Streetcars are bad idea

I read with dismay the Feb. 4 Trib story about the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce working with U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, to put in a downtown Waco streetcar system.

Our elected officials still aren’t listening to us.

In the story, Waco was compared to Portland, Ore., which has a streetcar system. Portland is a far larger city and sits on the Columbia River. Waco is a smaller town in the middle of Texas and sits on the Brazos River — a creek by comparison.

It was pointed out that the streetcar system would be expensive to operate. Not only that, but can you imagine the disruption to downtown during construction?

If Waco needs to expand its transportation system, then why doesn’t the city buy a few more of those buses that look like streetcars? (No construction would be needed.) Improving the current street surfaces also would benefit everyone.

We are in a bad economic situation. It’s time that those we have put in charge start using the brains that God gave them.

Mike Varadi

Waco

Medians necessary

Why am I not surprised by the Trib’s Feb. 3 editorial, which opposed putting medians in the middle of Valley Mills Drive?

The Trib editorial is pro-business and anti-common man. If local businesses or Baylor University squawks, the Trib and the city cave.

Those of us who find it necessary — by handicap or choice — to walk and cross busy streets like Valley Mills will just have to make do because drivers might not be able to stop for us.

Shucks, if medians were put in, drivers might have to drive to the end of the block and turn around. Walking requires more of an effort to do that.

But then who cares about pedestrians in Waco? Get killed crossing the street? Your number was just up, I guess!

Clay Brown

Waco

Sex education is key

The Feb. 6 Trib carried a letter lamenting abortion. I don’t know anyone who is in favor of it. However, the alternative in almost every case is an unwanted child who would not get the love and attention a child needs to flourish and who would likely be an obstacle to the mother’s attempts to overcome the mistakes of her past. In such cases, abortion is the lesser of two evils.

The time to prevent abortions is not after conception but before. We need more education for our youth about contraception measures. The goal should be no unwanted children.

Bill Franklin

Waco

Hit-and-run accident

On Feb. 1 at 4:40 p.m., I was sitting in line in the construction zone at the red light at Waco Drive and 35th Street when a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed rear-ended my green, four-door car. Whoever hit me did not stop. I did not get a description of the vehicle because the impact threw my car into the truck in front of me, and my air bags deployed. The line of cars that I was in was two blocks long.

Please, if anyone saw the accident or has any information about the other vehicle — such as make, model or license plate — please call the Waco Police Department.

J. Pickens

Waco