Sunday Opinion: Plattsburgh is all right, fixing Irene, and hanging up those cell phones

A nice variety of thinking out there this weekend, on a wide range of issues.  Check out all the opinionating and add your thoughts below.

The Plattsburgh Press-Republican chimes in on the on-again-off-again rivalry between Plattsburgh and that other city on the lake, Burlington.

[F]or all the disadvantages Plattsburgh endures in relation to the rest of New York state, it is a city distinctly on the rise, with a glorious past, a satisfying if unostentatious present and a promising future — particularly if Laurentian Aerospace, the Strand Performing Arts Center and other development plans are realized.

Plattsburgh and Burlington really shouldn’t be compared. But, in the context of their respective states, Plattsburgh should be very proud of what it has become.

The Glens Falls Post Star chimes in on the cell phone while driving debate, siding with Federal regulators who are pushing for a total ban — even on hands-free devices.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendation should be followed, and all cellphone use, even with hands-free devices, should be prohibited. No call is worth a car crash.

Beyond the law, however, we need to change our frame of mind about what is acceptable behavior while driving. Thirty or 40 years ago, we did not attach the stigma to driving while intoxicated that we do now and, consequently, fewer people were as careful then as we are now to avoid driving drunk.

Something similar needs to happen with cellphone use, which some studies have found approximates the effects of alcohol consumption on driving. It’s convenient, it’s common and it’s dangerous. It needs to stop.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise lauds state officials for beginning the reconstruction of streams that were damaged by post-Irene dredging and channeling efforts.

Whether or not you think road crews did the right thing this fall by using heavy machinery to reshape brooks and rivers after Tropical Storm Irene, and whether or not you wonder where the state Department of Environmental Conservation was at the time, it’s good to see some improvements being made to parts of these waterways.

According to Enterprise Outdoors Writer Mike Lynch’s well rounded article Wednesday, experts believe the careful placement of boulders going on now in Johns Brook, as it flows through Keene Valley, is expected to make such waterways less likely to flood again, less likely to wash away their banks and bridges, and more likely to accommodate fish spawning as well as the boulder hopping that people enjoy in their Adirondack experiences.

The Watertown Daily Times is calling on Congress to allocate more funding to help working families pay for child care.

The cutbacks can be counterproductive. Parents unable to find or maintain jobs due to a lack of child care will turn to other safety net programs, which could raise public assistance costs. Society will have to confront the problems that stem from homelessness and poverty due to unemployment.

Tags: opinion