When bust means boom

Staff writers are on target

I just read the first installment of the “When bust means boom” story and wanted to compliment Jennifer Morris and Tara Lemm on doing a fine job. Because the economic collapse is a global phenomenon one often misses the local angle in the national media coverage. Lemm and Morris brought it all home. But perhaps a further elaboration on one point would be useful.

The article quotes bankruptcy lawyer Dale Magneson as saying, “We really want to help but it’s just not that way any more.”

Let’s talk about “any more.” One of the legacies of the Bush era was a revision of our bankruptcy laws to favor banks and creditors by further squeezing debtors.

This was a bill pushed heavily by the credit card industry, who wanted to aggressively market easy credit to one and all while limiting exposure to the adverse consequences of non-payment.

Now we have a national administration more disposed to protect ordinary citizens.

Maybe it is time to demand a repeal of some of these bankruptcy law “reforms” so that in hard times bankruptcy can provide debt relief without having to destroy lives in the process.

Stafford Smith

Indianola

Stop signs

Placement makes no sense

I agree 100 percent with Michael Raley’s letter to the editor on March 13.

The stop signs at the top of Torral Canyon Road are completely ridiculous. It is neither an intersection nor a cross street.

Marion Hansen

Poulsbo

Reader: stop signs are ‘ill-conceived poppycock’

I find I am hardly alone in waiting to see what ill-conceived poppycock the Poulsbo mayor and city council will come up with next. After spending tens of thousands of dollars on traffic and parking studies, we find that there is not enough parking in the downtown core … well, there’s a news flash!

The solution?

Sell the already dedicated and paid for property on 10th Avenue for which architectural drawings and concepts have been produced (where, by the way, there was parking beyond belief!) and add another structure to the already crowded downtown.

And what has become of that structure? It is now the infamous Poulsbo “city hole”, or should it simply be called “the money pit”?

Coupled with that, we now find that we can’t travel a block without coming to stop sign after stop sign. Other than helping auto repair shops in this ailing economy, it seems unclear what purpose this serves. But, wait, folks, we’re not done yet…if this doesn’t do enough damage to your vehicle, we have speed bumps coming, AKA the euphemism “calming devices.”

As one of hundreds of residents who live outside the city limits, I am impacted by these ill-conceived decisions. Many of us who volunteer for various downtown nonprofits know it would not behoove us to go out of our way to travel extra miles to go up to 305 and turn to go downtown on Lincoln or Hostmark.

I have yet to talk to one person who thinks these stop signs are of any significant help and, in fact, consider them to be a serious hindrance to downtown business and sensible traffic flow.

The mayor and city council need to hear from the many irate citizens at its Wednesday night council meetings to let them know! There is no way of knowing, without in depth research, as to how many e-mails, letters and phone calls these folks have received saying pretty much what I just said, but I bet there are plenty!

Barb Mitchusson

Poulsbo