To the editor: I just got through reading “A New Curve” (Feb. 1, 2012) on the traffic circles. My wife is the one who was too busy to talk with you but yelled, “We love it!” She’s a home health occupational therapist and was heading out to see a patient that day, but I had to tell you that many of us on Norwood are very happy with the improvements. Not just the traffic circle but the bump-outs, taking the lanes from four across to two, and adding bike lanes. The biggest question for those who don’t like the circles: Would you want people driving 70 mph down your residential street? Find me someone who says yes, and I’ll buy ’em a ticket for the speedway north of Fort Worth.
It was simply crazy outside our front door. We had a quarter-mile track, and there simply aren’t enough police to sit out here and write tickets day and night. We knew we didn’t want speed bumps or stop signs — research shows both are less safe than the calming devices.
You’ll probably find most of the “haters” are either older residents who don’t like change of any kind or people who can’t cut through our neighborhood at a high rate of speed anymore. My two daughters can now ride around the neighborhood without us worrying. And we’re seeing more bike commuters heading toward the University of Texas at Arlington.
And we volunteered to care for the plants in the circle. The kids in our neighborhood decorated the tiny tree for Christmas and with hearts for Valentine’s. I daresay the changes are bringing a neighborhood out.
Mark Schatzman
Arlington
Pipe Dreams
To the editor: Kudos must go to Fort Worth Weekly for the Nov. 30, 2011, cover story, “Down the Pipe,” by Peter Gorman. It’s a stellar piece of journalism that serves the public interest in relation to an issue that has been seriously neglected. Thorough reporting and crystal-clear analysis make it a must-read for voters and legislators alike who vitally need a clear picture of the threat to homeowner rights and to public safety posed by unregulated placement of gas pipelines on private land. Most importantly, it spells out how activists and, recently, even the Texas Supreme Court have attempted to fight the good fight. Clearly it shows that it’s not too late to introduce proper oversight of the placement of these pipelines.
C. Valentino
Queens, N.Y.
