Reader’s Forum

Volunteers should not have to do government’s work

The article, “Restoring urban parks,” and the Reader’s Forum letter, “Infrastructure is government’s responsibility” (Sept. 2001) compel me to add my two cents. I am not impugning the efforts of volunteers anywhere or anytime, but the growing reliance of government on volunteers to do what it should be doing as a normal matter of course is disturbing.

The efforts of the volunteers to restore Riverside Park in New York are laudable, but they should not be necessary. The city should maintain the park for its residents.

Likewise, when I see those signs stating that XYZ organization or company is maintaining the next section of road, I don’t feel good; I feel disappointed that government is not doing what it should be doing.

Government should keep its nose out of many areas of the economy and society, but building and maintaining the infrastructure is not one of them. We live in a rich and prosperous society. What does it say about our values if we don’t have the collective will to provide our government with the wherewithal to do at least the obvious things that government should be doing?
— Frank Gradilone
Boonton, N.J.

Internet lines helped solve interference problem

“Cooperating to solve spectrum interference” (August 2001) was very interesting. It possibly answered a question we have had about the source of interference we experienced with our SCADA system, which used 800MHz radios for communication. The system had been in service for several years and had been quite dependable. Almost overnight we began to experience severe interference that disabled our communication with remote facilities. Our investigations failed to provide a definite source.

After some discussion, we decided to take a path away from radio and take advantage of the Internet’s existing ISDN lines. This has greatly improved our communication links’ dependability and the timeliness of the flow of information from remote facilities back to our central SCADA system. Our data is being updated in seconds whereas, before, it would require up to eight minutes.

Although it was stressful for a period of time, the new system is up and running and has provided us with much better communication. I guess you could say we have made lemonade from a lemon.
— Pat Divecchio
Orange County, Fla.

Future City program is public works outreach

I really enjoyed reading “Cultivating a Qualified Staff” (August 2001). As an employee of Clark County Public Works, I am truly fortunate to work in one of the fastest growing and dynamic communities in the world.

For the benefit of all your readers, I would like to point out that one of the many educational outreach projects Clark County mentioned being involved in is the National Engineers Week Future City Competition.

Now in its 10th year, the competition is a national program sponsored by the engineering community to promote technological literacy and engineering to seventh and eighth grade students. The program fosters an interest in math, science and engineering through hands-on, real-world applications. Open to all public and parochial schools, the competition offers students a fun way to learn about engineering and cities of the future and develop their teamwork and communication skills.

Under the program, student teams, with the assistance of their teachers and engineering mentors, design and build a city of the future. The top teams from 32 regions around the country will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national finals held during National Engineers Week, Feb. 17-23, 2002. The grand prize is a trip to Space Camp!

In addition to the world of engineering, the Future City program shows students how cities work. They learn that it takes planning for them to turn a faucet on, flip on a light switch, untangle a traffic jam or clean up the environment.

As the Regional Coordinator for the Las Vegas Future City Competition, I must tell you what a tremendous impact Future City has had on our local community. Our local newspapers feature daily articles on the challenges of growth and how our public agencies are working to meet those challenges. Engineers, politicians, teachers, parents and students are raving about Future City and its ability to educate the community. In less than one year, we more than tripled the number of schools that participated in our regional Future City Competition. I should also mention that half the students participating in this program are girls.

For more information about the program, please visit the national Web site at www.futurecity.org, or contact me at [email protected] or (702) 455-6094
— Wendy Fenner
Public Works Design Division
Clark County, Nev.

Letters may be mailed to 6151 Powers Ferry Road, N.W., Atlanta GA 30339; faxed to (770) 618-0349; or e-mailed to [email protected]. Letters may be edited for purposes of style, clarity and length.