Letters To The Editor -
Letters from July 5
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Counting the votes on traffic calming | |
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Column more balanced than editorial |
According to the Times-News, Mayor Phillips fears the city is creating a monster and is predicting neighborhoods will be asking for traffic calming devices to be taken out. He believes if so, they should be taken out at the neighborhood’s expense.
A later article quotes him as saying they are still “tweaking the rules.”
Why not use the same process for removal as was used for installation? Count every non-returned ballot as a yes; tweak the rules; move the street to the top of the list; the city pays.
If non-returned ballots counted as yes can be used to justify spending tax-dollars to install, then they can be used to justify spending to remove. No? As I was returning my “no” vote, I was musing that a surefire way to get something passed is to determine non-votes a yes — just as to make something fail, you would determine non-votes a “no.” Non-votes always outnumber the winner’s total.
I’m confused about the rationale behind counting non-votes anyway. But, hey, that’s just me — indoctrinated that voting is democracy.
Perhaps if I read the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen rather than parliamentary procedure, I would understand. One criterion for being the lucky winner of the devices is “number of crashes on the street.” One may assume there would be a direct correlation between the number and location of crash sites (caused by speeding) to the number and the placement of the devices; but because one can’t find any data on crashes on Pendragon, said assumption may be wrong. In the meantime, I’m wondering how my real estate ad would read: “Beautiful tree-lined residential street with two sets of rumble strips, two speed tables, one raised cart path, and eight signs indicating their presence.” Hmmmm, maybe not.
Shirley Muck
Kingsport
Column more balanced than editorial Return to topRe. the June 28 editorial, “Slim Majority in Gun Ruling Shows Why Elections Matter,” the column at the bottom of the same page by Brian Wills gave a much more balanced commentary on the subject, pointing out that “most controversial topics are resolved with a balancing act.”
Ellen Finney
Kingsport
