Letters: Readers discuss KCI, the minimum wage and Eric Greitens
Outdated airport
I have been following the KCI story since the airport opened about the time my wife and I moved to Kansas City. It was a wonderful airport in the 20th century. Not so for the 21st century.
As a former frequent flier and current semifrequent flier, I find KCI to be anything but convenient. Small, cramped waiting areas, bad lightning, few charging stations, extremely limited food service and restrooms inside security areas, confusing and crowded baggage claim area — these are at the top of my list, but there are more. Suffice it to say that it is time — past time — for a new airport.
KCI is an embarrassment to a great city. The time to build is now.
Bill Hankins
Kansas City
Minimum wage
By raising the minimum wage to $15, we would see an improvement in our job growth, economic growth and communities.
Many Missourians live and work under the poverty line. For example, my friend Angie lived in a hotel because her mother could not afford to buy a home for her family. She constantly took care of her siblings because her mother worked so much. She missed multiple days of school, which hurt her grades.
By raising the minimum wage, fewer people would have to live on the edge. Many people have no choice but to work multiple jobs to provide for their families. A wage increase would decrease the number of jobs that poor parents have to work, giving them more time to be active in their children’s lives and their community.
I encourage readers to vote yes Aug. 8 to raise the minimum wage. It would benefit our community and change the lives of people like my friend Angie.
Micah-Mishal Quinn
Kansas City
Reckoning to come
To all our elected senators and representatives who are thinking about voting for the new health care replacement law: Be careful what you wish for.
It won’t take long before your constituents who actually use Obamacare find out that it makes things so much worse. We won’t be happy when we find out the hard way that you have betrayed us.
Mack Tilton
Kansas City
The Republicans’ health care proposal makes savage cuts to the Medicaid program, which provides vitally needed health services for low-income pregnant women, children, the disabled and the elderly living in nursing homes. It cuts Medicaid to pay for huge tax cuts for the wealthiest in our society.
My parents are 83 and 87 years old. Mom has dementia, and Dad is her primary caregiver. My family is doing everything possible to keep them living safely in their home for as long as possible, but I know they will both require nursing-home care very soon. It will cost $12,000 a month for both.
Mom and Dad worked hard all their lives at blue-collar jobs to provide for their family. They will exhaust their life savings in a matter of months. Then we hope and pray that Medicaid is still there to pay for their care, as it does for most of the elderly living in nursing homes.
However, we know it will not be there if this god-awful bill becomes law.
Jim Torres
Kansas City
Governor’s goals
Gov. Eric Greitens continues to call special sessions for the legislators in Jefferson City. Unfortunately, his priorities are misplaced. Here is what he should focus on:
▪ St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield are all high-ranked cities in violent crimes. Address this issue.
▪ Our major corporations such as Anheuser-Busch, Russell Stover, Sprint and Boulevard Brewing are now foreign-controlled. We are sure to lose jobs.
▪ It’s almost universally agreed that our roads are terrible.
▪ We used to have as many as 16 U.S. representatives and now have eight. The population has shifted elsewhere. What can we do to attract people and businesses?
We know the governor has his eye on becoming president someday. If he really wants to make it, he should solve these issues and the people will be impressed.
Holmes Osborne
Independence
Ticket gouging
I bought tickets for Thursday’s Ed Sheeran concert. I tried to purchase them through the Sprint Center website, which sold out in about five minutes. I had to buy from a third-party vendor and paid the face value plus $150 per ticket.
I contacted the Sprint Center to ask how third-party vendors can gouge the public this way but did not receive a reply.
It’s amazing that venues cannot find the technology to protect concertgoers from rampant profiteering like this.
John Rochelle
Kansas City, Kan.
This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss KCI, the minimum wage and Eric Greitens."