Willing to pay?

The Pioneer Press reported dutifully that at the public hearing on “The Bike Plan “ the cycling enthusiasts far outnumbered those who are lukewarm or negative about it. What was most encouraging about it all, however, was that the enthusiasts also made perfectly clear they are ready, willing and able to pay higher taxes to pay the lions share of the costs of the Plan.

T.J. Sexton, St. Paul

Erasing history?

Does anyone else find it odd concerning the current Republican backlash regarding the new State Flag and State Seal designs? Were these Republicans completely unaware when the project began or of the many voices weighing opinions on design before one was chosen? Did Republicans have their heads buried in the sand? Public comment was sought before the final choice.

History of the state is not being erased or hidden; all one needs to do is read a book on Minnesota history or visit the historical society.

M. Ruff, St. Paul

Signs, signs

A couple of weeks ago the unelected officials from The Met Council who run the light rail in the metro went out for a ride to get feedback from riders and check the overall barometer of the toy train that they play with. A problem-solving field trip, if you will. Last week the same unelected officials from The Met Council announced ridership rules, or ridership expectations, and they are going to put up signs.

A couple of the new expectations are that you don’t defecate on the train and there shall be no unwanted sexual contact, which may imply that consensual sexual contact may be OK.

Headline, Sunday Feb. 4: “Man shot on Green Line train while downtown.”

Well, I guess you didn’t get the signs up in time and maybe not robbing and not shooting aren’t part of the expectation. My suggestion for the rolling cesspool, make ridership free (we the taxpayer already pay heavily for it, and the lost revenue will probably not be missed) and staff each car with a patrol officer, yes, a full-fledged officer, not a greeter or steward or concierge. Or you could put up signs.

Mark T. Schroeder, West St. Paul

Focus on more important things

There seems to be a need for people, mainly politicians, to make some type of change to feel good about themselves. Most likely to try and prove to their colleagues, friends and/or constituents that they were effective and got something done.

The problem is they are picking the wrong things to build, remove or create. One can look at the list of their achievements over the last couple of years and see a huge waste of time and taxpayer money.

I am referring to miles of little and unused bicycle lanes and specialized traffic control for them. Money spent on trying to suppress our history by removing or replacing statues, renaming buildings that commemorated our founding fathers, and changing our state flag to name a few.

I ride a bicycle, enjoy bike trails, but we have gone too far with the lanes. Especially when you hear about them considering an elevated bike path on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. I choose to learn from our history, both the good and bad parts of it and I still call buildings and locations by their original names. People know of where I speak and I have yet to have anyone correct me without them chuckling about it.

We need to take on the serious issues. Our politicians, activists, and all citizens need to focus on increasing public safety, securing our borders, dealing with homelessness, and reducing taxes. When real changes are made in these areas an essential and long lasting mark will be made which makes a difference in our society.

Those who tout their work in changing a name, or getting another bike lane or new flag need to realize that it is nothing they should be proud of. By focusing on minor issues they diminish and distract focus on the real problems our society has to deal with.

Rick Anderson, Forest Lake

Jesse and charisma

Recently, Channel 2 ran a program, ”Jesse Ventura shocks the world”, which brought back memories, as I had volunteered to work on his campaign. I was impressed by a certain charisma he displayed while debating his two opponents. Those two pallid politicians sat on either side of him and bickered while Jesse sat silent.

I worked making signs, those garish chartreuse and black plywood sheets. Our work area was a couple of adjacent garages on the east side of St. Paul, a few blocks off Arcade Street. My fellow workers were composed of a group of bikers who had never worked on a campaign or voted for anyone ever.

I also worked in a booth at the State Fair, where I irritated the future lieutenant governor by pointing out that the T-shirts were pre-shrunk.

The highlight of the campaign for me occurred on election night at Canterbury Downs. It was cold and dark on that autumn night and the mood of the workers was gloomy. We were on the upper floor of the building, the walls seemed to be all windows, and there were almost more TVs than people, all tuned to the election results. While the political pundits were explaining why Jesse couldn’t win, the tallies on the screens behind them were making them liars. When it became apparent that Jesse was about to win, we looked out in the darkness and saw hundreds of cars streaming into the parking area.

When I was young and you mentioned charisma, I would have thought that you were talking about a dessert served at Christmas on a paper plate smothered with powdered sugar.

The first time that I could vote, it was no contest, JFK was the epitome of the politician with charisma. Following him, a little later, it was Ronald Reagan who had it, but then he was of course a professional actor. Perhaps charisma is in the eye of the beholder, some of us are immune to it, others, similar to Jesse’s bikers, will vote for their celebrity no matter what party’s banner he runs under. One of my relatives said that I might have a little charisma, I suspect it was just gas.

Tom Obst, Wyoming

Congratulations, Joe

My grandson Skylar Van Guilder and I have been going to Twins baseball games together since he was 6 years old. His favorite player is Joe Mauer. Skylar is 19 now. We were at the game last year on Aug. 5 when Joe was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. Now we are so happy that Joe was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on January 23. Congratulations to a great baseball player and a wonderful individual.

DeAnne Cherry, Woodbury

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