A long time ago, I was in school on the Near North Side, and they sent me to a doctor in Evanston. As soon as I got off the CTA, the first thing I noticed was how fresh the air was.
No, I was not in an industrial area with a lot of diesel trucks, but there were hundreds of trees forming a canopy over the streets.
The recent Sun-Times/WBEZ/MuckRock report on air pollution pockets in the city showed a wide variance in air quality, which is a good thing. That means that the problem is local and not general.
If the whole city was engulfed in massive air pollution, any solution would be significantly harder.
SEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com. We want to hear from our readers. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 350 words.
Everybody hates pollution. I get that. But often the proposed solutions eliminate thousands of jobs, add to the cost of businesses providing goods and services to neighborhoods and move many of those jobs, goods and services out of communities that will complain later about lacking them.
I would like to suggest a study of tree coverage in the city. Then superimpose that map on the pollution map. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They also remove pollution out of the air.
There is so much talk about the environment, and all the solutions proposed cost billions of dollars, require a major reinvention of our economy and end up making so many things we use everyday far more expensive.
We need to explore other options that are cheaper and don’t have unintended, unforeseen and undesirable consequences.
Larry Craig, Wilmette
Justice Thomas’ hypocrisy
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been flapping his gums about the “lack of trust” caused by the leak of the court’s draft opinion on Roe v. Wade. It’s almost as if he has forgotten the lack of trust his buddy Mitch McConnell engaged in by preventing former President Barack Obama from exercising his rightful authority to nominate a justice to the court.
Don Anderson, Oak Park
Curfew, bans won’t stop violence
Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved up the citywide curfew for minors by one hour and banned unaccompanied juveniles at Millennium Park after 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
The city is going to ‘educate’ young people and their parents with signs about the curfew in the park and a campaign to promote alternatives for teens.
That being said, does anyone think the curfew will work? How many police officers will be reassigned to Millennium Park to question teenagers about their age and which adult is supervising them? Does Lightfoot really think that any teenager with an illegal gun is going to care about a curfew?
Our city has one of the highest crime rates in the country, but our mayor thinks it can be solved with a curfew.
Janice Montgomery, Clearing
