Letters
Jack Be Nimble
Let's face it: Jack Welch and his leadership of
John Gould /// Andover
Jack Welch may have raised GE's profit enormously, but it came at a very high cost. Phil Primack's article fails to spell out that Welch laid off 10 percent of GE's employees each year. Primack writes that Welch feels "an almost missionarylike need to re-create public faith in American capitalism, which has been shaken by a steady stream of stories about corporate scandals, obscene CEO pay packages, and megamergers." Somehow, I doubt that laying off thousands of workers a year re-creates public faith in capitalism.
Christine Mealey /// Foxborough
It was bound to happen: someone praising Jack Welch by reading his press clippings. He's a seductive, self-congratulatory charmer with a long, long stinger. It is values like his that keep the system so unfair.
GORDON A. CRONIN /// Northampton
Was Phil Primack unable to find anyone wishing to utter a critical word about Jack Welch? And did it ever occur to Primack that perhaps Welch has some responsibility for the businesses that have left Boston? What I wonder is why we can't outsource the CEOs along with the workers.
Jan Pendzich /// Seattle
Marathon Ambitions
What a great opening paragraph for Doug Most's article about training in New England for the Boston Marathon ("Cold Feat," April 10). The imagery of vaseline being "rubbed in places you don't want to know about to prevent screams that you most definitely don't want to hear" is vivid, and it's very nonspecificity leaves the reader's mind open to all sorts of speculation and curiosity.
Will McMillan /// Arlington
I am "that girl" out on the roads running when it's too cold to breathe. I'm the one that people yell at for doing my run regardless of blizzard conditions. I refuse to be a victim of Mother Nature. And if I want to do well, I will go the limit, and perhaps a little beyond at times, in order to achieve my goals. As much as I love the training, it certainly was a long winter, and my container of vaseline is nearly empty.
Diona Fulton /// Boston
I've always said, "Boston is won on the third Monday in April. But it is run on those dark, cold, snowy mornings in January and February."
Albie Cullen /// Marion
History Shmistory
I have one question for those who defend Boston's brutal brick sidewalks because they "love the historical look" ("Dispatch," April 10): Do you also love seeing many of us struggle through the city's jagged, jarring streets? Have some compassion not only for our grandparents and the disabled but for us aging baby boomers with arthritic joints. Boston's bone-pounding brick sidewalks are literally a pain.
Gloria Leitner /// Arlington
The comment made by [Boston access activist] John Kelly - "Concrete is the only guarantee of a smooth path of travel" - is incorrect. Clay brick pavers meet or exceed requirements as stipulated in the Americans for Disabilities Act when they are properly installed and maintained.
A 2002 study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that clay paving products generate no extra effort for wheelchair users and produce a lower vibration level than a newly poured concrete surface. The brick industry, in partnership with the concrete paving industry and the federal government, will continue to study this issue to ensure that cities have access to information they need to make informed decisions. As part of this effort, The Brick Industry Association is working with the Federal Highway Administration to develop uniform guidelines for segmental brick pavements.
Clay pavers have been, and will continue to be, an essential paving material that meets the needs of all citizens of Boston.
Dick Jennison /// President and CEO, The Brick Industry Association, Reston, Virginia
