LANE PAINS
RE: âA New Report Shows Highway Widening Wonât Solve Portlandâs Congestion Problemsâ [News, March 7], News Editor Dirk VanderHartâs story about how expensive plans to add auxiliary lanes to Interstate 5 will not ease the ânear-complete breakdown of traffic that cuts the freewayâs efficiency roughly in half.â âAs officials study the concept of fighting congestionâand potentially curbing auto useâby tolling portions of I-5 and I-205,â wrote VanderHart, âsome want to know if tolls could aid commuters even without the state dropping billions on new highway lanes.â
File this under âDUH.â Widening didnât help congestion on the 405 in Los Angeles, despite the billions spent there. I love the idea of tolling and congestion pricing for inner Portland. We shouldnât be subsidizing personal auto use.
FlavioSuave
Seriously. The average speed everywhere is easily halved during rush hours, and even if there were no such thing as Google Maps, Waze, and Uber and Lyft, drivers everywhere would, during those peak hours, always try to squeeze a little speed out of hopping onto the roads that promise unfettered 50 and 60 MPH travel and no stopsâand fail to deliver those promises, no matter how many hundreds of millions we lavish on the Oregon Department of Transportation.
lovecraft
DO YOU EVEN LIFT
RE: âThese Are Our Demandsâ [Feature, March 7], our International Womenâs Day feature in which the Mercuryâs Lady Brain Trust laid out their demands for a better, more equitable societyâdemands that included âNo more guns for domestic abusers,â âThe ability to walk home alone at night,â and âEqual representation in Congress and a president who isnât a bigoted white dude.â Oh, and priority access to weight machines at the gym. âEver notice that women donât grunt to show how strong they are when they lift weights?â asked Senior Editor Megan Burbank. âThat alone should get us to the front of the line.â
I say this with love: If yâall arenât grunting at the gym, LIFT BIGGGER WEIGHTS. If youâre dead-lifting serious weight, your breath is important. Grunts = gains. Is the weight too long for your desired machine? Throw some kettle bells, sisters! Iâm not looking for priority at the gym, Iâm looking for my next personal record. Poor gym etiquette knows no gender, and if you belong to a gym thatâs too overcrowded or filled with oblivious douchebags eying themselves in the mirror while hogging the equipment, there are plenty of great locally owned gyms that would love to welcome you into their sweaty, grunting arms. Love, your swole sister,
Cait
VOTE ANN
RE: âLove Notesâ [Feb 28], in which reader Betty Jo Braford wrote in to One Day at a Time columnist Ann Romano. Braford wrote that âthe only reason we read this rag is that itâs a smidge better than watching the dryer tumble,â called Annâs repeated references to how many votes Donald Trump lost the popular election by (2,864,974) âwhining,â and added that Ann âis so condescending it makes me want to place all copies of the Mercury into the recycling bin.â
Let it be known that the only way I have survived the last year, one month, and 11 days is reading Ann Romanoâs column and watching Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, Steven Colbert, and John Oliver. Itâs the comedic observations of these people that make me feel saneâthe fact that they too see the insanity that we live under gives me a little peace of mind. I LOVE every time I read how many votes Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in One Day at a Time.
Betty Jo, if left-leaning rags arenât your thing, thereâs a big world of right-wing crazy out there for you to explore. But you would need to move away from the dryer to get started.
Long live opinionated women! Ann Romano for mayor!
Jen Laverdure
Jen, your shameless flattery has earned you the Mercuryâs letter of the week! (And has led to Ann âseriously consideringâ a campaign for mayor. So... thanks for that.) Weâre also going to send you two tickets to Portlandâs beloved Laurelhurst Theater, where youâll find movies thatâll give you a little more peace of mindâand help you survive the next few years.