Sinkholes, busted water mains show our weak infrastructure: Reader letters
Water main breaks show weakness
The water main break and subsequent sinkhole near University Park Village ("SUV falls into sinkhole in Fort Worth," June 10) highlights the need for a long-term infrastructure investment plan for the nation.
Communities across Texas and the entire country are plagued by inadequate pipes, roads and airports, structurally deficient bridges, and crumbling dams and levees.
Time is wasted in traffic or sitting on an overcrowded runway. Clean water is squandered and roads flooded as water mains break. Lives are put at risk and economic growth is hindered.
Our infrastructure is the lifeblood of our economy. It impacts our quality of life, the competitiveness of our businesses and the safety and security of our country.
We can’t forsake our responsibility when it comes to infrastructure upgrades.
—Whit Perryman,
Vermeer Texas-
Louisiana, Fort Worth
Cake ruling left questions
I recognize that the Supreme Court decision was based on the treatment that Masterpiece Cakeshop received from the Colorado Civil Rights commission, but the column clearly was directed at the act of refusing to bake a cake. (Cynthia M. Allen, "Cake decision gives hope for religious freedom," June 8.)
My question is, would you be as certain that this refusal was appropriate (and faith-based) if the couple had been a heterosexual black couple? A Muslim couple? A Buddhist couple?
Where do you draw the line?
—Barb Hykes,
Hilliard, Ohio
Consumer laws rolled back again
In a May 8 vote, House Republicans nullified a 2013 guidance by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that attempted to prevent auto lenders from charging higher fees when making loans to minorities.
Of course, Trump signed it.
The rollback of regulations to protect ordinary people continues to accelerate.
—Paul W. Hartman,
Fort Worth
Patrick also devalues life
When Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said we live in “a violent culture where we devalue life,” he neglected to take responsibility for his role.
He obsessively promoted the bathroom bill, which violated the privacy of schoolchildren.
He fights to destroy public education, a building block of democracy.
His answer to Texas’ high maternal mortality rate is to continue to study the issue and destroy Planned Parenthood, which often provides the only healthcare poor women can access.
What lurks behind his extreme anti-abortion stance is a disregard for life after birth.
Although his website says that he is “unwavering in his fight for life and liberty,” it would be more accurate to say that Patrick’s positions — by the blatant lack of empathy — encourage the very violence he pretends to decry.
—Barbara Chiarello,
Austin
This story was originally published June 14, 2018 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Sinkholes, busted water mains show our weak infrastructure: Reader letters."