letters

SCHOOL REFERENDUMS

A broken system

Someone needs to explain to me why my nephew and niece in the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted School District and friends in Robbinsdale will be subjected to more crowded classrooms and fewer classes than my neighborhood kids in St. Louis Park. Tell me how this meets the requirement of Minnesota's Constitution, Article 13, Section 1, which calls a uniform system of public schools. The districts are all in Minnesota.

Something is wrong with our state's approach to public school funding when the political campaign expertise of parent group leaders is the most important factor in determining a child's educational opportunities.

EILEEN SMITH, ST. LOUIS PARK

CARS ON NICOLLET MALL

Not the traffic it needs

The Downtown Council seems to have lost its mind ("Honk if you like this idea: Driving on Nicollet Mall," Nov. 8). Retailers need high volumes of traffic in the form of people, not cars, passing their stores -- buses that stop on every block and pedestrians fulfill that need.

A line of cars with one occupant each lined up on Nicollet Mall (where there is nowhere to park) would be the death knell for any street-level retailer.

Downtown faces obstacles in its efforts to thrive, but the lack of personal automobiles on Nicollet is not one of them.

CHRIS LUNDBERG, MINNEAPOLIS

Don't change a thing

Private cars on Nicollet Mall? Buses moved to other streets? Good idea? As a downtown resident, I have just a few words about the idea -- it stinks, literally and figuratively!

The skyways continue to work for the people who live and work downtown! The buses on the mall bring seniors like me and people from outside of downtown very conveniently to the heart of the downtown shopping, dining and entertainment area.

RICHARD D. THORSEN, MINNEAPOLIS

COFFEE HOUSE MUSICIANS

Listen, then legislate

I am one of those singers and songwriters who play music at the coffee shops and cabarets in town ("Coffee-shop musicians singing protest song," Nov. 6). For some people we're the guys in the corner of the room who add ambiance. For others we inspire you on a dull or frustrating day. We make poetry, we preach, we reflect, we add rhythm.