Online letters to the editor

Dreamliner problem

Retirement program the reason for disaster

Regarding the story, "Dreamliner problem solver helps everyone 'get it done' " [Times, Business, July 13]: Does anyone wonder how and why the 767, in production for about 15 years by 1997, was the disaster mentioned in the Sunday Times?

The special retirement program in 1995 sent more than 9,000 of the older "fuddy-duddies" home because they were too expensive. In short order, the production system broke.

So, in 1999, Boeing put in a cash-balance pension plan for the nonunion people, which subtly forced many of the remaining employees to work till age 65 to collect a full pension.

When Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace leadership suggested its members convert to the cash-balance plan during negotiations in 2005, the vitriolic response from the membership forced the leadership to back down.

Boeing is now trying an even more subtle approach, pushing for a 401(k) plan in place of a pension for new workers, who can take their vested money and run, while the older and previous employees must work or wait to age 60 or 65 to collect all of their vested amounts.

The International Association of Machinists and SPEEA will obviously need expert help to convince the company to give all employees the same chance to take their vested dollars and run at any time.

— Don Shuper, 1995 Boeing Special Retiree, Redmond

Seattle parks levy

Be cautious, voters

When the Parks and Green Space Levy comes before Seattle voters this November, they could also be cautioned to "look before they leap" ["Overwhelmed at the parks," Times, editorial, July 6].

We need to ask if an $11 million renovation of the Asian Art Museum is the responsibility of the Parks and Recreation Department. Are we prepared to spend more than $10 million covering athletic fields with artificial turf while other cities in our nation have called for a moratorium on these installations, which have proved harmful to humans and the environment? How will our neighborhoods be enhanced by this tax? Will representation on the levy oversight committee be fair and balanced?

Don't say no to the levy because you feel burdened by another tax. Simply ask if this is really about green space and if your money is being well spent.

— Joan Sienkiewicz, Seattle

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Don't bail them out

Regarding the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout proposal ["Big losses threaten mortgage giants," Times, page one, July 12]: Let them fail, they deserve it.

Incompetence rules the walnut-sized brains of the mortgage giants. Wind them down before U.S. taxpayers get stuck with their trillion-dollar debt.

If it were not for Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum buying half of all the mortgage junk out there and then securitizing them for the gullible to buy, there would be no mortgage/financial crisis.

U.S. Treasure Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke need to get a clue: Getting saddled with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is beating a pair of dead horses.

— Dan Piecora Sr., Seattle

Bag-ban debate

Tax product packaging instead

As a society we would do better by first focusing on what's in the plastic bag, rather than the bag itself ["A cleaner Seattle is worth 20 cents a bag," Times, editorial, July 14]. A tax on product packaging would have a greater positive environmental impact and possibly even generate more revenue.

Consumers would benefit from this tax through a direct reduction in the amount of trash that needs to be recycled or disposed of.

Who knows — it might even make products easier to open.

— Bob Cutler, Everett

Fee and ban is backward thinking

Seattle's waste-disposal contractor touts, no pet waste in your can unless it is bagged. Go read the instructions. From whence, might one inquire, does the bag come? Aha! From Costco, for a penny a bag. Gotcha!

The story is similar for paper bags. Costco lets you use old boxes, each made from three or four old paper bags or newspapers. If we don't use them, we see them in huge bales behind the store, waiting to be recycled. Hmm.

We Americans are seriously goofy, running around in circles in crisis mode to solve problems but always late and always trapped by the unintended consequences, a la Hurricane Katrina. Can I sell you a travel trailer, buddy?

— Donald Bell, Seattle

Give us garbage bags

Many of us use grocery bags to line our garbage containers. In fact, in Seattle we are not allowed to put out unlined garbage cans. If the city is going to tax grocery bags, it ought to provide households with weekly garbage-can liners.

— Jerry Richard, Seattle

Ireland's "plastax" no real success

I was stunned The Times used the overhyped example of Ireland's "plastax" to support the bag tax in Seattle. A rudimentary Internet search reveals statistics that illustrate a different picture of the experiment's "success."

Research by the United Kingdoms's Waste Resources Action Programme found that the levy in Ireland actually increased overall plastic use. After the levy was enacted, consumers purchased more commercial bags, by some estimates up to 400 percent more.

The Irish Examiner documented increases in trash and diaper bag sales of up to 84 percent. Since these bags are made from heavier gauge plastic, in the end, even more plastic ended up in landfills, while government and industry profited.

I was not surprised to see politicians and lobbyists using the simplistic, sound-bite view of Ireland's plastax as a PR stunt to promote yet another tax that should rightfully be on a ballot. But I hoped local media would explore the full ramifications of the fee, as well as better options, such as increased recycling facilities.

Ireland has since proposed similar taxes on customers for ATM receipts, chewing gum and conventional light bulbs. No doubt The Times will be a fervent supporter of these measures when they come to Seattle, as well.

— Megan Tully, Seattle

Fee hurts the lower and middle classes

One thing The Seattle Times editors didn't think of in giving their support to the 20-cent fee (aka tax) on grocery bags: the lower and middle classes.

Example: Let's say I'm doing my now once-a-week grocery shopping, and I need to load up on canned goods, sugar, etc. — basically heavy items that, you guessed it, require ... double-bagging! Say I bring home on average 10 bags. At 20 cents a bag, that's $2. But, oops, I forgot — they had to double-bag everything. Now it's $4. That's $4 that could have gone to a loaf of bread or a frozen dinner, bought by a senior citizen relying on his or her meager Social Security check.

And where does that $4 go? To partially offset planned rate increases for the city's recycling and waste disposal services — rate increases due in part to help pay for Mayor Greg Nickels' forced composting program starting in 2009.

So, for all their caterwauling about righteously claiming to defend the lower and middle classes from us evil and "rich" Republicans, it's liberal Seattleites that are really the ones slowly (and hypocritically) bleeding them dry.

Still enjoy being "green," folks?

— Peter Fessler, Seattle

Voluntary better than forced compliance

My grocery store pays me if I use my cloth bags to carry my groceries. Voluntary compliance with positive reinforcement is a better way to go than forced compliance with additional taxes, fines and the "bagestapo" to harass all of us. The Times is simply wrong about Mayor Greg Nickel's proposal.

— Gary Raymond, Seattle

Governors and stimulus checks

Quit your whining

Now we have to listen to whining governors who wish for federal funds because they need them for "crumbling schools, roads, bridges and water systems," ["Governors want own stimulus checks," Times, News, July 14].

Presently, the dollar is in its death throes. If such a hair-brained scheme were to be acted upon, there would be even higher inflation than what we're presently dealing with. Inflation hurts every man, woman and child, plus local and state governments.

State governments had the ability to prevent the runaway inflation many decades ago, but they failed and meekly allowed the enactment of the Federal Reserve System. This system is not federal, has no reserves and has been the vehicle to annihilate the once proud dollar to the lowly status it now enjoys worldwide.

Don't be crybabies, governors. Bite the bullet and focus on essential services. Cut budgets for social programs, discharge all but essential public servants and fix the infrastructure — but don't borrow more money do it.

— Larry Penner, Woodinville

Logging and landslides

Don't blame forestry or Sutherland

Forest management is a science that is still evolving, like many other scientifically based professions ["Logging and landslides, Times, Local News, July 13]. Forestry includes many scientific disciplines, such as silviculture, geology, engineering and hydrology, to name a few.

The December 2007 storm delivered record amounts of rain in a short period of time, something meteorologists have attested to. It also caused a significant number of slides in mature-standing timber: Nearly two-thirds of the landslides reported occurred in standing timber, not cutover forest land.

State Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland worked closely with Lewis County officials and landowners during the recovery efforts of this unprecedented disaster. The damaged caused by the storm was immense. Many of the people who suffered have praised his efforts.

Sutherland's opponent is trying to place blame on him. Don't be fooled. Sutherland has more bipartisan support than any of the past three land commissioners: Bert Cole, Brian Boyle and Jennifer Belcher. The Department of Natural Resources, under Sutherland, has been recognized as a leader in environmental stewardship and protection of our natural resources.

Don't blame forestry or Sutherland for this disaster. Too many other factors came into play.

— Howard Thronson, Lacey