I was disappointed the Sun-Times jumped on the new Sox stadium at The 78 bandwagon, albeit with a few quibbles. Chicago needs many things — affordable housing, more green space, safer streets, to name a few.
What it does not need is a new stadium, certainly not for the White Sox, who have a perfectly good home at 35th & Shields.
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The reason more people don’t attend Sox games is right there in your editorial: “… the franchise has mostly fielded season after season of mediocre teams since winning the World Series almost 20 years ago.”
Finally, nowhere do you address how a White Sox move would affect the surrounding neighborhoods. For many of us who grew up and still live within walking distance to the park, it is heartbreaking to contemplate such a move.
Kelly Hughes, Bridgeport
Electricity from coal is as bad as natural gas
As Chicago is coming closer to an ordinance banning gas stoves, I would like to mention one thing: I live near the BNSF train line and see many trains per day hauling in countless cars of coal, presumably to fire up our electric plants.
Can anyone prove at this point that coal-fired electric plants are actually better than gas stoves? I suspect they could be worse.
Robert O’Donnell, Western Springs
Pull the plug on going electric
A recent Sun-Times op-ed pushing Chicago’s Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance to electrify new buildings forces me as a mechanical engineer to respond. The salient issue here (Oak Park and Evanston, too), and not in Los Angeles or Berkeley, California, is the inability of electric heat to provide indoor comfort when outside temps drop below a certain temperature.
Additional gas heat must be provided as disclosed in a recent podcast by “Trane,” a renowned HVAC equipment manufacturer. Will multi-story buildings need emergency power for elevators, fire protection, etc.?
Increased generation and transmission, strengthening grids to handle it, ensuring reliability, etc., to go fully electric is questionable, where renewable, nuclear and hydro energy can’t supply our needs without fossil fuels. I think we need to shelve this for now.
Fred J. Wittenberg, Evanston
Middle school attack on Muslim girl is unacceptable
The reported attack on a Muslim student at a middle school in Glendale Heights is totally disgusting. The girl has only been in the U.S. two months. What must she think of “the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
In 1969-70, I was enlisted in the Air Force and stationed at Wheelus Air Base in Libya. While there, I developed a deep respect for a people who rise at dawn to begin each day with worship.
I can’t do anything about the bullying at Glenside Middle School, but I can send a check to the Chicago chapter of the Council On American-Islamic Relations. The check will be in the mail tonight.
William Dodd Brown, Lincoln Square
