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Opinion

Letters to the Editor — I-345 plans, McKinney’s airport, Mike Rawlings, school vouchers

Readers say I-345 should stay as it is; don’t support expanding McKinney’s National Airport; agree with Mike Rawlings about being off track; and question if the majority supports school vouchers.

I-345 a vital connector

Re: “TxDOT plan for I-345 leaves council divided — Some members want to move now; others call for more analysis,” Tuesday news story.

There exists a kind of magical thinking regarding what to do about Interstate 345. Some apparently believe that burying it in a billion-dollar ditch, thus allowing autos on Elm, Main and other east-west streets to drive over it instead of under it, will somehow result in the creation of a sparkling new utopia in Deep Ellum and southeastern Dallas.

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Meanwhile, what is not wishful dreaming but hard reality is the fact that over 180,000 vehicles use I-345 daily. Drivers from the northern cities and Oklahoma use this interstate to travel south toward San Antonio, Austin and Houston, as well as an equal number heading in the opposite direction. I-345 is the vital connector.

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Both the Texas Department of Transportation and City Council member Cara Mendelsohn recognize this. Everything else is purely very expensive speculation.

Holmes Brannon, Plano

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Vote no on airport expansion

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” — C.S. Lewis

Expanding McKinney National Airport (TKI) to add commercial passenger service is the “wrong road.” I have family in both McKinney and Fairview. As a former resident of Euless, I experienced first-hand the negative impact of airport expansion at DFW Airport on nearby neighborhoods.

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City officials say TKI is an economic asset for the region. McKinney residents should know airports aren’t the easiest or quickest road to economic success. Only McKinney residents will bear this $200 million burden. That fact alone should get McKinney voters questioning why the plan is not sound enough to structure the bond as a revenue bond. Why won’t this presumed money-maker be profitable for at least two decades? What other city services will suffer if commercial airlines don’t come to TKI?

Why haven’t they seen a complete environmental study prior to election day? We’re talking about an airport, not a grocery store! This plan sounds like a long, risky road.

McKinney voters, vote against Proposition A and get McKinney’s leaders “walking back to the right road!”

Clara Bahner, Fairview

Kudos for Rawlings op-ed

Re: “Most Americans say we’re off track — With hard work, we can overcome obstacles that culture, human nature and even democracy present,” by Mike Rawlings, Monday Opinion.

Former Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ opinion piece is intriguing. He is spot-on in his perspective of our times being testy and more complicated, with rates of change in technology and social media like never before that exacerbate the polarization everyone feels. I love how he states that life is customized, personalized, shrink-wrapped and delivered by Amazon and we are lost, depressed and don’t feel valued when it’s not.

Thank you, Mayor Mike, for pointing out that “doing democracy” is hard work — that it’s always been hard. That many polls in 1976 showed Americans felt we had lost our way then during Watergate with generational discord, high inflation and unemployment. That most of us want democracy to succeed but not enough of us are willing to do our parts. That we are at our best when we do hard things individually and corporately.

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Paul Dreimiller, Plano

Summon the political will

Rawlings writes eloquently about democracy and how all citizens need to dig down deep and truly commit to our democracy and work to make it strong, vibrant and resilient.

As I read his thoughtful column, I kept thinking that until we have the political will to see that Citizens United, for example, is overturned, and super PACs are either outlawed or reformed, all the civic-mindedness and hard work in the world might not be enough to combat the forces that occupy our nation’s Capitol and subvert our democracy with what is a form of legalized bribery.

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Donna Ross, Panama City, Panama

Elected officials not listening

Re: “Readers weigh in on school vouchers,” Sunday Letters.

If this past Sunday’s letters on school vouchers reflect the opinions of the majority of Texans, it is clear the majority do not support school vouchers. If this is correct, then why do Texas’ governor and other governmental officials support school vouchers? Aren’t elected government officials supposed to represent the will of the people?

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I guess not in Texas, where positions on abortion rights and gun control legislation do not appear to reflect the majority opinion as well. Whose opinions are represented? Could it be lobbyists or campaign donors? Say it’s not so.

Mark Ryan, Plano

Abbott’s voucher tour is telling

Feb. 28: Parks Meadows Academy, Corsicana. March 1: Covenant Christian School, Conroe. March 3: San Jacinto Christian Academy, Amarillo. March 8: Brazos Christian School, Bryan. March 10: Grace Community School, Tyler.

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According to the governor’s website, these are the five stops Gov. Greg Abbott has made on his “Parent Empowerment” tour. All five are Christian schools. Are there no secular private schools in this state? No Jewish private schools? No Muslim private schools?

The truth is, the voucher program isn’t about parental choice — the voucher program seems more about evangelical Christian indoctrination. I have no problem with any of the above mentioned schools. I just don’t want my tax dollars to go pay for someone’s religious education.

Somehow, these conservative Constitutional scholars seem to have missed the parts in the Bill of Rights known as the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

Howard Klion, Dallas

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