Amenities for disabled all too often usurped
Re: the May 12 column โDissed at Illegal Peteโs: a reminder that access for all is good business.โ
Reading Sarah Garrecht Gassenโs article, I was upset that Illegal Peteโs has begun in Tucson so badly, but not surprised. I walk with a walker or cane(s), and find that most โhandicappedโ amenities are unavailable to me when I need them.
From bathroom stalls being used by giggling girls who โjust like to go in together,โ to electric shopping carts used by able bodied people โbecause theyโre fun,โ to merchandise dangerously out of reach and no employee in sight to assist me, I receive the clear message that my patronage is not important to these businesses.
Worse is the assumption, often stated loudly and well within my hearing, that โitโs bad enough that businesses have to go to all the extra expense of making things accessible, but these handicapped people insisting that they be given priority use of them โ theyโre just so entitled to special privileges!โ
These comments most often come from other customers. Wishing attitudes would catch up to building codes and civil rights law.
Toรฑa Morales-Calkins
Northwest side
Medical response belongs in private sector
Here is how the city of Tucson can save many millions of dollars.
Approximately 40 years ago there was a rapid increase in fire prevention products, designs and technology. This included fire alarms, fire-resistant building materials, fire sprinklers, improved building codes and so on.
As a result of these fire prevention advancements, fire departments across the nation realized the need for their agencies had become substantially diminished.
Actual fires had become rare. Previously, medical response had been via private ambulance companies and hospitals. That system worked fine and the cost of that service was not on the backs of taxpayers.
Today, fire departments across the country find that their primary purpose has become medical response. The bottom line is that taxpayers pay millions every year for facilities, equipment and government employees.
This is literally what the private sector used to do on its own. I recognize that most people feel that their fire department is inviolate. However, the truth is sometimes uncomfortable. It is time to go back to the future and โprivatizeโ medical response.
Doug Sooner
Foothills
Rheeโs expertise, care, candor will be missed
Re: the May 13 article โTop surgeon Rhee leaving Banner-UMC for Atlanta.โ
While I donโt know Dr. Peter Rhee personally, I have read about his work here in Tucson. During that time, he has saved many lives including those at the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting.
You will be sorely missed Dr. Rhee, not only for your surgical expertise but for your care and candor as well.
Our loss, Atlantaโs gain.
Ginny Williams
Oro Valley
Vote โyesโ on Prop. 123, a step in right direction
Iโve been teaching in Tucson public schools for more than a decade. For eight of those years, my salary didnโt change. Not by one penny. Not even to account for inflation.
Arizona teacher pay and school funding are consistently at the bottom of the barrel and thatโs not good for our students.
Iโm voting yes on Prop. 123 because it will get funding into schools that desperately need it. In most Southern Arizona districts, the funds will be used to give educators much-deserved raises. Passing Prop. 123 is a step in the right direction.
Itโs not the end of the road, though. Beyond this election, we need to hold the governor and the Legislature accountable for their actions. We need to elect leaders who are dedicated to improving public education and providing schools with the funds they need to be successful. After all, this is our future.
Andrea Rickard
Midtown
Support of Prop. 123 is misguided
Last week I resigned from the Arizona Education Association. I have been a member of AEA since I began teaching in Arizona in 1980. The reason for this resignation was its support for the deceptively worded and Band-Aid Proposition 123.
Iโve read it thoroughly and it changes the stateโs responsibility for funding K-12 and secondary (college level) education.
This proposition mitigates state funding by changing the constitution to lower disbursements from the general fund for education. This frees up money for tax breaks to large corporations.
This proposition also rapidly depletes the state trust lands which were given to the state in 1912 by the federal government. This was to be used as a supplemental fund, to help with inflationary costs.
It is currently sold at 2.3 percent of principal. Under proposition 123, it will be sold off at about 7 percent a year, diminishing the principal of the fund.
Martin Drozdoff
Northwest side
