There's work to do after Boston summit

THE BOSTON Civic Summit held last Saturday was an invigorating and inspiring succession of events ("Off the sidelines," City & Region, May 4). It provided a positive discussion about civic involvement and the challenges ahead. We heard that neighborhoods where the residents know each other are safer and cleaner, while the children of parents who take an interest in their education achieve more. If you believe, as I do, that the safety of our neighborhoods, the quality of education, and the cleanliness of our environment depend on many little individual actions, this summit was the place to be.

City government heard from the people that it needs to be more transparent and representative, and neighborhood groups heard that their actions matter. We all need to figure out how to cultivate younger citizens to become part of the solution, and that is part of our homework.

EARL TAYLOR
Dorchester

YOUR STORY on parking in Boston ("Boston parking limits ignored," City & Region, April 26) made sweeping statements that are off the mark. You suggested that the city "routinely exceeds" the downtown parking freeze cap of 35,556 commercial spaces, but that is not true. Currently, the downtown freeze "bank" holds more than 800 unassigned spaces available for new developments.

Further, contrary to your claim that the city has "lost track of precisely how many spots are licensed," the city submits an annual report on permit allocations to the state Department of Environmental Protection and the US Environmental Protection Agency, and has done so for the past 30 years.

The city is working to decrease the number of cars coming into Boston: The Air Pollution Control Commission and the Transportation Department work together to ensure that new projects put in place extensive measures to manage transportation demand; the Boston Redevelopment Authority encourages transit-oriented development; and Boston Bikes is working to make this a bike-friendly city.

Although room for improvement remains, the city's efforts to reduce transportation's impact on air quality are part of the reason we were named the third most sustainable city in the country by Popular Science magazine.

BRYAN GLASCOCK
Director, Environment Department
City of Boston

TO PARAPHRASE Mark Twain, the demise of the Massachusetts Republican Party was greatly exaggerated by your newspaper ("Mass. GOP losing ground," Page A1, May 2). True, our party doesn't have as many Republican candidates for state and local offices as in years past, but every Republican who is running would be a first-rate citizen legislator, and not drawn from the ranks of professional Democratic politicians who have given us a Beacon Hill riddled with party infighting, phantom voting, and charges of serial ethical violations.

In my district, rank-and-file Republicans have made the decision to be more selective in running candidates so that we can be more effective at the polls. Nonetheless, the Middlesex and Worcester Senate district has a quality GOP candidate for each of its five open legislative seats this year, and we are very excited about their chances in November.

Massachusetts Republicans are doing just fine, thank you.

BRIAN BURKE
Stow

The writer is a Republican state committeeman in the Middlesex and Worcester Senate district.

RE "MRS. Bush raps junta on storm response" (Page A4, May 6): That's rich! Laura Bush criticizing an administration for poor preparation and response to a hurricane-like disaster.

SUE RORKE
Medway

A PSYCHOLOGICAL study was once run to determine the qualities military officers find desirable in their soldiers. A curious finding of the data analysis revealed that a soldier's height emerged as a quality of interest. Although unaware of it, the officers preferred soldiers who were shorter than they were. It was no great surprise to read on May 4 in "The Globalist Quiz: Measuring World Leaders" that Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev, is the shortest world leader among the major powers, a mere 5 feet 4 inches. Why would Vladimir Putin want a puppet bigger than he is?

KEITH CHOQUETTE
Brockton