High gas taxes feed a broken system

In response to the Aug. 4 article “Why Is Pa.’s Gas Tax So High? We’ve Got a Lot of Roads,” our “fifth-largest statemaintained road system” doesn’t explain our high gas tax rate. That’s like saying we need a higher income tax rate because we have more people.

Our gas taxes are high because the huge revenue they raise is squandered through nonsensical mandates such as prevailing wage, which needlessly spikes costs of repairing roads and bridges. What’s more, hundreds of millions of dollars raised through vehicle registration fees fund not roads and bridges, but mass transit. And let’s not forget much of the gas tax revenue pays for state police.

Our gas tax brings in the third-highestgas tax revenue nationwide,at more than $3 billion. That’s 20% more than Florida and double New York, both of which have more residents and comparably sized public road systems. Yet it’s no secret our roadsrank among the worst.

Road miles maintained is not the problem, nor more money the solution. Our high gas taxes are feeding a broken system that diverts driver fees away from fixing roads and deliberately overpays for infrastructure improvements.

But tackling this feeding frenzy takes more political will than blaming miles of roads. NATHAN A. BENEFIELD

Vice President Chief Operating Officer Commonwealth Foundation

Harrisburg

Better public transit

The recent announcement of the new Amazon fulfillment center in Findlay (July 31, “Amazon to Open Facility in Findlay”), coupled with the previously reported innovation campus near the airport, should renew some serious thought about the need to improve public transportation to the western suburbs. As one who regularly experiences congestion on the Parkway West, I know this firsthand. The situation is only going to grow worse with these two developments.

During this county executive election year, I would urge that this matter be aggressively pursued with the candidates. I would also urge consideration of the fact that $1 billion spent on improving access to the airport would create more value for the region than a like amount spent on accessibility within the airport terminal. BILL JUBECK

North Fayette

More research

In response to the op-ed “Scientists Can Beat Alzheimer’s” by Kenneth Moch: There was no mention made regarding finding the cause of Alzheimer’s. We know that finding the cause of a disease is far more beneficial and cost effective than finding a cure.

Scientists and nephrologists in the 1970s were well aware that dialysis treatments were causing an irreversible dialysis dementia, an encephalopathy, from aluminum toxicity in the dialysate and oral binders required in treatment of renal failure. We removed the source of aluminum toxicity and solved thedialysis dementia problem.

Aluminum has long been thought to play a roll in the cause of Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of dementia. Aluminum has no known beneficial function in the human body, and we know that it causes inflammation in the tissues in which it is deposited.

One of the leading scientists in aluminum toxicity found large deposits of aluminum in the donated brains of many Alzheimer’s patients. One of the largest sources of aluminum is the adjuvants of many of the vaccines on the schedule of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When injected, it is transported and deposited in the brain the same way it found its way into the brains of our dialysis dementia patients.

Shouldn’t we be looking at the accumulation of aluminum in the products and medications we use as a cause of the Alzheimer’s problem as well as developing effective treatments to cure it? PAT SASSANO Cranberry The writer is a retired registered nurse.

Ignoring duties

What sort of mayor is Bill Peduto? He was invisible when his constituents suffered the agonies of the UPMC/Highmark drama. He can’t follow through on a simple promise of lawn cutting for his elderly and disabled constituents: His excuse is that the summer has been too rainy. But the rain hasn’t constrained his administration from painting the city streets with confusing and limiting markings wed to ugly and dangerous barriers.

And he was asleep at the switch as the city was embarrassed and vendors harmed when the regatta drifted away. No payments for two years, and the city accepts the “check-is-inthe mail” response? And now he imagines that he demonstrates virtue and compassion by concluding that drug addicts, the homeless and the mentally ill benefit from his benignly consigning them to the city streets?

Evidently enamored of his opportunities to travel and promote himself as the mayor of a city that thrives in spite of him, Mr. Peduto clearly finds Pittsburgh useful to him, even as he ignores the tasks of attending to its actual health and welfare. ANN POWELL

Squirrel Hill