Public transportation won't improve until the public...

Public transportation won't improve until the public demands it

I am delighted by The Sun's leadership in devoting a series of editorials to the Baltimore region's woefully inadequate public transportation system (Dec 12-14).

Access to living wage jobs, revitalizing neighborhoods through integrated transit and community development projects and improving our region's air quality in the face of future population growth are just some of the challenges an expanded, better coordinated, better financed public transit system would address.

At least two major hurdles, however, lie ahead.

First, long-term planning and financing for public transit will continue to compete with highway spending and an organized, well-funded highway lobby.

Second, public transit in Baltimore continues to be perceived as the transit mode of last resort. It is viewed as something largely for poor and working-class people of color, rather as an efficient, safe and affordable means of getting around for everyone -- as it is in other cities.

This perception encourages a vicious cycle of under-funding, poor maintenance and decreased ridership.

In overcoming these hurdles, the leadership the editorials called for from regional and state politicians will be crucial, but so will pressure from an informed, vocal organization of transit riders.

It is a basic issue of civil rights that the needs of public transit's ridership are not being fully met, and that opportunities for increasing ridership are being missed.

The Transit Riders League of Metropolitan Baltimore demands equity in transportation policy and funding.

We demand a public transportation system that serves the needs of all people, and involvement in decisions affecting users of public transit.

Amy Menzer; Baltimore

The writer chairs the Transit Riders League of Metropolitan Baltimore.

Congratulations on The Sun's excellent series of editorials on the Baltimore area's public transportation system and its lack of planning and coordination (Dec. 12-14).

The remedies the editorials suggested certainly seem to be appropriate. However, also keep in mind that most trips are no longer suburb to center city. Many people now travel from suburb to suburb and their needs must also be addressed.

And it's very important that, even with proper planning and funding, "build it and they will come" won't necessarily work for public transit 1 unless the streets are made safe and perceived as safe by the general public.

Norman Shillman; Baltimore

Public transit works -- in San Diego

After leaving New York City and its incredible public transit system, I lived in various parts of California, then moved to San Diego. Within a year, I sold my car, which cost me a couple thousand dollars each year, all costs included, and now pay $12.50 a month for a senior pass, which takes me within easy walking distance of almost any place in the city.

Bus to trolley and reverse transfers are free and convenient. Public transit takes only a few minutes longer than driving my own car, but I can read or simply watch the scenery while someone else worries about traffic and parking.

I don't have to wonder if my car will still be where I left it when I go out in the morning, and I no longer worry about drunken, uninsured or angry drivers.

One thing is certain -- I won't be buying another car in the foreseeable future.

John Anthony; San Diego

We don't need to lock up those who use marijuana

Hats off to Del. Donald E. Murphy who is proposing legislation to legalize the use of marijuana in Maryland for medical purposes ("Medical marijuana gets new supporter," Nov. 27).

Congratulations too, to the Howard County Farm Bureau for supporting a member using the drug to help gain enough weight to endure life-saving cancer treatments.

The prohibition of marijuana was achieved by a scare campaign that used misinformation, outright lies and vicious racism to manipulate a public that was largely ignorant about the issue.

It's no surprise that the resulting policy of treating marijuana smokers as criminals is as wasteful and foolish as it is cruel. Our society has many critical problems crying out for attention and resources. A supposed need to lock up marijuana smokers is not one of them.

Michael Bardoff; Baltimore

Mental illness: stigma reduced, care inaccessible

Although it is hard to believe that one in five Americans suffer from mental illness, it is not surprising to learn that two- thirds of those who do never seek treatment ("Report says millions fail to seek mental health care," Dec. 14).

But the stigma of mental illness is being chipped away, largely through the media -- not long ago it was almost trendy to be on Prozac.

Still for many Americans, I am sure that minimal or no insurance coverage decides whether they seek treatment.

Many mental health care providers have found the mountains of paperwork insurance companies require are not worth their time and, therefore, demand cash payment.