Greg Cravens
About Richard Cohen’s Viewpoint column, “Time to Get Real” …
Bernie Sanders is a charmer, but when you come down to reality, there’s only Hillary and her “plans” who can take on the GOP. The Republicans would picture Bernie with images from the Soviet Union so fast your head would spin.
Cohen says Hillary has a lot of plans like it’s a bad thing. It’s good to have real, working plans, not just fake plans where things are free with no real way to pay for them. Bernie’s cool on a poster, but Hillary is your gal.
Elizabeth L. Miller
About Toby Sells’ interview with Chuck Brady of the Memphis Zoo …
As a former National Park Service ranger who has worked in parks where civilization and parks often run together — sometimes bringing with them parking challenges — I find it mind-boggling that Brady has not been able to come up with a solution for 30 years to the zoo’s atrocious parking situation.
If Brady were a park superintendent, he would have been replaced by now with someone who could take care of the parking problem. And the problem is deeper than just the greensward: The zoo clear-cut several acres of old-growth forest a few years ago and fenced off (from the public) more old-growth acreage. Its current overflow parking has left parts of the greensward a dust bowl with huge rutted-out areas, even more evidence of its destruction of parts of Overton Park.
I also have to question his statement that “75,000 visitors would be turned away.” Those people can easily find free parking on neighboring streets with a short walk to the zoo entrance. And if he is so concerned about “citizens who can’t afford the zoo” and his free Tuesday program, why did he eliminate the free Tuesday program in the month of March, and why does he limit it to an extremely few hours of the day on Tuesdays, which creates congestion in those limited hours? Open it up all day, and I bet you would see that congestion disappear.
Brady seems like a naysayer, a narrow-minded leader who can’t solve problems. We need leaders with forward and innovative thinking.
Greg Russell
I would love to see the zoo and the Levitt Shell’s foundation collaborate on a parking garage. Zoo visitors could use it during the day, and folks coming to concerts at the shell could use it at night.
Karen Casey
So what Brady’s saying is, if I’m heading downtown for an event, and I see all that greenspace in Health Sciences Park (or whatever it’s called), I can just pull onto the grass and park under the trees? After all, it is public space.
No? I can’t do that? If I do my car will be towed?
I’m so confused.
Jeff
About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Wrestling With the Truth” …
“How do you monetize the digital product at a level that pays for a decent-sized news staff?” Bingo. That’s the central conundrum of the newspaper business these days. And make sure that staff includes a competent copy editor or three. I’m appalled at what I see passing as “final product” in so much content these days. Does anybody read this stuff?
I’m not talking about the Flyer specifically; it’s true of everything that gets offered up as news these days. (Spoken as the totally biased spouse of a former dedicated editor who got the axe a few years ago in a broad-stroke staff reduction at a mid-state daily).
John Shouse
About Michael J. LaRosa and Bryce Ashby’s cover story, “American Dreamers” …
Thank you for the story on local higher-ed opportunities for Latino students. I applaud my alma mater, CBU, for standing with these students in accordance with its Lasallian mission. I do question why your story pictures the students at Rhodes College, a school neither one attends. It’s misleading and does a disservice to both Immaculate Conception and CBU.
Aimee Lewis