Letters

Published
December 15, 2016

Letter to the editor: Don’t forget smartphone’s role in soaring number of I-295 crashes

Re: “Crashes rise along with speed limit on I-295 north of Portland” (Dec. 1): Neither the piece nor the comments it has generated touch upon another important element in the rising number of car crashes – distracted driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an entire website dedicated to the topic (distraction.gov). Smartphone ownership […]
Published
December 15, 2016

Letter to the editor: To be a good neighbor, Americold needs to follow Portland zoning rules like everyone else

Americold’s request to alter zoning restrictions on the western waterfront should send ripples of concern through all Portland property owners. Property taxpayers rightfully expect established zoning standards to be upheld. If city officials advocate for zoning changes at the whim of every developer or project proposal, we cease to have effective zoning. It is a […]
Published
December 14, 2016

Letter to the editor: Mitch McConnell acts like a stubborn 6-year-old

Steve Sack, the syndicated cartoonist (Page A6, Dec. 3) responsible for the caricature of Nancy Pelosi wearing a “Make Democrats Stagnate Again” cap, and flashing Richard Nixon’s notorious “I am not a crook!” gesture, seems to have forgotten the frustrating experiences of the past eight years with the actual architects of “stagnation politics.” At the […]
Published
December 14, 2016

Letter to the editor: Sen. Collins must lead bipartisan  fight against Trump’s EPA nominee

With the selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency, President-elect Donald Trump “could not have found a more suitable candidate … to weaken clean air and clean water laws and repudiate America’s leadership role in the global battle against climate change,” as The New York Times stated in a […]
Published
December 14, 2016

Letter to the editor: Keep vital parts of the Affordable Care Act rather than dismantling it

I agree with all the letters written urging Congress to keep the good parts of the Affordable Care Act and fix the parts of the plan that aren’t working. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater Examples of the parts of the plan that should be kept are protections for people with pre-existing conditions, […]

Published
December 14, 2016

Letter to the editor: Portland police must speak on national epidemic of excessive force against black people

I hold Portland’s police in high regard. I have witnessed them using professional behavior to safely defuse some tense and potentially dangerous situations. I thank our police officers for the work they do every day to make the city safer, and I appreciate that they often put their lives in danger. I would also like […]
Published
December 13, 2016

Letter to the editor: Young people of Maine are not spoiled, as critic states

I am writing in response to the letter from Rosemarie Lawrence of Bailey Island, who blames all of the country’s problems on its young people. As a fellow baby boomer and a teacher of college-age students, I would like to counter her arguments. When I was an undergraduate college student, I paid about $25 per […]
Published
December 13, 2016

Letter to the editor: Flawed Portland charter ought to be revamped

The city charter that created an elected mayor of the city of Portland was flawed in giving this position limited powers, leaving decision-making and policy direction to the city manager and council. Conflicts were bound to happen. Mayor Ethan Strimling’s predecessor, Michael Brennan, made waves, but Strimling is rocking the boat, which is better than […]
Published
December 13, 2016

Letter to the editor: Opinion is one thing; using incorrect ‘facts’ another

In his Dec. 5 letter, Steven Biel says that “instead of complaining to the Press Herald” about Mayor Ethan Strimling, we should listen to the voters, as the mayor has allegedly done in his tenure. “That’s the only way Portland will come together,” Mr. Biel says. Shouldn’t Mr. Biel and the mayor do the same […]
Published
December 13, 2016

Letter to the editor: Why Maine’s Republican elector shouldn’t cast vote for Trump

Richard Bennett, the lone Republican elector voting in the Maine Electoral College on Dec. 19, will, I presume, be casting his one Electoral College vote for Donald Trump. Prior to the vote, I would like to call his attention to the existence of a 2013 contract that exists between the Trump Organization and the General […]

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Letters