To the editor:

Recent comments (Timothy G. Riling, Oct. 2) are exactly right to point out that opposition to taxes for the T is not the equivalent of opposition to public transportation. Of course Lawrence needs public transportation but the proposal to fund it with two sales taxes is simply blackmail. We are asked to hold our noses and vote “for public transportation.”

Public transportation should be part of a city’s budget, not paid for by regressive taxes on those who can least afford it. But such a scheme is what we should have expected from a City Commission that refuses to understand basic concepts such as sprawl and blight and holds the maximizing of developer investment as its highest value.

Having such a City Commission is bad enough, but far worse is that the so-called Grass Roots Action group behaves like a bunch of political hobbyists hopping in and out of whatever issue of the moment grabs its attention. Instead of working all along for good government and a sustainable majority of common sense on the commission, it sees a crisis to get excited about and is pleased to become just another tool of bad government.

Wally Emerson,
Lawrence