Make Beltline bigger and better
Bob Amick’s Nov. 22 guest essay, “Our hearts are tied to the Beltline,” was spot-on. Why would you destroy a fabulous greenway already overrun with people actively transporting themselves? Amick wrote that it “has become a … public square where people get from one place to another (already).”
The Summerhill bus rapid transit line being built is an example of a “spoke” in a spoke-and-wheel system that could be complementary in moving people. The Beltline is the wheel, and other spokes are added to feed it from all directions. Keep it simple and build a world-class city we all want.
JOHN E. DUKE, COLLEGE PARK
More to do for safe, affordable senior care
Regarding “State’s senior care homes skate by with few fines” (AJC, Nov. 24):
As a social worker who has worked with elders and their families for 40 years, visiting elders in assisted living and memory care communities, I was not surprised by this article. It continues to break my heart.
Much more needs to happen than just upping the fines. Our society must respect and care about our elders. Remember, our elders contributed a lot to our society and made it what it is today. Additionally, we must pay the staff caregivers way more than they receive. Staff need to feel like their work matters. Caregivers care for too many residents, which doesn’t allow them to provide compassionate care.
Yet many for-profit facilities charge $4,000 to $12,000 a month. Where is all this money going? The answer is to the owners of these facilities. I pose this question to them: Would they want to live in their own facilities?
NANCY L. KRISEMAN, ATLANTA
Georgia Dems opposition to Trump agenda is ill-advised
The recent article about the gathering of Georgia Democrats during which they “mapped out a strategy … to oppose the president-elect” perfectly contradicts the earlier messages emanating from the Harris-Walz campaign about unity.
The article spoke of being “confronted by the next four years of Donald Trump” as if being subjected to probable lower inflation, unemployment and better government was a bad idea. Perhaps the Democrats should look around before they leap, though — it’s not just about President-elect Trump. Republicans gained at all levels of government, not because of bias or racism, but because the programs the Democrats advocated are out of step with many voters across the nation, including many traditional Democrats. Knee-jerk opposition doesn’t serve anyone well.
GARY O’NEILL, MARIETTA
Spain offers humane solution to immigration
In the Nov. 21 Daily News Digest, readers learned that Spain will grant citizenship to 300,000 undocumented immigrants per year. Readers also learned that Texas has offered President-elect Donald Trump 1,400 acres near the Rio Grande to stage his promised mass deportations.
Once documented, immigrants already working in Spain will bolster the national workforce and help finance its commitment to social welfare. The migration minister said this measure grew not just out of concern for “cultural wealth and respect for human rights” but also for the “prosperity” of the nation.
The feasibility of Trump’s plan to deport up to 20 million illegal immigrants aside, Americans should begin to reckon with the destructive economic impact his program would have on our nation. We should also compare the brutality and cruelty of Trump’s idea to the magnanimous and humanistic impulses of Spain’s idea. Spain’s calling immigrants “undocumented” suggests that their documentation will benefit everyone. Trump labels such immigrants criminals to be rounded up and expelled. America would be harmed beyond belief.
Which solution would Americans rather be party to?
RICKS CARSON, ATLANTA
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
