letters

STATE EMERGENCY MANAGER

Absent from the job

I am outraged that the state Department of Transportation official in charge of emergency management would not deign to return to Minnesota until 10 days after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse ("Auditor launches travel probe," Sept. 19).

This disaster is precisely what Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt was away in training for. Is class time more important than an actual event?

I am also outraged that Commissioner Carol Molnau and Gov. Tim Pawlenty did not demand that this paid government official return to her post and demonstrate her proficiency of emergency procedures.

The tax dollars spent for Pitt's junkets seem to have been wasted or even misappropriated. Perhaps, following an independent investigation of Pitt's expense and travel reports, the depth of this malfeasance of office may be revealed.

JOANN TJEPKES, DELANO

On the taxpayer dollar

I would like to submit for that $84,000 a year job. As a person who argues often for a single-payer health care system, my conservative friends warn me of a new government bureaucracy. This surely makes their point.

BRIAN BACKES, SAVAGE

BICYCLISTS AND DRIVERS

Cite them both

In Nick Coleman's Sept. 16 column, "Painful crash turns bicyclist into activist Critical Mass convert," the injured cyclist asks, "When are drivers going to learn?" As a motorist, I wonder, "When are cyclists going to learn?"

I am always sad to hear of cyclist-motorist collisions and I sincerely hope that Patrick Guernsey recovers completely. I travel every day along the river parkway, but my experiences of driving in Minneapolis suggest that cyclists are as much a part of the problem as motorists.

The river road was narrowed many years ago to accommodate a two-lane bicycle path that many riders have deemed unworthy in spite of the fact that it is well maintained and, imagine, safe from motorists! As a result, motorists are forced, by law, to share a very narrow road with cyclists and the three-foot leeway required for passing a bike simply does not exist without crossing into the oncoming lane of traffic.

On other city streets, cyclists fly through the stop signs I must observe. They cruise through lights and turn left in front of stopped cars. Rarely do I see a turn signal from cyclists. They come sailing off the Midtown Greenway, ignoring the stop sign placed there, and zoom onto the roadway. I am often faced with two or more cyclists riding side by side and chatting, oblivious to traffic behind them. I get vulgar hand signs when I toot the horn to let them know I am passing. And every day I see riders on cell phones mindlessly cutting across intersections and between cars.

I do not wish to harm a cyclist, ever. I am happy to share the road and will do everything in my power as a motorist to be mindful of the presence of bicycles. However, this is a two-way street, and cyclists must also follow the rules of the roads on which they ride.

Police should enforce the rules for both motorist and riders, and if a bike path is present, bicycles should be required, by law, to be on it.