Readers Write (April 29): Baltimore unrest, Southwest light rail, the House GOP, Muslims in Minnesota

I was sad to see the poor behavior in Baltimore. However, also troubling is the media coverage of the incidents. Our own Star Tribune includes in its instructions for submitting commentaries (http://tinyurl.com/commentary-suggestions): Avoid hyperbole and exaggeration. When I watch TV coverage of the events, I hear constant hyperbole. Hosts go to commercial by saying "continuing coverage of Baltimore burns" as the camera moves from a tight angle of a vehicle fire and pans out to show the rest of the city in peace. Baltimore is not burning! There are pockets of violent behavior, but during this and similar recent events, media outlets have given those who wish to riot something they are looking for — sensationalized coverage.

It is unfortunate and horrible that the events are unfolding as they are. But let's hold members of the media accountable for informing the public of the events and admonish them when they fan the flames for ratings.

Southwest light rail is admittedly a huge project with some understandable uncertainties, but it is hard to believe how our leaders have reacted to the rising costs ("$2B tag puts SW light rail at risk," April 28). Could they not have previously addressed the cautions they now express?

• Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk: Is "interested in … a little cost comparison."

• House Transporation Chair Tim Kelly: Thinks "maybe we need to … try to get buy-in from the whole community before we go any further."

• Gov. Mark Dayton: Said he would hold off on light-rail plans "until I am satisfied that its cost can be … properly managed."

• Metropolitan Council Chairman Adam Duininck: Ordered Met Council engineers and contractors "to pursue every possible efficiency to achieve cost savings" and thinks "[t]his could be an opportunity to determine whether this is the right corridor."

We citizens are to hope they'll get it right this time?

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Do we never learn from the past, or even the relative recent past? Imagine my surprise when it was revealed that the wetlands in Eden Prairie will add to the cost of building light rail. Was this not the same mistake made in the Long Lake bypass on Hwy. 12? It added millions to the cost and caused a long delay. Is it the engineers, the Met Council, government at all levels? Whom should we look at as the weak link?

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It would be ironic if further environmental issues led to canceling the Southwest light-rail project when the larger environmental impact of not reducing cars on the road through use of this light rail will lead to increased emissions as a major factor affecting climate change. Thirty years from now, when we're experiencing increased warming and drought as a result of climate change, we will look back and wonder why we didn't do everything possible to address the far more serious impact of car emissions on the environment through building this light rail.

Despite early calls for bipartisanship and positive meetings with nonprofits that work with the disadvantaged in our state, you see the state GOP taking the same ideological stance as the Koch-run national party: Slash taxes on the wealthy, slash investments in our collective future, and craft a budget based on short-term funding shifts and squandered surpluses, rather than one that is sustainable, adequate and equitable.

Before I listen to another convoluted ode to a very narrow vision of fiscal responsibility (as long as we don't look four to five years down the road), I'd like to hear someone in the House leadership coherently explain his or her vision for Minnesota's future and what he or she would be willing to prioritize and invest in.

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Here is part of the solution for the wide gap between the DFL's Minnesota's transportation needs taxes vs. Republicans' desire to give most of the revenue surplus back: Give a chunk of the surplus back to three select groups, either directly and/or by credits/rebates, by an amount relatively equal to their estimated tax increase. Those three groups are (1) low-income Minnesotans, (2) small businesses with fewer than five employees and (3) small- to medium-sized transportation firms and organizations.

This makes any gas or vehicle tax increases progressive and helps Minnesota people and businesses most in need of tax relief.

One, offered recently on these pages by former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman ("In the Land of 10,000 Terrorists," April 24), is to see all Muslims as potential terrorists. Treat them with suspicion and anger. Keep them from participating in public life. Make sure they know that no matter how long they live here, they will never be accepted. Make sure they live frustrated, angry lives of poverty and isolation.

I propose a different way. Welcome these newcomers in our midst. See them as I do, as eager students, loving parents and fellow Minnesotans trying to make a better life. Celebrate the uniqueness they bring to us, in foods, culture and outlook on life. Recognize that they worship by a book that overwhelmingly teaches love and peace. Help them see how they can be fully American and fully Muslim — the same way Catholics, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists can be Americans and fully of their own faith.

Leave aside the morality of how we should treat refugees. Leave aside the undeniable fact that American Muslims have not been recruited in large numbers. Instead, ask yourself this: Which way is less likely to create more terrorists?

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Abdi Warsame (" 'Land of 10,000 Terrorists' commentary was pure fear-mongering," April 28) needs to actually read Coleman's commentary. Coleman did not state, as Warsame claims, that Somalis in Minnesota constitute a "land of 10,000 terrorists." Coleman was very clear that Somalis contribute greatly to our culture and economy. He was also very clear that this is a Minnesota problem, not a Somali problem.