Pittsburghers can thank Act 47 for service woes

I wish it would snow 10 feet every month until Pittsburghers open their eyes and realize that no matter how much planning goes into snow removal it will never get done as efficiently as it once did with the manpower the city of Pittsburgh has to work with.

Act 47 has decimated all the city services, including but not limited to public works, to the point that you don't get service.

Unfortunately, when Act 47 cut the manpower of the fire department, the police department, EMT and public works, Pittsburghers said and did nothing about it. Act 47 concluded that the city's financial problems were because of city workers making too much money, so manpower and pay were cut.

Then one day, it snowed and everyone wondered why their street wasn't plowed and why the paramedics took so long to get to houses and why police and fire had to work 12-hour days. Once again, the blame was not put on Act 47 but on city workers who have to do more with less -- and no mention was given to the great work the city work force did with less during these winter storms.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the tax-exempt universities and hospitals for the manpower and equipment they gave the city to help with snow removal. Oh -- that's right -- they didn't help the city. The city had to go out and hire private contractors, who were more than happy to get paid for their help.

So, I say, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, until Pittsburghers wake up.

JOSEPH SIMUNOVIC
Banksville

The writer is a Pittsburgh police officer.

Re: lead emissions

The new smokestack scrubbers that will be installed in the Cheswick coal-fired power plant are just another example of the failures of "clean coal" technology ("Cheswick Plant Upgrade May Hike Lead Emissions," Feb. 26).

The Post-Gazette reports that the scrubbers, while reducing soot and sulfur dioxide emissions, will allow a substantial increase in lead emissions.

Lead is a known neurotoxin and is dangerous to human health. It is contradictory not to tolerate lead-based paints on our walls and on children's toys, but to allow power plants to release lead into the air we all breathe.

Another greenhouse gas that is being ignored with this "clean coal" technology is carbon dioxide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently declared that any global warming pollution is a danger to human health and welfare, and it plans on tightening regulations on big polluters.

West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller recently submitted a letter to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson asking the EPA to leave it up to Congress to regulate carbon emissions. Also signing this letter was Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey.

The letter suggests that the authority to regulate carbon emissions should be the responsibility of elected officials in Congress, and not the scientists and experts in the EPA. This would be ignoring the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the EPA is responsible for regulating emissions of all greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide.

While the climate bill is sitting on the Senate floor, Mr. Rockefeller is instead focusing his efforts on drafting legislation to block the EPA's authority to regulate carbon emissions.

SARAH NAGLE
Oakland

Obama's oligarchy

I just finished another viewing of HBO's mini-series, "John Adams." Wow, did that hurt. Not watching the fascinating series, but knowing that everything our Founders struggled to provide us with is at risk.

At risk from a president grabbing at power he doesn't have, namely legislative. Power he doesn't have for the precise reason now on display: His view must be enforced. Period.

Like so much that makes this man dangerous, he's wrong about the Constitution's inadequacies. Our Founders missed little in shaping America's unique government. They fully intended this to be a republic of free and independent states, represented by the people's Congress. They intended the federal government to remain limited in scope, never large enough to abuse its citizenry.

This president's behavior is exactly what our Constitution was intended to combat. In a government of laws, not men, the executive cannot be allowed to impose his group's singular will on the nation. That's oligarchy, and it can't be allowed if a republic is to survive.

Critics shout down the logical arguments of men like Glenn Beck because critics lack the quiet rationale to disprove them. Like the radical in office, they want to "fundamentally transform" these United States of America.

Do you?

ROBERT SZYPULSKI
Penn

All is not fine

To those opposed to health care reform, the public option and government involvement in health care, try applying for individual coverage through Highmark and see what kind of response you get!

Due to a change in work situation, my husband, his daughter and I applied for a moderately priced "medically underwritten" policy from Highmark.

Despite being healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle, all three of us were rejected: one of us for having a mild condition that requires no treatment and costs $20 per year for medication, which doesn't even meet the deductible!

We could appeal through a laborious and vague process, and we can get a guaranteed conversion plan required by government regulation due to previous group coverage, though it is much more expensive and with much less coverage than our former group plan. Even if we had been accepted into the reasonably priced plan, we had serious concerns that our premiums could be raised dramatically or we could be dropped from the plan at any time.

Many people with group coverage assume all is fine, but the idea that corporations do a better job than the government in terms of health care needs a reality check!

MELISSA McSWIGAN
Point Breeze

Before English

Perhaps North Hills school board member Kathy Reid ("North Hills Official Rapped for Remarks," March 2), letter writer Michael G. DeMichela ("Speak English," March 8) and all others of the opinion that if you cannot speak English you do not belong in this country ought to learn some Native American languages. Remember, they were here first.

Their comments are rife with ignorance and intolerance.

PAMELA JONES
McKeesport

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