MAILBAG: PEDESTRIANS CAN’T AFFORD TO TRUST DRIVERS
Allan Cate
Glendale News Press
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 8:12 PM PST
The high rate of pedestrian fatalities and injuries in Glendale in
the last decade is indeed deplorable ("A crash course on prevention,"
Jan. 16).
In 2001, my then-63-year-old grandmother was struck as she was legally
crossing at a lighted crosswalk by someone carelessly making a right
turn at a green light.
She suffered major injuries but thankfully survived, and is still
with us today.
While living in other states and countries during my military service,
I noticed that pedestrians in those places were more careful before
they crossed roads.
They would allow traffic to pass before they crossed, sometimes waiting
even if they had the right of way. They simply did not trust drivers
the way that we in Glendale seem to.
Though strict enforcement of traffic laws can be effective and
is to some degree necessary, the city should work toward educating
pedestrians on how to cross roads as safely as possible, particularly
when one considers the great results of the Walkin’ Willie safety
campaign in the past.
The city should focus more on pedestrian education rather than citing
people, both pedestrians and drivers, so heavily that they become
frustrated.
KARO GIULAKIAN
Glendale
Keep the term ‘race’ out of the paper
I do not know whether the Glendale Police Department discriminates
against Armenian police. But I do know that Armenians do not form a
race as the first part of the News-Press article ("Armenian officers
sue dept." Jan. 26) indicates.
They form an ethnic group, as the last part of the article makes clear.
The term "race" has no meaning, certainly no genetic meaning.
It has been used mainly to stereotype people by dividing them into
groups and giving them supposedly inherited characteristics.
Various bigots have written about the Irish race, the Jewish race,
the Italian race, the African race and so on, in order to claim that
members of these "races" are born with certain innate traits that
cannot be changed.
More than 100 years ago, Mark Twain wrote a novel, "Puddn’head Wilson,"
to demonstrate that race was simply a cultural concept. It’s really
time the News-Press and the rest of the world stop using the term.
On the other hand, the claim that the percentage of Armenians on
the Glendale police force should match the percentage of Armenians
in Glendale is a very bad idea. It has no legal or constitutional
support and, if taken seriously, could come back and bite Armenians.
For one thing, it would suggest that in cities where the Armenian
population is small, the police should not hire Armenians because they
would take away jobs from the dominant ethnic group. And as everyone
should know, the ethnic mix in California cities keeps changing.
The logical extension of this lawsuit claim is that if the percentage
of Armenians in the Glendale population drops, the Police Department
should terminate Armenians to keep up with the decline in the Armenian
population.
In other words, the notion of an Armenian quota is bad for Armenians
and everyone else.
STANTON J. PRICE
Glendale
Supreme Court takes power from people
Regarding the recent Supreme Court decision on corporations and
campaign finance laws, given that huge multinational corporations
can now spend unlimited amounts of money to influence U.S. elections,
we can forget about the principle of "one person, one vote." Now it’s
"one dollar, one vote." Or rather, make that "one million dollars,
one vote."