Rush Street street name is inappropriate
The fuss over the Rush Street name at the casino is interesting to the older generations. The first half of the 20th century and well into the 1950s and 1970s, Rush Street was known well beyond Chicago as a street of brothels, burlesque houses and bars.
Do we really want that history attached to us? There is no connection and no reason to do so.
Susanna K. Sherwood
Schenectady
Time to rethink how we pay for education
Ruth Bonn’s March 17 letter [“Schenectady schools need their fair share”] on behalf of the Schenectady League of Women Voters, in which she advocates a more generous state funding formula for poorer school districts, “it takes a village,” reflects a weak grasp of the realities of education financing.
We have seen teachers — who because of their students’ lack of achievement cannot get jobs elsewhere — be given raises. While the boards of education have the legal ability to fritter away taxpayers’ money, it makes no sense to allow them to fritter away the money of others.
Here in Albany, we have seen the school board defer maintenance expenditures to finance teacher raises. We have seen school boards offer expensive plans to promote student achievement, but ignore the possibility of keeping the school open for those who would like to do their homework with the availability of a teacher.
Evidence supports the belief that at least some school boards are in bed with the teacher’s unions, and thus should not be given the ability to spend the money of those who did not vote to support financial aid for those who live better than the norm.
On a more fundamental basis, in the 21st century, motherhood is exclusively a woman’s choice that can be avoided by birth control, abortion or adoption. Thus, in a world concerned with overpopulation and human-caused climate change, the rationale for public funding of the education of children no longer exists.
Fred Barney
Albany
Oscars a reflection of our continued racism
I thought about the March 18 letter to the editor, “Tired of listening to all the talk of racism;” I couldn’t agree more with the writer.
The reason I’m sick of hearing about racism is because it still exists. The writer’s argument relates to the Oscars, specifically. My concern is what the exclusion of blacks says about how committed the Oscar organization is toward the American values of equality and inclusion. These awards are meant to acknowledge the best of what all of America has done in the film industry, not just white America.
We expect Miss Black America and BET to be about black individuals; however, when there is a program which is intended to include everyone, those excluded can experience a repeat of feeling overlooked, discounted and disregarded.
Because the Oscars are a showcase of mostly the American film industry, hopefully it will be held to the standard of welcoming and embracing everyone, given our proud symbol of representing a melting pot of people from different backgrounds and origins.
What Chris Rock gave us was reason to question how inadequate this year’s Oscars were in reaching our highest standard of inclusion, acknowledgement and embracing people of all walks of life.
Bill Shapiro
Niskayuna
Schenectady should support Union College
Re March 22 article, “Schenectady Mayor prods Union College on taxes”: It sounds like Mayor McCarthy wants to finance his war on urban blight by burdening Union College with a large tax bill. Hogwash.
Union College is the best thing about Schenectady. It has already made huge contributions to the city of Schenectady. Union renovated the entire Seward Place neighborhood, for one.
Schenectady should be happy to do what it can to support this great 221-year-old educational institution, one of the best colleges in the world with 6,000-plus applicants a year from the United States and abroad.
We’re very lucky to have Union, and we should support it.
Frank Felts
Schenectady
The writer is from the Class of 1970.
Election letters
The deadline for letters related to the April 19 presidential primaries is 5 p.m. Friday, April 8.
Letters received either electronically or via regular mail after that deadline will not be published in the paper prior to the primaries.
Election letters should be short, about 200 words or less. Longer letters will be published online only. We will resume accepting election-related letters after April 19 for the general election.
Reminder: We do not publish letters from political candidates.
Categories: Letters to the Editor
