The reasons riders are inconvenienced by overcrowded rail cars in the wake of these inspections is that a critical mass of individuals like myself use the light rail and rely upon that system.
It wasn't so long ago that a Republican nominee for governor, Ellen R. Sauerbrey, in 1998 described herself as "no friend of the light rail" because she couldn't see many people riding it one morning in 1998.
And an earlier state secretary of transportation distinguished himself by writing a column in which he seemed to be unaware of when extensions of light rail service were implemented ("Transit for today," Commentary, July 7, 2003).
Marylanders have a disturbing tendency to elect people to public office who do not utilize or care about public transit.
Those people are shortsighted.
And just think of the logistical problems the light rail, subway and bus system will face once the days of cheap, happy motoring are over and gas hits $4 to $5 a gallon.
The Baltimore area would be better served by putting the east-west Red Line on the fast track and jettisoning the astonishingly stupid Intercounty Connector.
Paul R. Schlitz Jr., Baltimore
Maybe Montessori has the right idea
I thank Michael Cross-Barnet for capturing the kind of emotions my family and I felt during the orientation for the Montessori Public Charter School ("A place to grow," editorial notebook, May 3).
But there is one line in the article with which I disagree - the one that suggests that the Montessori school's approach may not be the way to save public education in Baltimore.
I believe that the Montessori method, or at least a child-centered approach that combines freedom with discipline and would release Baltimore's teachers from having to deliver a test preparation course in lieu of an education, is just the formula for saving Baltimore's public schools.
While most public schools will never be charter schools, the new school-based funding gives principals more freedom to adopt the methods they see fit and use the budget for teacher training, planning and materials to support that method.
If many of Baltimore's principals do that, something of the Montessori method may be the recipe for saving Baltimore's public schools.
Allyson Mattanah, Baltimore
The writer is a parent of two prospective students at the planned Montessori Public Charter School.
Workers on visas easy to exploit
