LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Securing border must be priority

4/23/2014

Your April 15 editorial “Elusive immigration reform” said that doing nothing on immigration has become a conservative obsession. The cornerstone of immigration reform is securing the border.

President Obama has had six years to move toward that goal. But he has done nothing along those lines.

Don’t blame conservatives for the lack of immigration reform. Blame leadership, or rather, the lack of it.

FRANK KOCZOROWSKI
Graytown, Ohio

Reading program shines in spotlight
I thank The Blade and Pages of Opinion columnist Suzette Hackney for her column on the literacy partnership Real Men READ-y (“Toledo reading program pairs role models with at-risk boys,” March 30).

Ms. Hackney captured what happens when adults take one hour a week to read with children. Read for Literacy is proud to have joined the African American Initiative of the United Way of Greater Toledo and other community partners in this work.

The African-American men who were recruited and trained to read with young boys are making an impact because they are dedicated to being present each week. We are honored to bring literacy programming to the 12 students in the program, and to more than 480 additional children in our elementary school Creating Young Readers programs. We encourage other men and women to join us in our literacy work.

When we read with children and put books in their hands, we create opportunities for academic success.

JEANNETTE HROVATICH
Executive Director of Read for Literacy
Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
North Michigan Street

 

Do contractors see city as 2nd class?
How could the redone I-475 be so badly constructed (“Officials investigate cracks in I-475’s roads; ODOT does not want to replicate problem,” April 10)? Those of us who use that highway endured three years of construction headaches. The roadway has been open only a few months, and yet there are cracks in it.

Why is Toledo forced to endure poor construction of a major highway? I’ve considered Toledo a first-class city. But do some people consider Toledo to be second class and not worthy of competent contractors?

JEFF WILLETS
Caroline Avenue

 

Collecting leaves shorts road repair
Now that the city of Toledo is again collecting leaves, it seems there are fewer personnel available to fill potholes (“City of Toledo resuming leaf collection Monday,” March 29).

Why doesn’t the city hire private contractors to fill potholes? The pothole situation is beyond the city’s capability to manage it.

If the city has the time and manpower to send a truck with an orange barrel to mark a pothole, it could send a load of cold patch with that truck’s crew.

BUD CRARY
San Paulo Drive