The Paycheck Protection Program was created quickly due to the circumstances of the unexpected pandemic. Checks and balances were absent and allowed for massive fraud. Billions were stolen and costs to recover that money is ongoing. We should come up with a better program now to prepare for future emergencies.
Give companies an option to register in a program now, like PPP, but before the next disaster, so the government can verify the information beforehand. Other businesses can register later when there is an emergency, but will need to wait for free money until their information is verified. Otherwise, have private insurance companies offer special optional coverage for these types of disasters and take the government out of the picture entirely. But do not allow history to repeat itself. It is costing the taxpayers too much money and there is always a better way.
Tom DeDore, Garfield Ridge
Not a rat, or a squirrel
Several years go I walked down Roscoe Street and saw the “Chicago rat hole” shown recently in the Sun-Times. Because there were no animal prints around the image, I thought it interesting that someone would take a dead rat and press it into the wet cement. I thought it had been a rat because of the hairless tail; a furry squirrel tail would make a very different impression.
Examining the photo, the footprints are not those of either species of squirrels that reside in northeastern Illinois, the gray squirrel or the fox squirrel. Nor are they the footprint of the Norway rat. What animal in this area would have a rat-like tail? An opossum. The forepaw, which looks like a baseball mitt, is neither that of a rat or squirrel, but it does fit that of an opossum. (See A Field Guide to Animal Tracks by Olaus Murie.)
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Furthermore, the hind foot likewise looks like that of an opossum, with the three central digits close together, the “pinkie” spread wide, and the big toe spread way sideways. The image is small for an adult opossum, but could very well be that of a half-grown young one that had ingested a dose of rat poison.
Marianne Hahn, Homewood
‘Pleading’ on migrants won’t help
What is wrong with our governor? He’s “pleading” for no migrants because of plunging temperatures. Does he not realize they are having freezing temps as well in Texas? Gov. Greg Abbott is in the same if not worse fix as sanctuary cities. This is President Joe Biden’s problem to stop. This is on his doorstep, or should be. The plea by Gov. J.B. Pritzker just looks like another center stage opportunity.
This should have been addressed months ago. Those “in charge” knew it was coming and the best we could do was offer a tent atop a plethora of chemicals? Really a sad city Chicago has become.
Barbara Czarnecki, Portage Park
Say no to dibs
Regarding the Sun-Times article “Who’s Calling Dibs?” (Jan. 14), my feeling has always been that if every car owner who parks on the street would shovel out their car (or have someone do it), then every parking spot throughout the city would be plowed out in about an hour or so. Problem solved. However, dibs are the pits.
Mario Caruso, Lincoln Square
Chill out on dibs
The never-ending seasonal debate concerning “dibs” always makes me smile. It seems that people who shovel out a space where their car had been parked should be able to park in any open space, the one they cleared or one that someone else cleared. The person whose spot is poached by someone else could then park in yet another’s cleared spot, and so on, and so on. It’s a chain that results in a “wash”.
Yes, Chicagoans, you may not get your exact spot back, but you’ll still get a spot. Time to chill out.
Tom Reed, Hinsdale
Borders and votes
Why won’t the Biden administration close the border? Future Democratic voters is the only logical answer.
Dave Tabel, Chicago Ridge
