Politicians abusing zoning

Does anybody else recall hiring the bike-riding mayor to redraft zoning throughout the city to please land speculators so that the home next to the one you live in can be bulldozed for condos and a salon?

Consider Capitol Hill, which the mayor thinks is lacking in adequate walkable businesses. [“Developer interests guide mayor’s growth proposals,” page one, May 23.]

Who thinks we should get rid of the remaining single-family homes as a means of improving the neighborhood? This is the same old game where politicians use zoning not for what it was intended, to protect citizens, but to pass out favors. The bike-riding mayor reveals himself as a handy servant of development interests and pro-ports.

— Joe Wall, Seattle

Vendetta against intelligent Catholic women

Editor, The Times:

Again and yet again, will it ever end?! Last week it was the Girl Scouts; three weeks ago it was the good Catholic sisters of this country. And now the United States Conference of Bishops, the same group that blames the shameful run of documented child molestation by a large number of Catholic priests during the ’50s through’80s on the hippies, is at it again.

They are leading efforts to make it more difficult for women and their men to access birth control. [“Catholic groups turn to courts in contraceptive fights,” page one, May 22.]

Seems like these bishops conveniently forget that well over 90 percent of Catholic women who are sexually active use some form of birth control. Again it’s the poor and less-advantaged Catholic and other women among us who get hurt the most when this group and its sheepish ancillaries continue their control vendetta against intelligent Catholic women.

The current tea party and Bible Belt extremists who are also fixated on keeping women down are loving these Catholic bishops. Their arrogance is exceeded only by their irrelevance.

— Al “Butch” Smith, Seattle

Salute the church

I salute the Catholic Church and their lawsuit against Obamacare.

Our country was not founded on the separation of church and state where the government is “protected” from religion. It is exactly the opposite. The church has every right and duty to adhere to its ordinances and practices in what it supports and offers to employees. You as an employee have no right to make your employer bend to your beliefs as a condition of your working there, regardless of whether it is the church, Microsoft, Boeing or mom-and-pop grocery stores.

In her 15 minutes of fame, this is something Sandra Fluke et al. don’t seem to understand despite her expensive education.

This administration is a very dangerous commodity and its support of Occupy Wall Street is proof positive.

— Phil Stanat, Des Moines

Birth control not related to illness

It’s not unusual to see letters in The Times written by idiots, but one in today’s paper is unbelievable.

I’m not a Catholic, but I commend the Catholic Church (or any church) for founding hospitals, colleges or charities. The author of the letter “Contraception: personal lives,” Opinion, May 24] apparently thinks we need fewer hospitals, colleges, or charities if they don’t provide free birth control for employees.

Frankly, I don’t understand why any medical plan should provide birth-control pills or devices.

They are not used to cure or prevent any illness. Using them is a personal choice. It would make more sense for Medicare to provide me with free vitamin pills or exercise equipment.

— Gary T. McGavran, Bellevue

Will stimulate economy

After reading many negative articles that seem to point out misinformed “facts,” I’m becoming incredibly frustrated. It’s about time that our newspapers begin publishing articles that do not contain biases about this issue. [“Traffic study gives arena a green light; critics see red,” page one, May 24.]

Since when are we against a man who is hoping to put an essentially privately funded project of about $500 million in our city? The Port of Seattle claims that traffic will be an issue; however, traffic studies show that is not the case. The last time I checked, scientific studies are far more conclusive than opinions.

If the Seattle Mariners really believe that the mere 18,000 (at most) fans a game will have a large impact on their team, maybe they need to rethink their strategy.

Additionally, Chris Hansen’s arena deal doesn’t call for just an arena, but rather a region of economic stimulation and diversity, calling for a Seattle version of L.A. Live.

Since when is a stronger economy worse? It’s time to start informing our citizens correctly about this issue.

— George Rutherford, Seattle

Bias on display

I am currently stationed in El Paso, Texas but I am from Steilacoom, Wash. I read The Times online every day and try to keep up with what is going on back home. I am usually pleased by the quality of journalism and lack of bias in most of the stories I read.

I must tell you that I have not been happy with the way the arena issue is portrayed in The Times. Examples include the two stories from May 23 and May 24 regarding the “poll.” It is never mentioned who funded the poll, and the questions asked by the poll were very misleading. This is just one example of where The Times seems to be biased against the arena.

I also wonder why this “poll” is front-page news, but the group of companies supporting the arena including Amazon, Holland America and Nordstrom, does not get any mention in the paper. Why not? The editorials and the stories about the Port of Seattle’s concerns have been heavily slanted against the arena.

I urge The Times to reconsider its editorial approach to the arena, and try to be more transparent in both the headlines and stories related to this proposal. I am completely behind the arena proposal, but understand there are opponents and obstacles, but biased reporting from the major newspaper in the region should not be one of them.

— Stephen Turella, El Paso

Dear Chris Hansen

Thank you for your amazing contribution to our city, i.e., the new stadium.

In light of that, don’t you think you could lend the Seattle Public Schools some $$$ ... just a few million would really help.

Thanks dude!

— Michele Swartz-Ireland, Seattle

Reform mathematics don’t work

The editorial “Engineering a future for state’s economy” [Opinion, May 23] said “kids who grow up here in Washington state ought to have a shot at these jobs.”

I couldn’t agree more. However, The Times consistently supports math education that is proved not to work, which guarantees those students will not have the shot you call for.

Unless, and until, math is taught properly in K-8, The Times’ call for more science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) training or better funding at colleges, etc. will be like speaking in a vacuum.

Many of the education initiatives The Times supports, such as this editorial or support for STEM programs, are founded in K-8 math. As long as the public schools continue to teach reform mathematics (inquiry, discovery, project-based learning and the like) there will be little improvement in student math skill level upon high-school graduation.

— Dick Padrick, PE, Lake Forest Park

Threat to democracy and free market

Danny Westneat’s columns read very well to me. But in Wednesday’s paper [“In Congress, many talk at low level,” NWWednesday, May 23] he misses how right-wing columnist Ann Coulter was ridiculous in her “Patty Murray is stupid because her words are simple” rant.

Why do we write? Ideally, to communicate. If we wish to say something to someone, we do so in a way that is clear and accessible to the intended recipient. When speaking to a nation with eighth-grade reading comprehension, it is not necessarily praiseworthy to play about in one’s favorite bin of big sentences.

Perhaps some of those Congress members who speak at the lowest level, however, are adjusting their message to the “low information” voters. Not to tell truth, but to pander to prejudice and misunderstanding of people who never learned to read well, or study much.

We are right to lament the decline in the reading ability of the average citizen. This threatens the very basis of an effective free-market economy and a democratic political process. Adam Smith, who wrote the book on capitalism, “Wealth of Nations,” says the market can only function unregulated if everyone has perfect information.

Never happens, of course, which is why we specialize and have the institutions that we have in government to insulate us from popular whim. With the decline of the print media, originally credited with the fall of European royalty from power, we may see what the great financier John Pierpont Morgan warned us against:

“Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy”

Better look up that word, “Plutocracy.”

— Bryn Beorse, Seattle

Another opinion

Seattle Housing Authority’s mandate is to provide housing for low-income people, not to build market-rate housing, offices and shops. The Yesler Terrace 20-year plan provides only 11 percent of the units for extremely low-income and less than 17 percent for other low-income. [“Seattle’s worthy plan for Yesler Terrace,” Opinion, May 18.]

And we will end up not with a livable, walkable urban village but 30-story towers employing 4,000, another 10,000 residents, 5,100 parking spaces plus customers in an already congested multi-hospital zone. Is this what we want SHA to be doing in First Hill?

A thousand or so people have been displaced from SHA homes due to past redevelopment, told they could return when their homes were demolished and led to believe they would be replaced in a timely manner. Years later, much of the land is still vacant. How many Yesler Terrace residents making $14,000 a year and forced from their homes will have the wherewithal to return in 20 years’ time?

Take this plan and scale it back with an eye toward housing for low-income people that fits the First Hill neighborhood. Don’t allow developers to grab valuable land primarily for their own profit.

— Lorraine Carlucci, Seattle

Grants invest in community

On May 24, The Times published a heart-lifting story about the Gates Foundation’s huge donations given to Northwest nonprofits. [“Gates grants staying home.”]

What upsets me is that the article wasn’t placed on the front page. Instead, this wonderful news story was placed on the cover of NWThursday, delegated to a side column.

It is time for the media to step up and begin posting more encouraging news on the front page.

As a Seattle native, I am proud that the Gates Foundation has invested and will continue to invest so much into the community. The foundation embodies principles that small towns are still very much aware of: The healing of the world begins in one’s own community.

I spent the last five years in a small rural Colorado community where I learned the good old-fashioned value of community investment, and I am so happy that the Gates Foundation practices this age-old “small-town” principle. Is a new arena more important?

We are all responsible for the better future coming. The Gates Foundation makes me proud to be a Northwest native. Can you do the same in this respect?

— Alicia Grigori, Seattle

Our schools work

Editor, The Times:

Fresh on the heels of the Stanford Report, which shows that charter schools do not outperform public schools, out comes an initiative drive for charter schools in Washington state. [“Charter-school request filed for November vote,” NWWednesday, May 23.]

Never mind the fact that Washington state voters have turned this down three times and that Washington state has the most innovative public schools in the country (a fact even Secretary of Education Arne Duncan didn’t know).

Most public schools outperform charter schools and charter schools have led to increased segregation in our society. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled that we are not performing our “paramount duty” by fully funding public education.

All this and the League of Education Voters, Stand For Children, Democrats for Education and Center for Education Reform want to take money from public education and have their own agenda as to how to educate their own kids!

Take it from a professional, a classroom teacher! Our schools are working! Our schools educate everyone! Our schools have the support of the best education think-tank there is: The Washington Education Association. I work there, I live the life, I am the WEA and I will always support public education. Do not sign this petition! Support public education!

— Philip M. Falk, Picnic Point Elementary, Mukilteo