Timing wrong for more parking in Short North

As a Short North resident, I love living in a neighborhood with limited parking. Parking lots and garages are dead spaces that make neighborhoods lifeless. I would much rather walk past a retail store, restaurant or residence than a row of parked vehicles sitting on hot asphalt.

Yes, parking in the Short North costs money and space is limited. There is a positive trade-off:

• The Short North has fabulous public transit.

• People bus, walk or bicycle to work, retail stores and school.

• Many people avoid the stress and road rage of driving.

• People who use active transportation, rather than drive, have lower blood pressure, better sleep, lower weight and better overall health.

Experts predict that the U.S. will reach a transportation tipping point in 2025 when 20% of passenger vehicles are self-driving. Most of the fleet will be owned by car share companies such as Uber and Lyft. These services will be so inexpensive that the demand for parking will drop significantly in urban areas and town centers. Ownership rates of personal vehicles also will drop.

Now is not the time to build more parking in the Short North or Franklinton. For people who visit, there are many travel options. When visitors arrive, they can enjoy neighborhoods that are vibrant because people are prioritized over cars.

Cleve Ricksecker, Columbus

It is tough to ignore migrant kids’ conditions

I have read descriptions of the inhumane treatment of children in the U.S. border camps. If I found it unbearable to read, how were the children feeling? How can we and our elected leaders have so little compassion for these young lives? Didn’t we learn better from our families, schools, mosque, temple or church? Weren’t we humbled by what life has brought us?

Right now, I want to do something to comfort these children, but all I can do is talk with the obviously tired grocery clerk and continue to do community volunteer work that is really hard (for me), and cut some slack for myself and others for not doing more.

Today I will acknowledge passersby and pay increased school levies, maybe even renew myself by dancing and prayer. I will listen and talk with our young future leaders, our grandchildren, telling them why I vote and remind them that our country, our democracy, requires us to care and act. And then I will thank my elected officials as they do the right thing.

Maureen Hollander Clark, Granville

Treatment of migrants could breed resentment

President Trump’s handling of the border “crisis” is one horrible example of his tendency to lead with his fists. Separating children from their families and placing them in subhuman conditions for weeks and months is nothing less than kidnapping and child abuse. Even if these children are eventually reunited with their families, they will be scarred for the rest of their lives.

Abandoned babies and children fail to develop in critical ways and are at much higher risk for anti-social behaviors and psychological problems. We are likely instilling in our southern neighbors a deep hatred for America. Trump falsely accused President Obama of creating ISIS, but his own administration is actively damaging innocent children. When they grow up what will they think of America? This mistreatment could actually inspire a new terrorist group much closer to home.

Trump’s hatred, bigotry and isolationism do not make us safer but put us in far greater danger. His ignorance of science and refusal to acknowledge earth’s climate crisis will cause increasing numbers of people fleeing to the United States.

If our president continues to punch huge holes in our nation’s security and standards of decency, the now-famous “Build the Wall” chant will finally apply: to the work necessary to repair the damage he has inflicted on America.

Karen Adams, Columbus

Court decision counter to Ohioans’ druthers

The recent decision by the Supreme Court on the subject of gerrymandering is a blow to voting rights and a confirmation of what we have feared (Dispatch article, June 28). This system of making district maps in order to favor one political party over another is a violation of our civil rights and in direct opposition to one of the central tenets of the United States: that the makeup of our government should be representational of the general population and not special interests or partisan politics.

SCOTUS acknowledged this premise even as it kicked the can down the road back to state governments. Ohio voters said in the 2018 election that our political map should be drawn fairly and without partisanship, and even though the particulars of the ballot initiative leave the map in the hands of the legislature, Ohioans voted in overwhelming numbers that the spirit of the initiative — for fair and balanced district maps — is an issue that we care about.

Our state representatives have a duty and responsibility to carry out the wishes of their constituents. Secretary of State Frank Larose might think this ruling gives him the power to draw the maps, and he may be “appreciative of the Supreme Court’s affirmation of federalism,” but does he appreciate the will of the voters, and will he acknowledge that the current map does not represent the population of Ohio with any fairness or equity?

We will be watching in 2020 and 2021. This is a long fight; we are not tired yet. Jennifer Robertson, Columbus

Housing kids reportedly benefits former official

From recent coverage, it has become clearer and clearer that current and former Trump administration officials are closely tied to the abuse of migrant families.

Former Trump administration official John Kelly is serving on the board of Comprehensive Health Services in Homestead, Florida, and he now is profiting from the detention of migrants in horrifying conditions.

The Reuters news agency reported that the U.S. government is paying this company $750 per day per child — equivalent to the most expensive hotel rooms

— to house them in dirty and cold facilities where they are poorly supervised and sleep on concrete floors. This looks like a boondoggle where investors make a nice profit while harming children at taxpayer expense. It should be unacceptable to all of us.

Danielle Fosler-lussier, Upper Arlington

Residents have the right to limit wind projects

Developers of wind energy projects have been using state-backed force to locate their multiple-square-mile projects in communities with no input from local residents.

At issue is the right of local residents to have a voice in the future of their own community. Across Ohio private citizens are uniting and taking their issue to the state legislature. But the chamber says it would be a “dangerous precedent” should these citizens have a chance to decide whether hundreds of 600-foottall wind machines could be built in their area. And why? Because, the chamber says, it might detract from the “certainty” big business needs to be successful. Really?

The policy backs big business with the power of the state while trampling the rights of individual citizens. This is known as crony capitalism and can never be openly supported by an organization like the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. To all businesses across Ohio that have attached their brand to the OCC logo, beware of what your affiliation is supporting.

Contact the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and advise it to get on the right side of this issue by supporting the Reineke Referendum on wind energy projects.

Jim Feasel, Tiffin