Letters to the Editor 09/03/2014

To the Editor:

Cascade Avenue improvements are looking beautiful. Unfortunately, the traffic flow is bad as or worse than ever.

Take a look at the downtown streets in Philomath. When they made improvements and created two one-way streets that are two lanes wide, they improved the flow for traffic that is just passing through town. Sisters would be wise to look into that possibility as well as the roundabouts at each end of town.

On a more positive note, the new park and water feature are beautiful and look to be quite popular, by the number of people there every day.

I think a small off-leash dog park would be the next great idea for Sisters, and a drinking fountain between City Hall and the library would also get a great deal of use.

The cost would be minimal if the work was done in house by city employees and volunteers, and yes, I would be more than willing to help.

Susan Long

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To the Editor:

I appreciate you, Bill Willitts; and like you I love Sisters. I agree with most of the description of our sweet town that you wrote in last week's guest editorial. However, your piece breaks down for me in a couple of ways.

First, you say we should have "the courage to listen to each other and work[ing] through our differences," while at the same time you say that you asked to be removed from the Sisters Voice "activist" e-news. It appears that you do not have the "courage" to listen to Ed Protas and Mike Morgan. Although I do not always agree with them, I recognize that there is no one in this town that works harder at holding our city government accountable than these two men.

They attend meetings and tirelessly research the issues. If the city leadership were to listen to them as you suggest, we would all be better for it.

Which brings me to my second point: You say that city leaders "always find a way to bring citizens together." I'm not sure where you have been the past year or so, but this is simply untrue. There have been numerous problems with leadership's failure to follow good process, respond to citizen questions, and a general attitude of disrespect.

The division we all feel is a result of the actions of our town's leaders. The people shedding light on the problems are not the problem.

It is those in positions of power who need to put down their egos and find the courage to listen.

Sharlene Weed