Dimming the Zakim an insult to public

What an insult and yet another indignity heaped upon the taxpayers' backs. I just drove across the Zakim this past weekend and, frankly, to have it dark eats at the heart of what has quickly become a Boston icon. The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge was named after a man who was the antithesis of self-promotion and was all about tapping into our better angels. Management at the Turnpike Authority would do well to follow his example. Identifying systemic cost-cutting items and switching the lights back on would be steps in the right direction.

ANN-MARIE JOYCE
Braintree

THE LEONARD P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge is both a way to cross the Charles River and a piece of public artwork. In Boston, we are surrounded by the public works that our grandparents built for us. With this bridge, we leave something for our own children and grandchildren, and for ourselves.

Now the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has chosen to turn the lights out on our bridge. The Turnpike Authority is acting like the kid taking home his bat if he doesn't get his way. This bridge belongs to the people who paid for it. It is not to be used as a bargaining chip. It shouldn't be vandalized by an obsolete agency.

This is especially galling now, because the Turnpike Authority is unwilling to bring the benefits of its favored few employees into line with what the rest of us can get.

This bridge could have been built cheap and ugly. It would still carry cars across the river. We paid extra for a better bridge because the public spaces are our living spaces too.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has forgotten who it serves. Time for it to go.

Marco Kaltofen
Natick

The writer is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.