Times headline was a disservice to readers

Editor, The Times:

The headline on your [July 29] page-one weather story was an attention-grabbing "Hottest day ever?" But it was the subhead that has been bothering me all day: "Global warming? More like a high-pressure system and humidity that are parked over our region."

This subhead irresponsibly reassures people that global warming is not something to worry about, using the proximate causes of weather to dismiss global warming. Global warming is not a meteorological event you can use to describe the day's weather, like "Today we'll see a high-pressure system mixed with some moderate global warming."
Global warming is the gradual increase of global average temperatures along with volatile weather, a trend that has been well-documented over the past century. On the hottest days of the year people are the most receptive to efforts to stop global warming, and there is opportunity for action.

Discouraging this on the front page is the greatest disservice the The Times could do its readers.

-- Simon Bond, Seattle

Why aren't we asking Obama to sign environmental treaty?

As Puget Sound temperatures establish record highs, I wonder at the absence of people demanding President Obama sign the Kyoto Treaty to reduce global warming.

For eight years, while a Republican president was in office, one would regularly hear how wrong it was that the president would not sign the treaty. Now we hear nothing.
Just as the anti-war protests vanished after the election, even though soldiers are still dying overseas, the absence of any discussion on the Kyoto Treaty makes me wonder what antiwar protesters and environmentalists have as core values.

Does their silence on these issues show that they are just liberal lemmings willing to allow a Democrat president a free ride on issues they supposedly hold dear?

-- Tom Tangen, Edmonds

High Seattle temps no indication of global warming

July 29 you published five letters online ["It's hot in Seattle: Does this prove global warming exists?" seattletimes.com, Northwest Voices] citing the recent hot weather in Seattle as proof that global warming is real.

It's interesting to me that global-warming alarmists are permitted to use this argument, while global-warming skeptics are not. For example, when commentator George F. Will recently pointed out ["Turning a cold shoulder to climate-change," Opinion, syndicated column, July 24] that the Earth has experienced no measurable warming in 11 years, he was promptly lambasted by the alarmists: "Dolt! That's too short a timeline. Doesn't he know the difference between climate and weather?"

All I can say to the alarmists is, "Make up your mind." If 11 years of cooler weather doesn't disprove global warming, then it is ridiculous to say that two weeks of hot weather in Seattle proves it.

-- Paul Naumann, Tacoma

In hot weather, reminders of Iraq's electricity sanctions

The forecast for July 29 was 90 degrees in Miami, 100 degrees in Seattle and 111 degrees in Baghdad.

In August 2000, I led a delegation to deliver medicines to children in Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq. It was 104 degrees at 6 p.m. A dozen of us were sitting on the floor of this poor family's home sweating buckets when the ceiling fan began to turn. The woman of the house looked up and said, "Thank you, George Bush!"

The electricity had been off for three hours, and it was now their turn to have three hours of electricity before it was rationed again.

In 1990, Iraq had more than 9,000 megawatts of electrical capacity. After we bombed almost all of its electrical plants in the Gulf War, Iraq had less than one quarter of that.
We said, "Get rid of Saddam, and we'll give you electricity." The Iraqi people went through 12 years of sanctions without electricity to refrigerate, to pump sewage or to process water.

In this heat, allow a moment to think what the Iraqi people have been through.

-- Bert Sacks, Seattle

100-degree summer days will be the future of Seattle

Editor, The Times:

Professor Clifford Mass neglects climate change in his statement, "One day, your grandchildren will ask you did you really experience the temperatures of July 29, 2009?"

What was it like? How did you survive it? I hope my grandchildren ask me those questions. But it is more likely they will ask, "Were there really summers in Seattle when the temperature never reached 100 degrees?"

-- Gregory Johnson, Seattle

High temps just more proof of climate change

So, hearing much from the global-warming deniers lately?

-- Bill Moritz, Bothell

Doubt global warming exists? Climb a mountain, try to find a glacier

As a mountain climber since the mid-'90 s, I have personally witnessed the shrinking of glaciers on our surrounding mountains. It is unmistakable.

George F. Will ["Turning a cold shoulder to climate-change," Opinion, syndicated column, July 24] may be cavorting around an uninformed or disinterested group of people in order to conclude "skepticism about the evidence that supposedly supports current alarmism about climate change is growing."All scientific data has uncertainty. Unfortunately, the data on global warming just keeps on giving, and it is growing more certain with time, not less.

What is ironic is that China and India are certain to be some of the first countries to experience the major changes that occur with warming of the planet. When the Himalayan glaciers that supply one billion of their people with water disappear, they will see social change that cannot be mollified with economic growth.

The data on these glaciers is certain, irrefutable.

-- Steven Short, M.D., Mercer Island

Will is wrong; U.S. must be leader in cutting emissions

George F. Will argues we should do nothing to mitigate global warming because India, China and other developed countries will do nothing.

While we can't be certain what other nations will do, we can be pretty sure that if we don't do anything, they won't either. It is still true that the average American produces five times as much carbon dioxide as the average Chinese citizen and about 20 times as much as the average Indian.

Because Will and others are working hard to foster skepticism about the science, he may be right that skepticism is growing, but the evidence that global warming is a huge problem is moving in precisely the opposite direction.

If the U.S. acts, we have good reason to believe developing nations will conclude that most of them will be hit as hard or harder by warming than developed nations, that there are effective ways to mitigate global warming without destroying the economy and that we are all in this together.

-- Conway Leovy, Seattle

Welcome to Heattle

After waking up for the third time last night, I rolled over and saw Seattle change to Heattle.

It certainly captures our family's sentiments about the weather this week. Off to swim in Lake Washington.

-- Timothy Colman, Seattle

Come to Hawaii, where it's cooler than Seattle

Seattle's heat wave has created a convenient truth for Hawaii's struggling visitor industry.
While you are facing the possibility of an all-time high of 101 degrees today, it will be a shivery 83 degrees here on beautiful Kaneohe Bay. And we have the trade winds.

We anticipate full-page ads from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau in markets like yours screaming: "Beat the heat. Visit subtropical Hawaii and chill!"

-- Walter Wright, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Resignations should come over $40k bonus

The Seattle Times informed the public of Mayor Greg Nickels inappropriately paying a bonus to Seattle City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco. When the city cannot balance its budget and the superintendent allowed City Light to have a $90 million budget gap, there isn't an acceptable reason to have paid Carrasco a discretionary bonus.

If Carrasco didn't find his salary without a bonus acceptable in the current economy, he should be looking elsewhere; he clearly hasn't been able to balance his own budget. Nickels' authorization to pay him to stay, again, is unacceptable as was quoted in the article:

"Certainly, any kind of bonus should be scrutinized during tough times and flush times," said Councilmember Bruce Harrell, chairman of the Energy and Technology Committee. "But in the next two years, that utility's going to need the best leadership possible, and Jorge has demonstrated the best leadership possible."

Not only do I expect the council to scrutinize Nickels insensitive and incompetent actions regarding this bonus, I also expect the rest of Seattle City Council to scrutinize Harrell's support of this bonus.

I am very hopeful that Harell does the right thing and resigns for supporting the bonus. We deserve top-notch leadership and neither Nickels nor Harrell represent the best that Seattle deserves.

-- Henry M. Pierce, Seattle

Why do blundering transportation officials still have jobs?

After reading an article on city officials Grace Crunican and Paul Jackson Jr. ["Crunican: Promoting manager an error," NWWednesday, July 8], it is absolutely beyond me why these two people still have their jobs.

We have the transportation chief, Crunican, acknowledging her inability to manage her staff. Isn't that what her position is all about?

And then as a reward for gridlocking the city streets during the snowstorm, Jackson gets his old job back. I guess his "problematic management style" doesn't affect his old position. Pity those poor employees.

So after a winter of discontent, a $515,000 contracted study, a reversal of opinions on personnel, I ask again: Why do these people still have their jobs?

-- Michael Kaulakis, Port Angeles

It's time to move on from snowstorm blunders

For about six months now, much has been said about the Seattle Department of Transportation's (SDOT) performance during the December 2008 snowstorms. Even as the summer sun breaks through to give us these beautiful Seattle days, it is right to check the overall emergency preparedness in the event of any natural disaster. Both Mayor Greg Nickels and SDOT Director Grace Crunican are making the necessary changes to improve response in the future. I take them at their word.

What began as a critique of the city's snow response has evolved into a vicious, unrelenting and unfair attack on the city's decision to hire an outside consultant to investigate allegations of bias within SDOT's Street Maintenance Division.

Instead of attacking city leadership on this issue, we should applaud Nickels' and Crunican's decision to aggressively investigate and resolve complaints of discrimination within SDOT's work force. Ignoring these complaints does nothing to address employee concerns or lower the city's overall liability. In fact, it achieves the exact opposite. The decision to investigate each and every complaint, whether ultimately sustained or not, demonstrates a strong commitment to justice. And for that I wish to personally offer my appreciation and support to Nickels and Crunican.

I think it's time we enjoyed a little more of the sunshine, not only in this great environment, but also within City Hall, where the mayor is trying to shine a little independent light on what happened and ensure the city has done the right thing -- especially whenever discrimination is charged.

-- James Kelly, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle president and CEO, Seattle

Ask not what your city can do for you

Much discussion about the winter storms has focused on what our city and our county did not do for us ["Staff botched snow response," page one, March 19], and there seem to be real grounds for these criticisms. But far too little has been said about our responsibilities as citizens:

Storm drains: Everyone should know where their nearest drains are and keep them clear so that water can drain efficiently. Some people have drains on their own property, but most of us need to tend the drains along the streets where we live. They are not our personal property, but they are our city's property, and that makes them ours.

Shoveling snow: Many of us got to work only by walking some distance to where the buses were, and it was always helpful to find a stretch of sidewalk that had been shoveled. A young man on our block even shoveled the sidewalks belonging to neighbors, whom he knew were old and less able to shovel.

If you keep your sidewalk shoveled -- or hire a neighborhood kid to -- you won't even need to sprinkle salt. Salt on the roads is harmful to cars driving on them (ask anyone from the Midwest about rusting car parts). Salt on the roads is also harmful to the waterways that surround us: not all our runoff heads immediately for salty Puget Sound.
Take responsibility: Our city and county could do a more equitable job of plowing crucial streets. But do we also want to pay for more snowplows so that our streets will be plowed like they are in Chicago? Would this be the best use of our money?

Some very good bus drivers got many of us to our destinations, give or take a mile, and some very hardworking bus mechanics worked hard to keep buses in service. We need to remember to do our part, too, when the snow falls next winter: Shovel the sidewalks, clear the drains, look out for our neighbors, be willing to walk if we can, and expect to be inconvenienced.

-- Mary and Karl Babl, Seattle

Next time, check with Spokane

As a former resident of Eastern Washington, I agree the city's response to the December snow was less than satisfactory ["Staff botched snow response," page one, March 19]. As a retired military individual I also know there are lessons to be learned from every operation, successful or otherwise.

Rather than go to the expense of shuffling the transportation leadership because of one event that may or may not be repeated anytime soon, why not make inquiries of someone who has experience in such matters. How hard is it to pick up the phone and call across the state to another large city, such as Spokane.

That city was hammered by the same storms, albeit a bit harder. With hills also in their geography, they worked long and hard, as well as calling on private companies to help clear their arterials.

In the spirit of intercity cooperation, I would hope that the city's leadership is not too proud to ask for help from those who have experience annually in snow.

-- Gordon Kaufman, Mill Creek

There's a reason leaders must get to their jobs

Most jurisdictions have an emergency response protocol that includes, among other things, the ability of the executive staff to convene at an appropriate site to be able to make decisions and authorize actions and/or expenditures in order to mitigate an emergency.

I assume the city of Seattle has such a protocol, and if so it's not a stretch to this writer to believe that the roads to the mayor's house were plowed in order to achieve this (at least I hope this is the case) ["Staff botched snow response," page one, March 19].
Whether this was taken into account (if such a protocol is in place for Seattle) would certainly clarify this one decision, which is getting so much press.

I worked on a similar protocol for a small jurisdiction as a representative of the fire department, following 9/11, and it was made clear that the executive staff would be picked up by the police and taken to a secure location in order to ensure that the leadership remained intact.

The protocol was expanded to include natural disasters (the threat of tsunami is a possibility in my area) at the suggestion of a group from the University of Washington, which leads me to conclude that the city of Seattle must have a similar operating protocol.

Give them a chance to respond. Nothing like this ever goes the way we want them to.

-- Todd Ayling, Marysville

Lackluster performance

No one should be surprised at the complete breakdown of Seattle Department of Transportation services during the recent snowstorm, given the lackluster performance of the mayor's office for the past eight years.

A mayor's job basically is to make sure snow is plowed, garbage is picked up and potholes are filled. Any grandstanding around here or in Washington, D.C., can wait until those services are performed.

Madrona Drive in my neighborhood has been riddled with potholes for ages, streets around here didn't see a snowplow for days in December and we're all holding our collective breath as the garbage collections change from organized to who knows what at the end of March.

So far, the mayor's office is zero for two and the idea that Mayor Greg Nickels can waltz to another victory in November should scare the hell out of us all.

-- Jeff Lee, Seattle

The value of a newspaper

The Seattle Times' investigative reporting of our city officials' incompetent response to the December snowstorms is a powerful demonstration of what the American public is losing as newspapers fold in city after city.

I am doubtful that online bloggers or the meager staff remaining at the online P-I have the resources or access to thoroughly investigate and report in-depth local stories that would never come to light if we relied on government and business to provide us with truthful information on how they function -- or don't.

A free and fully resourced press is essential to democracy. The weakening of the Fourth Estate diminishes and threatens us all.

-- Becky Withington, Seattle

Maddening city reaction

It is no secret that newspapers in general are being forced to try to endure an extremely difficult period. But in spite of the hindrances that occur behind the scenes, your paper has recently accomplished something of overwhelming significance. I refer to the exposé of the magnificently mismanaged response to December's snow onslaught. This administrative failure was something that hit home to every resident of this city in one way or another.

The many maddeningly irresponsible aspects of the city's behavior make it difficult to pick a "favorite," but for me, one particular point was dominant. I refer to Councilmember Richard McIver's plaintive response to the proposition of employing an independent consultant to investigate the city's performance, rather than keeping any investigation in-house. With the utmost sincerity, he remarked, "We know we can do a better job. Do we know how, or do we need someone to tell us that?"

My reaction to this approach is to wonder if his desire to escape from the glaring heat of scrutiny before his department's edges begin to scorch could be any more obvious. The answer to his question is, "Yes. You need someone to tell you that."

If your investigation of this sordid matter does not constitute an essential public service, then I can't imagine what would. I, for one, wish to thank you.

-- Tom Likai, Shoreline

Shine a light on the governing class

It has been a great week for newspaper readers. Our tycoon-governing class is finally getting dissected by the press and that is exposing the corruption and fraud that 30 years of concentration of wealth and monopoly capitalism have wrought. It isn't pretty, but is why freedom of speech is worth protecting.

And it is why newspapers are an indispensable part of our democracy. Without their reporting, mayors and CEOs would be above the law.

-- George and Patricia Robertson, Seattle

Did I wake up in Chicago?

When I opened Thursday's Seattle Times, I blinked away the notion I was reading Chicago's Tribune! What the heck is going on? The mayor and sub-mayor get their streets cleared immediately ["Staff botched snow response," page one, March 19], while blaming Mother Nature for two weeks' stop-action at Christmastime (pity the poor shop owner). Transportation honcho Grace Crunican runs off to Portland during the mess and Councilmember Sally Clark scolds Councilmember Tom Rasmussen for trying to get answers.

The two bumpkins in charge (with combined salaries of $170,000) have no experience in snow or ice removal and tons of salt sit idle.

Continue on The Times' front page and read about gross waste of your money and mine by Lt. Milton Footer in the Fire Department ["Report: City fire official misused position"]. Footer is so busy securing free Hannah Montana tickets, he forgets to send out 70 invoices worth $195,000.

In both these cases, where's the oversight?

Kudos to Times reporters Susan Kelleher, Christine Clarridge and Bob Young for exposing Seattle's botched and unethical officials. Brings Illinois' bandits and the AIG debacle to mind, doesn't it?

-- Margaret Symons, Seattle

Suspicions confirmed

Courtney Blethen/The Seattle Times

Denny Street on Capitol Hill going down towards I-5, was closed all for days due to the December snow and ice. Sledders took over the hill

Editor, The Times:

Thank you for the page-one story ["Staff botched snow response," March 19] that confirms what any Seattleite who was paying attention during the December 2008 snow event already knew: [Mayor Greg Nickels] and other public officials had no problem standing in front of cameras claiming that the response was worth an exemplary grade because they only saw evidence of a job well done during their commutes between home and downtown offices.

A photo accompanying a newspaper story during the last week of December showed a woman digging her street-parked car out of the snow that had been piled against it by a passing plow. I thought at the time that she must live near the mayor if her street had been plowed.

I live in the Phinney/Greenwood neighborhood and observed that no streets were ever plowed. If Phinney and Greenwood avenues and 80th and 85th streets are not on the city's list of arterials that require attention during snow events, what streets are, other than the mayor's route to his office?

-- Brian Rasmussen, Seattle

Out of the loop

I live in Laurelhurst and want to know exactly which "loop of streets in Laurelhurst" was plowed during the December snow debacle.

We were stranded in our home for at least a week and were able to get groceries and other supplies only by walking more than a mile in accumulated snow and slippery conditions up and down a very steep hill. At no time during this period did I ever see a city truck scraping, sanding or in any other way clearing streets in our neighborhood.
If a loop of streets in Laurelhurst was in fact cleared, I would like to know why that loop was chosen over the major streets in the neighborhood that were not cleared.

-- Betty Ravenholt, Seattle

Heckuva job, Greg

Mayor Greg Nickels response to the snowstorm reminded me a bit of President Bush saying after Hurricane Katrina, "You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie." It's one thing to not see the incompetence around you; it's quite another to praise it.

Just like then-president Bush, Mayor Nickels managed to do both. And yet he is planning on re-election. Really?

The man we entrusted with the safety of our city let us down, made poor decisions in staffing departments, and has proved he has overstayed his own level of competence.

-- Thomas Erdmann, Seattle

Lame excuses

Thank you, Seattle Times, for exposing the truth behind the lame excuses for the city of Seattle's abysmal response to December's snowfall.

Yes, snow is a force of nature. However, the response to that was the chaotic, business-as-usual Seattle response. Mayor Nickels said we are not Buffalo or Cleveland, but we could take a page from their preparedness policies, instead of the laissez faire attitude taken.

Let's not forget transportation chief Grace Crunican, who opted to leave town during the snow crisis. Is this how we want our government run? I am personally glad I don't pay taxes in Seattle.

-- Rosetta Max, Bellevue

Waiting in vain, waiting for change

On Feb. 26, Metro again let down many riders.

There was a bit of snow on the ground, so I decided to ride the bus to North Seattle Community College. I waited 35 minutes for a northbound 48 bus at 23rd Avenue East and Aloha Street.

Along with many heading to the University of Washington and NSCC, I waited in vain. No bus passed in either direction. Eventually, it became too late to make my 9 a.m. class.

Upon returning home, I checked the Metro Web site and found no indication that the 48 route was not being served.

There is no excuse for what happened. Conditions were not that bad. Buses should have been able to navigate 23rd Avenue, as many cars were able to.

I don't want excuses or explanations. I want change.

-- Michael Kischner, Seattle

No cure for congestion until it's reliable

What if we ran our hospital like Metro runs its bus service? What if, after waiting for an hour to be seen, the hospital announces it isn't servicing patients with your insurance coverage today and you will need to find alternative solutions for your medical needs.

I would like to use the public-transportation system I pay for with my tax dollars, and cut down on traffic congestion. But, I must drive because I work in a hospital and if I wait for a bus that never shows up, I don't get to work on time, which in turn causes patients to not receive the care they deserve. Our region can't solve its traffic-congestion problems until public transportation becomes reliable.

-- Randy Nagy, Federal Way

Seattle gloom calls for a cheery mood

Eric Lacitis' article ["Friendless in Seattle," page one, Jan. 17] about the "Seattle Freeze" was spot on and it was easy for me to identify with the young newcomer to the city when she said, "Even in Chicago, crossing paths, you make eye contact and might smile to acknowledge the other person. Here, everybody looks down or straight ahead."

Unfortunately, that has also been my experience.

There is a reason you never hear someone say, "I'm so glad I moved to Seattle -- the people here are so friendly!" Your city is a lovely one, and people here are nice enough when you come into contact with them in such circumstances as a retail transaction or participation in a mutually held-interest group. However, there is an unmistakable coolness exuded by many inhabitants of this city toward people they don't know; it exceeds what I would consider "normal."

For example, I've been visiting a friend who lives near the zoo an average of once or twice a month for over three years now. Her next-door neighbor knows I am a frequent guest who stays in the house adjacent to her own. She no doubt recognizes me and my car. But when I attempt to make eye contact with her to say hello, she completely ignores my presence.

I encounter the same thing when I take long walks around the neighborhood. People here simply are not in the habit of exchanging greetings unless they know one another. Anyone reading this who has lived somewhere else where the majority of people act more friendly knows what I'm talking about. Life is hard enough for all of us and a momentary exchange of smiles and pleasantries between strangers can serve to brighten a gloomy day, of which there is no shortage here in Seattle.

In this city, the prevailing attitude seems to be: "I don't know you, so there is no reason for me to acknowledge you, let alone be civil toward you. I have my world, and you're not even on the periphery of it."

Perhaps, this is a Pacific Northwest thing, as everyday civility isn't much better in Portland, where I currently live.

To those residents who do indeed exchange greetings with people they've never seen before, and may never see again, know that you are doing your part to diminish the pervasiveness of the "Seattle Freeze."

-- Dan Possumato, Portland

Learn from your mistakes

Landslides will continue.

While the worst of the winter storms may be behind us, we should take this time to reflect on the ways these disasters could be prevented. On July 13, The Seattle Times reported reasons for the landslides in Lewis County that caused 3,000 residents to live without clean tap water for three months ["Landslides," page one]. The article stated that the slides could have been prevented if the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) actually did its job and surveyed slide risks.

DNR would have found that many sites Weyerhaeuser was clear-cutting were at an extreme risk of causing a landslide. They didn't learn from their mistakes. Here we are again, a year later, with similar problems, including flooding, landslides and more than $100 million in public and private property damage.

Why did DNR not respond to such an oversight? I have one hypothesis: It is because state forest-trust lands have provided more than $4.5 billion in trust revenue since 1970. This money pays for schools, hospitals and other public services.

Point blank: We need the money and Weyerhaeuser gives it. However, the risks should be weighed.

Will the damage clear-cutting caused really be outweighed by monetary benefits? I think not, but the state seems to think differently.

-- Cassandra Little, Seattle

Let the rivers flood

The recent flooding in Puget Sound should serve as a wake-up call to our region's citizens and elected officials. Because so much of the problem arises when buildings occupy floodplains and local governments want development, Olympia needs to step in.

Let's try moving away from flood-prone areas by restricting new development in the 200-year or 400-year floodplain instead of the 100-year floodplain. Then let's move existing people and buildings out of harm's way. That let's the rivers flood, which they are going to do anyway, more safely.

We could also reject Congress' and the Corps of Engineers' dams and levees, relying instead on getting people and buildings out of the way. Levees are great until they fail. Just ask any resident of New Orleans or Centralia.

-- Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, Seattle

Call for common sense

What a relief to read Clifford F. Mass' words ["A rational response to extreme weather," guest columnist, Jan. 13]. He is a breath of fresh air (pardon the weather pun) and demonstrates common sense.

Will public officials please take heed? Comprehensive and coordinated development policies, emergency-response plans grounded in reality, and common-sense management by our leaders will go a long way toward mitigating the panic and disaster that ensue each and every time we have a relatively predictable weather event.

-- Hannah Kimball, Bellevue

Risky relocation

Your front-page article in the Sunday Times [" 'We'll never live by water again,' " Jan. 11] makes me ask myself a question: Don't the same rivers overflow their banks every year? I'm not sure, but no new rivers are being made, right? So, I'm going to go out on a limb and figure it's the same ones flooding year after year.

If that's the case, then doesn't it stand to reason that the same neighborhoods and business districts would be affected time and time again? Blow me down via hurricane, rescue me with a row boat because of flooding, or tell me that an area I might buy a house in is hit with tornadoes and you won't see me living there.

I only have a high-school education, but I'm guessing the following areas would also be bad places to think about relocating:

-- The base of a mountain that frequently has avalanches;

-- Next to an existing airport;

-- Right by a freeway;

-- The middle of the Mojave Desert;

-- The Antarctic;

-- Insert your idea here.

We hear these same stories every year, whether it's flood, hurricane or tornado season. Maybe it's time we ban people from living in these areas.

Nah, that makes too much sense. Besides, I'm guessing the insurance companies wouldn't like the idea.

-- Steve Drake, Seattle

Chris Joseph Taylor / The Seattle Times

All signs point to water along Jackson Gulch Road off Interstate 5, just north of Highway 530 near Stanwood.

Editor, The Times:

After reading Danny Westneat's column Sunday ["The beaver just can't leave river," Times, Jan. 11], I wanted to scream. The latest example of why Karl Marx said capitalism cannot survive is provided by the federal government underwriting those who continue to choose to live in floodplains.

We are voluntarily writing yet another chapter in our collective epitaph when we allow such programs, enabling the misguided to practice destructive behavior.

-- Joseph Faulkner, Gig Harbor

Escape the excess

With a keen interest I read the column in Saturday's paper titled "Steps we should take before the next flood" [Dan Siemann, guest columnist, Jan. 10]. There are two main points in this piece.

On the later point, it goes without saying that the current and well-established policy regarding federal flood insurance is flawed. Through the law of "unintended consequences," it has greatly reduced the risk incurred by those who chose to build, live and work in the floodplain. Therefore, over the past few decades we have seen an enormous expansion of both residential and business growth in these vulnerable flood-prone areas. To this point, I agree there needs to be a significant change to this policy to reverse this costly and risky societal behavior, and move people to higher ground.

Regarding the first point about global warming, the assumption that the use of "cap and investment," the so-called carbon-credit system, is the best solution overlooks the fact that it unintentionally allows for the worst of polluters -- the producers of vast amounts of released carbon dioxide -- to continue that course as long as they are willing to pay someone else to "do the right thing" and reduce their use. In basic terms, this type on policy allows affluent businesses and individuals to pay the less affluent to be their proxy in lowering their carbon emissions. This is an example of our unique, American need to live in excess, the elitist idealism that we are deserving of whatever excesses we can afford.

A better approach is for every individual and business to be held accountable for their own contribution to the reduction of waste and excess. Let's have the leaders of our society, elected officials and affluent members, lead by example.

Rather than pay our neighbors to do the right thing for us, let's take a serious look at our carbon footprint and associated consumption of precious resources. Let's hold each other accountable for reducing the footprint we all are responsible for.

Some simple, although painful, steps in the short term:

Shut down the use of coal as a source of power in the Pacific Northwest, where it is by no means our only option.

Raise the tax on all petroleum-based fuels to force the research and development of less impactful options.

Easier steps for the individual are to drive less, ride the bus whenever possible or stop buying mega-houses where, in many cases, the occupants have five or 10 thousand square feet each.

Buy local produce that has not been shipped or flown in from South America.

Park the gas-guzzling vehicles like the Hummer; sport-utility vehicles are not required for travel from the hills of Redmond or Issaquah to your job in Seattle or Bellevue.

Turn off lights, bring your own cup to work and, for that matter, a plate and silverware too.

The list is short if we all just stop the maddening rush to collect "stuff," and apply our collective brainpower to the simple and powerful philosophy: reduce, reuse and recycle.

-- James Becker, Fall City

Song of agreement

Thanks to The Times and the writer of a very informative article on the repeated flooding of our area ("When disaster becomes routine," page one, Jan. 12). In the words of songwriter Joni Mitchell, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

-- Tom Likai, Shoreline

Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times

The White River Estates near the White River in the town of Pacific is flooding due to water being released from a dam upriver. Headed out is resident Christian Guerra.

Not surprised

Editor, The Times:

Upon reading the Times' Jan. 9 coverage of the ongoing flooding ["Washout," Times, page one], I am shocked but not at all surprised. Three main points come to mind.

First, how can people living on the banks of rivers (as epitomized by the front-page photo) expect not to be flooded? Is some part of the term "floodplain" not clear?

Secondly, our region's rapidly growing population spurs unwise land management, altering watersheds in ways that reduce rainwater infiltration and increase surface runoff.

Finally, as humans continue to influence the global climate, experts predict that Western Washington will experience increased precipitation with more falling as rain than snow. In short, get used to it.

-- C. Thomas Schaefer, Seattle

Save our salmon

With the recent "once in a century" rainstorm and snow melt, I am concerned that the huge inflow of fresh water will desalinate Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound to the point of extreme stress for wildlife, especially salmon.

Who can possibly know how many salmon will be lost as the Sound's salt level drops precipitously?

Will Mayor Greg Nickels please help us save our salmon? Will he please have the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) take all the salt it didn't use during the snow storm and dump it into the Puget
Sound to restore salinity levels? We love our salmon and Nickels can help.

Let our battle cry be: "SOS, SOS: Save our Salmon, Salt Our Sound."

-- Lynn Schmeichel, Lacey

No salt, no bus

I understand the city of Seattle maintains an Office of Emergency Management. Who are these people? What do they do and how much do we pay them? Why hasn't The Times addressed the role -- or, I should say, non-role -- of that agency in the recent snow and ice emergency?

I live in the suburbs and rarely get downtown, but I'm angry that some bus commuters were stranded in the city by Metro's inability to perform, exacerbated by Mayor Greg Nickel's "hold the salt" policy.

Perhaps City Hall could figure out a way next time to deal with those who were forced to stand in the cold for hours, waiting for their bus that never showed up.

One possibility might be to periodically run chained busses down Third Avenue with large banners on the side saying, "Emergency shuttle to Qwest Field Exhibition Hall Warming and Re-Routing Center."

-- Jim White, Lake Forest Park

Time to take responsibility

I am sorry that Seattleites have become such a bunch of whiners that they think snow is a disaster. It's not. It's an inconvenience, made worse by the lack of reliable public transportation, a population that apparently can't take care of itself, and a pitifully self-absorbed view of entitlement.

Ask a Katrina survivor if having your trash on the curb for two weeks is worth the rants and raves we've heard. Ask a flood victim who lost everything if not being able to get to the store justifies the anger and sense of betrayal we hear in people's voices these days.

I guarantee you that if the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) had voted to buy 10 more snowplows in July -- at the expense of some other service -- there would have been public outcry that it was unjustified.

We all need to take responsibility for our community's well-being and be prepared to take care of ourselves and each other.

-- Cai Hadfield, Auburn

One definition please

In response to the failure of communication between Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) about plowing the streets ["City never responded to Metro's plea to plow," page one, Jan. 7], I think part of the communication problem is that "plowed" means different things to different people. When Metro Transit general manager Kevin Desmond asks for streets to be plowed, he is asking for the streets to be cleared down to bare pavement as soon as possible. This is what most people mean by "plowed."

When Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels or Grace Crunican of SDOT says the streets have been plowed, they are saying that the plows have been used to pack the snow down on the streets so that only four-wheel-drive vehicles and front-wheel-drive vehicles with chains can drive on them. This leads to long-lasting ice, especially if the weather stays cold, and makes it very difficult for buses to get around. This is a bizarre interpretation of the word "plowed."

The city needs to change its plowing policy to focus on clearing streets. Even with only 27 plows, major streets could have and should have been cleared.

Eight to 12 inches of snow over several days is not a natural disaster; it should be manageable.

-- Sandra Perkins, Seattle

Not a sign of laziness

As an employee of one of the companies identified in the headline over reader Jonathan Love's letter to the editor ["The duopoly of laziness," Northwest Voices, Jan. 3], I was somewhat amused at the subhead using the word "laziness" and the general tone of the letter. Space does not permit me to explain what happens to large, multimodal transportation systems when major, long-term weather events occur. Suffice to say, snow was officially recorded on 11 days at Sea-Tac International Airport in December, including nine of the 10 days between Dec. 17 and 26.

Weather played havoc with every mode of transportation, from pedestrians and bicycles, to Metro Transit, Amtrak and airlines, to gasoline tankers and garbage trucks.

For FedEx and UPS, the timing was obviously poor because of the seasonal rush of holiday packages. We fought the weather the best we could. One truck from my hub went on the road toward the hills chained up for 15 days straight. But, chains didn't help the ten trucks abandoned on the road in one day by a local facility, or the one truck from my facility stuck in a residential driveway for one and half days until a tow truck could get to it.

As for me, I have worked 16 out of the past 20 days, including Christmas Day. As for laziness, certainly haven't seen any where I work. In fact, I tip my hat to all of those that delivered anything these past three weeks.

-- Don Villeneuve, Renton