.
I have no doubt that someone your reporter talked to made the statement. But it was not me, and I appreciate the opportunity to correct the record.
Your reporter indicated I used the word "greed" regarding the local business community. Not so.
Rather, I have openly stated on innumerable occasions that Salisbury's growth and success are due primarily to the long-term, active involvement of our business leaders.
They have stepped to the fore time and time again without regard to personal business interest to help make our community the vital force it is.
They have donated time and money and encouraged their employees to get involved in community affairs.
Overwhelmingly, they have been excellent corporate and private citizens, and I will do everything in my power to foster and encourage their continued participation and leadership.
By the way, the "they" includes "me." As my letterhead indicates, I am a local business person and do everything I can to promote a thriving, non-greedy business environment.
Robert M. Caldwell
Salisbury
The writer, president of Salisbury City Council, operates a financial services company.
Sale of Art in the Eyes of the Beholders
Good gracious, but you are giving a lot of press to the proposed sale of the Lucas collection.
I wonder how many people would be similarly upset by the sale of any or all of the works in the new wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art?
And if the Baltimore Museum of Art really feels so strongly about the Lucas collection, why doesn't it just sell that awful pile of plywood and paint that passes for modern art (in the new wing) and buy the whole collection? That might make everybody happy.
I say "Hooray" for the Maryland Institute. Art in vaults isn't educating anybody . . . students or the citizens of Baltimore.
Patricia Owens
Baltimore
As an alumnus of the Maryland Institute (Mount Royal School of Painting, '79), I am outraged at the college's plan to sell the George A. Lucas collection.
As an instructor of drawing and painting at the Johns Hopkins University, I can tell you that my students and I used the Lucas collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art every semester for nearly 15 years.
Both a window into the now-vanished world of 19th-century France and a reflection of a cultured Baltimorean's taste in that world, the Lucas collection is, quite simply, irreplaceable.
Yet, Robert Shelton, chairman of the institute's board of trustees, claims that the collection's works of art are "of no significant value to us in terms of our mission, nor can they be."
Invoking "fiduciary responsibility," Mr. Shelton embodies Oscar Wilde's definition of a cynic -- a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
One can't help but wonder what, exactly, is the "mission" of an art college that would forever strip its students of one of the most exquisite collections in America?
Craig Hankin
Baltimore
I am writing you after recently hearing of the arising problems concerning the sale of the Lucas collection by my college, the Maryland Institute, College of Art. It appears that both the Walters Art Gallery and the Baltimore Museum of Art are against such a plan.
As a full-time artist in New York, I often examine the role of museums and their relationship to art appreciation -- both in education and in the higher forms of entertainment.
In my opinion, the idea of the Lucas collection being sold is not so bad. Museums play an equal role to that of the private collector because the majority of museum collections are most often in storage.
It is a wonderful thing when one person can amass a huge collection as did both Lucas and Walters.
But most important is that the works be appreciated by collectors as well as the greater audience at large. If sold, I am sure that many of the works will eventually end up at the BMA or the Walters.
Last year a Pennsylvania court decided to allow the Barnes Foundation paintings to travel (which was against Mr. Barnes' wishes). The board members needed to raise money for the Barnes collection and realized that, with time, circumstances change.
Though Mr. Lucas' intent was to allow the Maryland Institute to benefit from this collection, we have to see this sale from our own point of view. With the proceeds, the Maryland Institute could continue on its course to becoming one of the top art schools in the country.
Robert Seyffert
New York
When Henry Walters presented the George A. Lucas Collection to the Maryland Institute in 1910, the Walters Art Gallery building, completed just the year before, was open to the public merely three days a week and only in the spring.
The Peale Museum had not yet been restored to its use as an art gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art did not even exist.
Where else in Baltimore could Walters have given the Lucas Collection at the time "to serve as a continuing example and incentive" to this city's art students and artists?
Bennard B. Perlman
Baltimore