Monday, April 14, 2008

Subtle Pleasantries

From time to time, I will write letters to the editor over at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It is, as are a great many, undeniably liberal with respect to it's editorial page.

As I enjoyed my Sunday morning coffee yesterday, I encountered two stories which brought a smile to my face and prompted me to point out the obvious in a letter to the editorial board over at the Tribune. And because, like all but one of my letters in the past, I don't anticipate it grazing the pages over there any time soon, I thought I'd share it with my readers and let them make their own judgement call.

As always enjoy (or do not).

One of the subtle pleasantries which comes about through political discourse is when your adversary, either directly or by way of their ideology, can validate your argument for you. Lori Sturdevant asserted in Sunday’s column (Working toward the train in vain - April 13, 2008) that the governor’s recent veto of the Central Corridor might well have served as a means “to kill the project and please those in his party who still consider light rail a form of social engineering”. For those who consider light rail a form of social engineering, the intricacies of such a belief center on a high density lifestyle; a lifestyle where one’s living, shopping, and working environment is all within close proximity giving rise to less freedom of mobility. So, then comes St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's assertions (It makes no sense to kill the Central Corridor plan - April 13, 2008) a mere page or two later that “The development is already occurring in anticipation of light rail - Carleton Lofts, TCF Bank and the new Wilder Center at Lexington and University, Gordon Parks School, and the Rondo apartments at Dale and University. Up to 11,000 new rental units and 3,000 owner-occupied units. More than 5.5 million square feet of office space. More than 1.15 million square feet of retail space.”

Dare I say, some pleasantries aren’t always so subtle.

Here's a link to each respective story:
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/17563464.html

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/17563454.html

3 comments:

Z-man said...

I used to write several letters-to-the-editor to my local paper years before my blogging days, curious, do you find they edit your letters alot? like leave stuff out that you wanted in always for brevity's sake of course? Herein lies the beauty of blogging, it's totally yours.

Name: Soapboxgod said...

No, they never did that. They simply don't print print much that doesn't jive with what they're sellin'

That's better I suppose than being edited for content.

Beth said...

Kudos to you both for trying to make a difference by writing in to your newspapers, and Z I can see why you would get discouraged to do it further if they keep editing it. Perhaps one day though Soapie some editor will print one of your letters, and some eyes will be open to the truth.