Northeast News
August 27, 2014

Dear Editor:

A little note to Sly and the Boys:

No, the ballot language wasn’t too complicated. I just didn’t want it. But, I was appalled to see that when the question failed at the polls, the immediate response was, “what’s plan B?”

What plan B? We said no!

Are you taking the Clay Chastain path? To hammer at us with unending ballot measures until you think we’ll submit and accept your plan? When will you understand that no means no?

That you will steal money, and a lot of it, from other entities to fund your efforts, it just smacks of skullduggery. You may plead that “it was legal,” maybe, but that doesn’t keep it from being sleazy. It has seemed to be a routine for the last several years, when talk arose about Light Rail and Streetcars, that you would steal money from the ATA to fund your plans, making it difficult for the ATA do to their jobs. Then, when the service by the ATA suffers, you point to the poor service and shout, “we’ve got to do something about this!”

The ATA has been in the business of getting people to where they need to be for a long time now. If you had cooperated with the ATA and refrained from putting obstacles in their path, you would have the transportation you say you want. In addition to being a cost effective method of public transit, busses are flexible. They run on rubber tires and the front wheels turn. Therefore, they can be re-routed around construction, traffic snarls and such. Streetcars run on rails; their path is fixed. An unfortunate traffic accident can halt rail traffic for hours.

A new bus route can be put in place with ease. All that’s needed is to plan a new schedule to respond to the needs. No tearing up streets to lay rail, no disruption in traffic to accommodate construction.

Give it up Sly. We don’t want it!

William Dunning,

Northeast Resident