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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

Viewpoints for Thursday, Nov. 5

Damaging trade-off

Every field of human endeavor has fundamental principles — the field of urban economics is no exception. Today, we are focused on what may become a violation of a fundamental principle of the economics of cities.

In 1961, Jane Jacobs published her book entitled “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” considered by many to be the best book on urban planning published in the 20th century. In her masterpiece, she left us with many innovative thoughts about livability and development inside city centers as well as methods and procedures for creating great urban places.

In the political arena, Jacobs was most well known for her opposition to large scale government intervention in city planning, proving to be an important opponent of Robert Moses steam-rolling New York City’s urban renewal process.

With the proposed plan to relocate the new courthouse to the edge of the central business district, we have lost sight of another important Jane Jacobs planning principle — about the “connection between the concentration of people and the specialties they can support.” She reminds us of Samuel Johnsons’ 1785 note to Boswell: “Men, thinly scattered, make a shift, but a bad shift, without many things. ... It is being concentrated which provides convenience.”

Diffusion of the power of geographical concentration from one location to two locations will damage the already faltering downtown development efforts at a critical time. Such a change would reduce or eliminate the productivity and convenience incentive to the legal community, economically damage local small businesses in the area and shift the focus of development away from the city center to the fringe of the central business district. In exchange, the community is offered improved productivity and security in the processing of justice system detainees and the faulty logic of creating a new, but distant growth node. This is a poor and damaging trade-off to the future of Macon.

— Ronald B. Conners

Macon

Limit terms

The entire Congress of the United States is corrupt — both houses and both major parties.

A few members of each party are trustworthy, but, let’s renew the House with 435 people who have absolutely no experience in running that body, with no political favors owed to anyone but their own constituents. Let’s make them understand they work for us. They are answerable to us and they simply have to run that body with some common sense.

I also suggest term limits: Eight years for representatives and 12 years for senators — no exceptions.

The longer they stay in office, the more power they get. We have term-limited the president, now let’s term-limit the power abusive legislators.

— Art Garland

Warner Robins

Stable schools

I enjoyed Donna Williams’ article because she made a lot of valid points. However, her third paragraph, “it must be undeniable truth” was too much for me to leave alone. Talking about the public education systems of Columbus and Warner Robins, she said; “Their business, civic and government leaders recognized that keeping those bases (Fort Benning and Robins) depended in large part on maintaining a relatively stable and viable public school system.”

Of course, the direct implication here is that the community leaders of those two fine cities are special and go to extraordinary lengths to establish good public schools — much more so than leaders of non-DoD base cities. Common sense gained by reading The Telegraph every day would dictate that our city’s educational establishment does the same thing as every other educational establishment in the state and nation — ask for more money to build new schools. That’s their job and they do it very well and should be commended.

So why is the public school system in Warner Robins, which houses Robins Air Force Base, held in such high regard? Before answering, consider some of the foundations of military service: personal responsibility, motivation and education. It’s possible that the children of these military members are exposed to those principles early on and a lot of the children embrace enough of them to perform well in school, even if some of those schools are more than 10 years old.

I guess this leads to the inconvenient conclusion: A high quality student body leads to a better school system. Not necessarily vice versa.

— John Hebert

Warner Robins

Longing for simpler times

Longer ago than I sometimes care to remember, before television and instant gratification and when radio was preeminent, we had to wait until Sunday’s paper arrived to get Saturday afternoon’s college football scores. Well, that’s not entirely true. Catholics going to early Mass got the Notre Dame score before the paper was delivered.

The teams were listed alphabetically by geographical region as they are now. The school most people looked for was Slippery Rock. There were other relatively small colleges that had fans across the country, but Slippery Rock State College of Pennsylvania was the most popular.

I’ve looked for Slippery Rock for several Sundays and haven’t found it. Perhaps the school no longer fields a football team. That would be a shame. As I recall, their teams were quite successful.

We’re told the only constant is change. But as we grow older, we miss some of the simpler things no matter how arcane or esoteric they may have been. Change may be inevitable, but it’s not always for the better.

— Robert L. Lehane

Fort Valley

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania still has a football team. Its record is 3-2.

— Editors

Extending thanks

I wish to thank the board of directors and the staff of the Museum of Arts and Sciences for the wonderful job in bringing Ken Burns to Macon to show his documentaries on William Segal, together with the art exhibition of Segal’s paintings.

What a coup for Macon to have Ken Burns speaking here the day following the completion of his exceptional documentaries on National Parks. He is an incredibly talented documentary filmmaker and outstanding speaker.

Macon is most fortunate to have a first-rate museum in the Museum of Arts and Sciences. I, for one, had let my membership lapse after my children finished school and moved away. I certainly realize what a mistake that was, and how much the museum has to offer, not just to children, but also to adults. I urge everyone who is not a member to join. What a bargain at $25 per year for individual membership or $45 per year for a family membership.

— Jane McKenney Jordan

Macon

Thanking Dr. Hugh Sealy

The passing of Dr. Hugh Key Sealy, Oct. 21, must be recognized in Middle Georgia with great respect. As one physician who had the privilege of knowing and working with Dr. Sealy during the latter one-third of his long and productive life, I wish to take this small opportunity to honor his memory, as well as his long struggle with illness.

It is very important for this community and especially all of its physicians to remember that he was the very first to envision and establish the Coronary Care Intensive Care Unit in this area and it was the second in the Southeast. At that time, this major emphasis on the care of heart attack victims and patients with rhythm problems by internists was not routine. There were no viable surgical or catheter based therapies available here, and he did help care for the very first coronary bypass surgical patients here in Macon.

Thankfully, he was clear and lucid in the final weeks and days of his life, and that is how we should remember and thank him.

— James Chapman

Macon

Northwoods Academy

Last week the new Northwoods Academy was dedicated. This event was largely ignored by the media and that is a shame. This facility is a proactive approach by the Bibb County Board of Education to meet the unique needs of young children. Early intervention is critical in the development of children with special needs.

For years the Bibb County Early Childhood Program has been housed at the old Butler Elementary School, known as the Butler Center. A tremendous staff of teachers and therapists made the old building work for them as they did wonders for many children. Now the staff has a facility specifically designed to be supportive of their work.

This is one of the few facilities of its kind in the state. It is a credit to the school district and an asset to the community. Although approved in the last ELOST, and in spite of its potential value to our young children, the funding for this facility was in question two years ago. Due to the efforts of Lynn Farmer, then-president of the Bibb County Board of Education; Julie Moore, executive director of Education First; and Lisa Garrett, former director of Early Childhood Education and principal of the Butler Center, the questions were resolved.

It is interesting to note that Northwoods Academy has been constructed on distinguished ground. The former Tinsley Elementary School was located at this site for many years. Tinsley was always a special school. In 1954, a forward looking Board of Education constructed a unique wing on the Tinsley campus that was designed to meet the needs of students with physical impairments. From Tinsley to Butler to Northwoods Academy, the tradition continues.

The Bibb County Early Childhood Program is exceptional. It makes a difference for kids and serves to highlight the potential of our school system. It is something we can be proud of.

— J. Michael Van Wyck

Macon

Prayer for Thursday, Nov. 5

Dear Lord, in your precious name I pray. Lord, I want to thank you for the gift of life you have given to all of us. Lord, you know there are a lot of men and women who are incarcerated, and I pray that you will keep watch over them and their families and loved ones while they are apart. Please Lord, forgive all of us for our sins. In your holy name I pray, Amen.

— Rev. Terry Robert Plemons Jr.

Warner Robins