Environmental justice
In “Affordable, but at what cost?” (5/11/2017) Ald. Mark Clear accused alders who raised “hypothetical environmental concerns” about placing low-income housing 100 feet from Madison-Kipp Corp. of “using a potentially vulnerable population as a shield to make more of an emotional case.” He called their concerns “a lot of noise” and “a farce.” Mr. Clear is obviously ignorant of what environmental justice means. It is well documented that low-income people and people of color are more likely to be exposed to environmental pollution than more privileged people. Environmental justice means first recognizing these disparities, and then working to eliminate them. Purposely placing low-income people at ground zero next to an aluminum die casting factory that actually (not “hypothetically”) emits numerous toxic chemicals fits the classic definition of environmental injustice. It is sad that an alder in a purportedly progressive city is so clueless about what environmental justice is that he ridicules his colleagues for raising these concerns.
Jim Powell (via email)
Holy hot spot!
Re: “Outsmarting the Teachers” (isthmus.com); It should be noted that students are creating hot spots. Those cost the phone owner [money] in data usage. I hope the parents of the kids doing it don’t flip out when they get their phone bill at the end of the month.
Erin Proctor (via comment)
Planners know best
The article about plans for a road from Raymond Road to Jeffy Trail, “Does Madison need another street?” (5/11/2017) is typical of Madison’s planners’ response to community requests: They are unwilling to respond favorably to input from citizens. In this case, the planners are relying on maps and ancient planning documents created years before the affected neighborhood was even developed. The unspecified “staff” referred to in the article should go out and visit that neighborhood. There they would find a quiet residential neighborhood with narrow streets and an inordinate number of pedestrians day and night.
If the planners really want to help that area they could add shoulders and guardrails along Midtown and Raymond roads and normalize the Five Points intersection by allowing access to Raymond from the west. Another example of the planners’ stubbornness was their resistance to upgrading the intersection of Raymond and Whitney to have a traffic light. Then the response was one of those “studies have shown” canards. Clearly the staff has a lot of animus towards any external input. Harry Truman said: “An expert is a fella who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.” In other words, “We don’t want your stinkin’ input!”
Eric L. Cabot (via email)