Emanuel’s ill-considered promises
Letters to the Editor July 14, 2012 5:12PM
Joe Paterno | Jim Prisching~AP
Updated: August 17, 2012 6:35AM
Reading about police force numbers, I couldn’t help but compare Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s crime and education policies.
In both situations, he has clung to his campaign promises of “1,000 more officers on the street” and a “longer school day.”
He made those promises without thoroughly examining the current system or considering the finer points, such as the difference between a beat cop’s training and a specialized officer’s, or, in the case of schools, the difference between elementary and high schools, or low-performing schools and high-performing schools.
In each case, no consideration was given to how to fund an 8 percent increase in police man hours and a 25 percent increase in teacher contact time, and we constituents are left bearing the burden.
We can already see the results of pushing through one ill-considered campaign promise at all costs: the 39 percent increase in murders.
I wonder what the consequences for our students will be after the mayor pushes through his soundbite education policies.
Brigid Pasulka,
Pilsen
Smash that Paterno statue
Now that the Louis Freeh report documenting the 14-year reign of child molestation by assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has thoroughly demolished Penn State University’s reputation, we need one more demolition.
Penn State officials, as part of their redemption process, should get out the biggest sledgehammer around and smash to bits the seven-foot, 900-pound statute of Coach Joe Paterno, standing smugly in front of Beaver Stadium.
In its place they should erect a much smaller statute of an anonymous little boy, with an anguished face and an outstretched arm. The inscription at the base should read: “Somebody, anybody, please help me.”
Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn
Where to put low-risk prisoners
I’ve got no problem with politicians releasing low-risk prisoners. Just make sure you release them in your neighborhood.
Allen Jackson, Chatham
