Calling the cops
As a novice tennis player who uses the tennis courts at Reynolds Field, it disturbs me that "bike polo" players are taking over the tennis courts each week ("Not a Horse in Sight, 4/25/08).
For those of us who play tennis, we have limited public options. For those who play bike polo, I can think of at least eight other places within a one-mile radius of the Reynolds tennis courts.
Also, rules are posted that the courts are for tennis only. It does not give any exceptions to bike riders or skateboarders.
Therefore, if I ever want to play tennis there, and the polo players are there too, I will contact the police to have them removed for not respecting the rules.
Timothy Garrett
Ha-ha ha
Just a few thoughts on Marc Eisen's wonderfully comic "The End of an Era" (4/25/08):
If I understand Mr. Eisen correctly, the decline in newspaper readership has absolutely nothing to do with newspapers themselves, but all the 18- to 22-year-olds and young urbanites who don't read newspapers.
In other words, it's the customer's fault. Well, good luck with said customers reading Isthmus in the future! Once they figure out how little respect you have for them, do you really expect them to want to read Isthmus?
Moreover, Mr. Eisen writes that "experts consider [online publishing] to be a disruptive technology" and that "people seldom read newspapers online." Wow! I'm sure all the people working long hours putting The Daily Page together online will be thrilled to hear that.
Like I said, wonderfully comical.
Colin Oakes
Independent
I want to thank Marc Eisen for getting back to writing more columns. His voice is valuable for our community. Unlike commentators like Ruth Conniff and Charles Sykes, Eisen provides a fresh and independent perspective. His writing is crisp and concise, but most importantly non-ideological.
With the others all I need to do is read the headline and I pretty much know the story. With Eisen you need to dig deeper to truly learn.
Two columns stand out in this regard. As a Vietnam vet, I found his piece on Madison's treatment of the military to be spot-on ("Madison's Military Problem," 11/16/07). More recently, he wrote about the Equity Task Force in the Madison schools ("When Policy Trumps Results," 5/2/08). As a former faculty member at UW-Whitewater, I can say his analysis was wonderfully candid and insightful.
Bob Morris
Urban space
Cities are made of built and unbuilt spaces. The spaces between buildings are as important as, if not more so than, the buildings they surround.
Spaces set off architecture and give enjoyment to the eye. The building of condos to the edge of the street encloses the street corridor with an uninterrupted built form.
The city is closing in on itself, and people are feeling closed in. We must not allow economics to take away the esthetics of space in this city ("Will the Mayor Get His Way on Parkland Sale?" 4/18/08).
Audrey Parkinson, Mineral Point
Award winner?
My advice to Kent Williams after reading his paean to West Side Story: Clear some more room on your mantel ("Our Gang," 5/2/09).
Richard S. Russell