Toll prices ridiculous
Re: “Lawmakers push for sweeping toll reforms — Batch of 19 bills takes aim at issues, including billing, criminal charges,” Monday news story.
I had to scratch my head when I read the flurry of reforms that the Texas Legislature is proposing for toll roads. All of them are important, if not way too late in being reviewed, but there was one aspect seemingly ignored — the cost of tolls. I live near I-820 in Tarrant County and am shocked by the price of tolls for just a few miles of use. Even in the middle of the day for those ed, you’ll pay just under $6. The price for ed vs. non-ed is the same, which makes no sense.
We travel to Florida every year and toll fees there are a fraction of the cost in Texas (at least where I live). It seems like it was an easy and lazy (or worse) strategy when these roads were built in Texas and continues to be.
You have to wonder what the back story is. Where is the questioning from our lawmakers about how ridiculously priced the tolls are? I feel bad for those who have too much of their income sucked-up by tolls they can’t avoid to get to work and back in a reasonable time.
Peter Herman Burns, North Richland Hills
Pay off toll roads
Rather than modify how tollway authorities collect money, legislators should use the state surplus and rainy day fund to pay off toll roads and eliminate the collections problem altogether.
To illustrate, my commute from East Plano to my office at IBM in Las Colinas was 26 miles one way. When the Bush Turnpike opened, my daily commute time dropped to half when compared to the slugfest on Interstate 635 and U.S. Highway 75.
I was delighted, even though the tolls cost 13 cents a mile and my gasoline cost 13 cents a mile, roughly $250 per month combined. In 2025 the cost would be $300 plus. But many may find the cost of tolls to be more than they can afford.
For the common good, I believe the largest oil producing state can, and should, find a better way to pay for highways.
Shep Stahel/Plano
Generational damage
Over the past few weeks, I have watched President Donald Trump run roughshod over the Constitution and our legal system, allow an unelected multibillionaire access to the private data of Americans, threaten and antagonize our allies and align the United States with the murderous Russian regime. I believe our president is doing generational damage to our country. It is as if the movie The Manchurian Candidate has become a reality.
Mike Sullivan, Carrollton
Which is it, Sen. Cornyn?
Re: “Dems object to handling of info — Government secrets let go on DOGE site, they accuse,” and “Firings worry scientists,” Saturday news stories.
In this story, Sen. John Cornyn is quoted as saying “DOGE employees don’t have the authority to fire people or make financial decisions,” yet on the very next page, under the headline “Firing worry scientists,” it states “The new entity Department of Government Efficiency has cut more than 100,000 of the federal government’s 2.3 million workers through a combination of layoffs and buyouts.” So which is it?
DOGE is both firing or laying off federal workers or buying them out, contradictory to both things Cornyn clearly stated. But what he stated is not true. Why is our elected representative standing up in front of his constituency and not telling the truth?
I keep asking his office about this and many other things, and get no response at all. It’s time for the Fourth Estate to do something.
Richard LaChance, Fort Worth
Only nostalgia remains
Re: “ Neiman’s vision, not the store — Founder’s great-granddaughter shares fond memories and urges us to embrace downtown’s future,” by Catherine Marcus Rose, Monday Opinion.
I read with interest Rose’s opinion about the closing of the Dallas downtown store, because whilst she was tickling that Henry Moore sculpture, I was toiling in the upstairs advertising department. By the time of my tenure there, from 1981 to 1984, I was the veteran of two other retail advertising departments.
An institution is only as great as the people who propel it, and “Mr. Stanley” had long gone. He left in his wake a generation of unimaginative people, who more or less coasted on its reputation. I do retain friendships from that time, as well as fond memories of those who certainly were exceptions. But for the most part, the store’s greatness was already an exercise in nostalgia.
It’s partially a question of whether this kind of retail is still relevant, but after I left, I continued to watch Neiman Marcus make some terrible decisions. (Hudson Yards, anyone?) An institution needs inspired leadership, and it was sorely lacking.
During a meeting with the man who was called the “chairman emeritus” (Stanley Marcus himself), I asked, ”What can a store do to ruin its own reputation?” His reply was “Just keep abusing it.”
With the closing of the downtown store, I fear, once again, that no one is listening.
Edward Taussig, New York, N.Y.
Precious Neiman Marcus days
Thank you, Catherine, for expressing so beautifully what many of us feel upon losing the Neiman Marcus store but not the Neiman Marcus vision. The creation of such an inspirational way of viewing and leading the world to the emerging cultural icon, Neiman Marcus, will live longer than any building.
I was an advertising copywriter there while Mr. Stanley was very much the heartbeat of the store. Those were precious days that I was blessed to be a part of.
June McGuire, Dallas
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