LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Address the most critical issue of our time

The bold actions of the young members of the Sunrise Movement, who sat in for three days outside the Democratic National Committee demanding one presidential debate focused on the climate crisis, have moved the needle. DNC Chairman Tom Perez went from saying there wouldn’t be such a debate — and threatening any candidate who participated in a non-DNC-sanctioned debate with being excluded from all future DNC debates — to saying the body would vote in August on whether or not to host such a debate.

The fact that a total of just 15 minutes out of the four hours of the first twopart Democratic presidential debate mentioned climate is just more proof that such a debate is needed. The recent recordsetting heatwaves around the world, including in France and Alaska; the yearround wildfire season in the western U.S. and Canada; the “sunny day flooding” in Miami and Norfolk, Va.; the severe drought in Central America that is sending tens of thousands of refugees north; and so many more disasters are fueled by the warming of the climate. We don’t need oneword answers to the complex question of what is happening to our lands and waters and air; to our ice sheets and melting tundra; to our dying forests. We need an intelligent discussion of how these candidates would address the most critical issue of our time, which is intertwined with all others. Because if we can’t get this one right, we won’t have a chance to solve the others.

Melinda Tuhus Hamden

Get airport facts straight

New Haven Mayor Toni Harp stated that, “This airport ... was there before one single house was built . ... It was part of a big farm in that area . ... Every single house that was built knew that there was an airport there before they built the house."

This is a patently false statement about the neighborhood. In the area between Shoreham Road and Burr Street, many houses were built between 1900 and 1920. This includes houses on the east side of Concord Avenue, closest to the airport. A simple Zillow search shows the dates when homes were built in the area. The airport was opened in the early 1930s. Thus, the neighborhood was not just a field. Harp's statement continues her long pattern. Last year when expansion first returned to the agenda she claimed publicly that Tweed was the closest airport for 4 million people. More people than the entire state of Connecticut. Really.

Her henchman have claimed that Groton and Middletown are in Tweed’s catchment area. TH Green and Bradley are closer to each, respectively. These intentional misstatements are her way of attempting to frame the issue as something that it is not. It also shows that she cannot be trusted when it comes to this issue. It is rather simple to get your facts straight. Harp chooses not to. She calls a lot of people Trumpian. When it comes to the truth she looks rather Trumpian herself.

Kevin Buterbaugh New Haven