Letters to the editor

No place like home for work

Just a single sentence in your article regarding telecommuting ("The Long Slog," March 12)? Hopefully that's because you're working on more complete coverage of this new way of getting to work . . . without leaving home.

Our group of nearly 30 software professionals has reduced its commuting by 90 percent. We all used to drive to an office building in Renton every Monday through Friday. Now we meet in a company "hoteling" facility one day every two weeks.

The rest of the time, we work from our home offices, communicating and working together by phone, instant messaging, e-mail and online meeting tools. This is the wave of the future for people who do not need to carry out their work in a specific physical location. And it promises to take far more people off our highways than mass transit ever will — with the bonus of being even more environmentally friendly!

— Bob Richardson, Woodinville

No light at the end of the tunnel

Your intriguing article about congestion and why we put up with the commutes we did ("The Long Slog," March 12) ended with a shocking comment by a Sound Transit employee. That the trip between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport will take 35 minutes on LINK light rail, not counting the long walk from the LINK stop to the terminal. The current trip, even during the most congested time of day, on Metro's Express 194 — without the bus tunnel — takes less than that right now (and it drops you off right next to baggage claim, too).

So we are spending billions of dollars on a light-rail route that will take us longer to get to the airport — with Sound Transit's only claimed benefit a flimsy claim of 'reliability,' which wouldn't stand up under scrutiny, either. Just another example of how we get no relief from congestion from Sound Transit's light rail while it sucks up dollars that could be used on other projects to actually reduce congestion.

— Scott Bader, Everett

Picture perfect

When it comes to the Lower Snake River dams, the science and the economics are clear ("That Dam Problem," March 5). These dams were among the last built in the Northwest. The Army Corps of Engineers opposed their construction for decades, though it would've provided them new money and jobs. And despite the reservations of biologists about potential (now-seen) salmon declines and extirpations, Congress finally got its way.

These dams delivered pork (money/jobs) to the region, but their completion, as Lynda V. Mapes' feature indicates, has brought little more. This article paints a good picture of the possibility of maintaining the Lower Snake River farming community while (a) restoring the river and its salmon to health and (b) helping create a diverse, prosperous economy that blends wheat and wine with wild salmon, outdoor recreation, river trips, world-class fishing and tourism.

— Robert L. Vadas, Jr., Olympia