LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

West End tree plan falls short

5/25/2012

Your May 21 article "Residents start online petition to save trees; Removal scheduled on Collingwood Blvd." missed the point.

The reconstruction of Collingwood is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore the fundamental fabric of the neighborhood by reducing traffic lanes along the length of the project.

Lane reduction would result in a more pedestrian-friendly street with a pleasing design. The net effects would be an improved quality of life for a Toledo neighborhood and potentially enhanced property values.

A lane reduction that included the south section would provide the added value and benefit of keeping the existing tree canopy in place -- an important outcome by itself, but one of many positive results derived from a uniform lane reduction.

Toledo neighborhoods can stabilize and grow. However, this requires the combination of hard-working homeowners and an enlightened city government.

Robert Bogantz, Jr.

Parkwood Avenue

 

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Vision a must for Collingwood

The Old West End is in a unique position to provide a sense of place. The theme of the recent Heritage Ohio Conference in Toledo was that preservation, economic development, and quality of life are synonymous.

I am an architect, urban designer, and 11-year resident of the Old West End. We have a unique opportunity to use restoration rather than reconstruction of Collingwood Boulevard as a catalyst to reverse past trends. We can create quality of life for generations by seizing opportunities for thoughtful and visionary preservation and restoration.

Collingwood Boulevard is not just a road project. It can and should be much more.

Jack Patrick

Scottwood Avenue

When planting trees, think fruit

A large number of hungry people locally require food stamps and clean out food pantries and soup kitchens as fast as donations arrive, because of our economic malaise.

It pains me to see this year's extensive tree replanting program in Toledo's parks focus strictly on decorative trees in lieu of trees that would bear peaches, pears, apples, apricots, pecans, chestnuts, almonds, and English walnuts. These should grow in this climate, and could feed many people.

Bob Avery

Glendale Avenue

Bruni column woefully immature

Surely The Blade had better use for space than Frank Bruni's May 17 op-ed column, "Bristol Palin: the latest of the righteous right's frauds."

To waste those column inches beating up on a 17-year-old who got pregnant out of wedlock indicates an immature mind on his part.

Clint Mauk

Perrysburg Township

Does crime pay for a corporation?

Abbott Laboratories has pleaded guilty to fraud against the American people by promoting the use of a drug for purposes other than those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("Abbott Laboratories to pay $1.5B settlement," May 8).

With the personhood bestowed on corporations by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Citizens United ruling, shouldn't Abbott Laboratories be given a prison sentence? Assuming that a profit has been made despite the fine, perhaps crime does pay for some "persons."

James Struble

Sylvania Township