311 call center works better than old system
My many experiences with the city's 311 One Call Center have been nothing short of spectacular ("City's 311 complaint center criticized about follow-ups," Nov. 26).
I remember one incident vividly. Late one night I noticed a man digging through the neighbors' trash. That's hardly an emergency; however, it happened after a series of publicized identity thefts in the neighborhood, which presumably occurred after the thieves had rummaged through the trash.
About four minutes after I dialed 311, I heard a loud roar from above the alley and saw a bright spotlight. I imagine it was our famous police helicopter, Foxtrot. I felt safe.
I have many other times also received prompt and courteous service from 311, regarding trash pickup, illegal dumping and other quality of life issues.
I'm sure there is room for improvement regarding consistency, but I'm also sure that we should remember what life was like when there was not a centralized city call center offering more accountability.
This program should be looked at as a role model for other municipal governments, not criticized.
Ryan C. O'Doherty
Baltimore
I personally call in 10 to 15 sanitation or housing problems to 311 a week. In most cases, the problems I submit are taken care of in an acceptable amount of time.
I usually report trash in alleys and in the back yards of occupied houses. But problems concerning vacant houses usually do take longer.
The problem is that, while many people believe city workers can just go onto someone's property and clean it up, unfortunately, the city must go through a process that includes citations and letters to the property owners. In many cases, the owners cannot be located, which adds to the time it takes to resolve the issue.
The system is not perfect, but I feel we will see even more success and quicker results as adjustments occur. This system is far better than anything the city had in the past, and I have faith that our mayor will make sure that 311 helps us clean up Baltimore.
Linda A. Bardo
Baltimore
The writer is president of the Community of Curtis Bay Association.
Closing a street to protect kids
Jacques Kelly's rather one-sided article "Some neighborhoods seem more welcoming than others" (Nov. 30) mentions the closing of St. Martin's Road, and comments: "Suppose I didn't like people going downtown -- or walking to the grocery store -- in front of my house."
As a resident of St. Martin's Road who has five young children, I want to point out that the situation is not as harmless as Mr. Kelly suggests. Seen as a convenient cut-through between the busy Charles and St. Paul streets, our road became a speedway for East Guilford and York Road area residents intent on avoiding nearby traffic lights and traffic patterns.
I very much doubt the Olmsted brothers envisioned this when they were "agonizing over every street."
And I would ask Mr. Kelly what he would propose if he had young kids at risk in their own front yards.
Barrett B. Kollme
Baltimore
War on opponents of GOP's agenda
Since President Bush launched the "war on terror," significant strides have been made.
Civil liberties and privacy rights have been cut back. Congressional Republicans added a multitude of special interest amendments to the homeland security bill, which aid corporations that donate heavily to the Republican Party. And the United States is on the brink of an unprovoked war with Iraq.
Now, President Bush has decided that giving federal employees the full pay raise that they deserve would hurt our efforts to pursue a war on terror ("Bush cuts pay raises that federal workers were to get in Jan.," Nov. 30).
It seems that the "war on terror" has become a Republican war against anything that stands in the way of Mr. Bush's and the congressional Republicans' vision for America.
Gary Tosadori
Baltimore
Pushing gun control alienates the voters
Al Gore is not president, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend will not be governor, the Senate and House of Representatives will be controlled by Republicans, and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. will no longer be a delegate in Maryland because gun owners who are also conservationists and environmentalists no longer vote for Democrats.
They stopped voting for Democrats when they realized Democrats were not going to stop pushing for gun control until they had made all firearms illegal -- at which time firearms will be like drugs, and any criminal who wants one will have one.
David Titus
Baltimore
Remove abusers from the ministry
Everyone deserves mercy. Everyone deserves forgiveness, too. But the writer of the letter "Even abusive priests deserve care, mercy" (Nov. 16) seems to have forgotten that a few things come before forgiveness.
Confessing one's sins with a realization of their seriousness and a sense of repentance would be a good start. Then, as actions have consequences, justice must be served for crimes committed.
But I am not aware of any surge in admitting guilt or rush to confession among priests accused of being sexual predators. Most are pleading not guilty and hoping to get off because of statutes of limitations in various jurisdictions.
Heinous crimes visited on the young deserve the ultimate punishment -- excommunication. At the least, the guilty priests should be defrocked.
And the sooner the U.S. bishops and Rome take whatever steps are needed to remove them, the sooner the moral credibility of the church can be restored and renewed.
Sister M. Immaculata Dunn Paul
Valley Forge, Pa.
A warning label for new SUVs?
The recent editorial "Gassing up" (Nov. 25) indicates that the Bush administration's proposal to improve gas mileage for SUVs and reduce air pollution is "better than nothing" even though it is short of what is necessary for auto manufacturers to make a timely and significant impact.
Until truly effective standards are achieved, perhaps a disclaimer should be provided by manufacturers of SUVs and placed on window stickers.
It could read: "Purchase of this vehicle is with the full understanding that it will produce a disproportionate amount of air pollution and, because of its poor gas mileage, will increase dependency on foreign oil.
"In addition, it will create unreasonable road hazards to drivers of conventional vehicles, cause problems in parking lots, has required excessive use of natural resources in its manufacture and will add to the widespread image of Americans as wasteful, spoiled and environmentally apathetic."
John Stewart
Jarrettsville