Copyright 1999 The Baltimore Sun Company
THE
BALTIMORE SUN
May 27, 1999, Thursday ,FINAL
SECTION: EDITORIAL ,26A LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LENGTH: 1439 words
BODY:
New SUVs, trucks protect passengers and the environment
Tom Horton's
May 15 article, "Down with sport utility vehicles," misrepresents the emissions
levels of current SUVs and light trucks and could lead consumers to make
purchasing decisions hazardous to their health.
His assertion that 65
million light trucks produce higher emissions than 120 million cars is not
supported. The fact is that late-model cars and light trucks, especially those
built since 1994, are already low-emission vehicles, with emissions of major
pollutants reduced more than 90 percent from earlier vehicles.
And
models introduced in 1999-2001 will cut emissions even further.
The big
pollution difference is not between cars and light trucks, but between clean-
running late-model vehicles and older models or cars badly out of tune. Focusing
on light trucks or new vehicles overlooks the real problem vehicles. While Mr.
Horton fumes about SUVs, he grudgingly admits that pickups are useful for
farmers.
But in fact, all light trucks provide great utility to their
owners, which is why consumers buy so many of them.
Families rely on
minivans for weekend trips, shopping and transporting children; repair and
delivery services rely on vans and construction and landscape crews need
pickups.
If Mr. Horton wants to restrict light trucks, which consumers
should be denied their vehicles of choice?
And should we also restrict
(or ban) the vans that are built in Baltimore?
Those vehicles are used
for shuttle services and help reduce traffic congestion and related emissions.
That's more efficient (and less polluting) than more passenger cars.
Most important, by focusing only on environmental issues, Mr. Horton
ignores safety concerns.
Larger vehicles protect their occupants much
better than smaller ones. And large SUVs are among the safest vehicles.
Today, the most environmentallyfriendly vehicles tend to be the smaller
ones. But they are less safe and most polls show that safety and utility are the
things consumers want most in a vehicle.
Diane Steed Washington
The writer is president of the Coalition for Vehicle Choice.
Perhaps more city officials should be visiting Cuba? So, after all these
years, a medical delegation from Baltimore, led by Health Commissioner Dr. Peter
Beilenson has traveled to Cuba to study its medical system and explore why its
infant mortality rate is only 7.9 per 100,000 births while Baltimore's is 11.6.
When is Baltimore schools Superintendent Robert Booker going to lead a
delegation of city educators to Cuba to explore how that country has practically
eliminated illiteracy while Baltimore's illiteracy rate remains high?
And when is Housing Commissioner Daniel Henson going to lead a
delegation of building contractors to Cuba to explore how the Cubans built
decent housing for practically everyone inexpensively and why there are no real
slums in Cuba despite the the U.S.-imposed embargo shortages of paint and
plaster?
And when is Social Services Director Yvonne Gitant going to
lead a delegation of sociologists and social workers to see why Cuba has no need
for homeless shelters and soup kitchens?
And, finally, when is Police
Commissioner Thomas Frazier going to lead a delegation of cops, judges and
penologists to Cuba to explore why Cuba's murder rate is a fraction of
Baltimore's and its rate of other crimes and incarceration is so much lower than
ours?
Nancy Miller Baltimore
Cuba, other countries offer health
care lessons
The Sun's recent articles on the most oppressive nation in
the Western Hemisphere, Cuba, confirm the ability of a dictator to produce a
healthy baseball team.
While that may be a wonderful thing, it's a
rather short list of achievements.
Still, the comparison of the health
climates in Baltimore and Cuba ("Health system in Cuba praised," May 15) raised
two important points.
It served as an indictment of our failed health
care system and showed there are lessons to be learned from other nations.
More and more Americans are without health insurance or presented with
barriers to access.
Among industrialized nations, the United States is
the runaway big spender per capita for health care, yet its citizens receive
inferior treatment and services.
I would recommend that we experiment
with a national system proven to provide quality, cost-effective, universal care
such as the one that has worked for more than 100 years in Germany.
Dr.
Ross Z. Pierpont Timonium
Some Baltimore residents need access to pay
phones
The saying, " There is never an ill wind that doesn't blow some
good" ought to be kept in mind when you consider removing the pay phones from
drug-infested neighborhoods ("City aids drug dealers through illegal phones,"
May 9).
While the calls to and from drug dealers are obviously ill, the
calls to 911 from families who don't have a phone are not only good, but life
saving.
There are pay phones that will not accept incoming calls. Why
not let a responsible company install such phones?
Barbara Judd
Baltimore
Bulldozing Baltimore isn't the answer
Tom Morton's May
22 letter suggesting that the only way to improve Baltimore would be to "Blow it
up, burn it down and start all over again" is one of the more offensive opinions
I've ever seen in The Sun.
Baltimore's problems are real and solving
them will not be easy. However, Columbia resident Mr. Morton's view of the city
is ridiculously one-dimensional. As one who chooses to live in Baltimore, I can
assure him that city living is not all bad -- and many aspects of it are quite
good.
I have to wonder if The Sun would have printed a letter calling
for Columbia to be bulldozed because it is sterile and dull, and the only way to
make the suburbs interesting would be to plow them under and start over again.
Stephen Kilduff Baltimore
Tom Morton's letter recommending
burning down Baltimore City and starting over reflects what Phillip Slater has
called, "the toilet assumption": When something is a problem, we want to simply
flush it down the toilet to get rid of it.
Life challenges us to find
more creative solutions.
Mr. Morton wrote from Columbia. It's hard to
listen to someone who has fled the city or never lived here. I wonder if he has
considered his personal role in exacerbating city problems.
Would he
welcome the homeless or the junkies who would he displaced by demolishing the
city next door to him?
Would he be willing to have his taxes increased
to fund the billions of dollars it would take to "clear" and rebuild the city?
If he would, why not instead contribute to a regional solution,
including a regional tax-sharing fund, to provide Baltimore City and other
communities most in need with the resources they need? This would cost less than
total demolition.
After all, Baltimore, Columbia and the region rise and
fall together.
Brent Flickinger Baltimore
Bring down tolls for
local phone calls
The Sun's May 7 story "MCI enters market for local
toll calls" sends a clear message that the Telecommunications Act of
1996 is slowly but surely bringing the benefits of competition to
consumers.
As of May 7, consumers have had the benefit of choice for
their toll calls within the state. Until then, they had little choice but to use
the local telephone monopoly.
However, Bell Atlantic is still charging
long distance carriers in Maryland inflated fees to connect calls to and from
homes and businesses.
In January 1997, the Public Service Commission
ordered Bell Atlantic to reduce access charges, which immediately caused long
distance prices to drop an average of 17 percent.
It's time for the PSC
to again reduce these fees and bring long distance prices in Maryland down
further.
As the Telecommunications Act of 1996
undergoes scrutiny, and many observe that progress in opening the local
telephone market to competition has been slow, critics may suggest that the act
isn't working and should be rewritten.
We disagree. The opening of the
local toll market is evidence that it is working.
Adrian Harpool
Baltimore
The writer is executive director of the Maryland Coalition for
Local Telephone Competition.
Letters to the Editor
To our
readers The Sun welcomes letters from readers. They should be no longer than 200
words and should include the name and address of the writer, along with day and
evening telephone numbers.
Send letters to Letters to the Editor, The
Sun, P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore 21278-0001. Our fax number for letters is
410-332-6977. The e- mail address is letters@baltsun.com.
All letters
are subject to editing.
LOAD-DATE: May 28, 1999
