Julie Johnson

Take care of basics

I was joined by 5,000 cyclists recently to ride 20 miles through Dallas, starting at City Hall. It is a magnificent plaza and one that inspires greatness.

However, my real purpose is to thank all the Dallas Police and other security officers who kept the event safe at every intersection. With the police there, the ride went smoothly — except for the potholes and sometimes brutal washboard conditions of our city streets.

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Unless you ride the city by bike, you really have no idea how wretched most of our streets truly are. Can we all agree that taking care of the basics is what our collective tax-based government is supposed to take care of?

If Dallas wants to be a meaningful destination for future business development and lure contemporary business migration to downtown, fix the streets, enhance pedestrian and cycling safety, give us dependable public transportation, re-think smooth vehicular patterns and give downtown streets and our iconic City Hall the loving attention they deserve.

Ross Vick, Dallas/Oak Cliff

Healing our country

Two simple, but admittedly difficult steps to move our country toward healing:

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1. Legislate reasonable limits to campaign contributions. Restrict donations to individuals, corporate stockholders and employees.

2. Legislate fair voting districts. We have the technology to build software tools to gather and impartially process demographic data to produce maps based on centroids of population density, unaffected by partisan interests.

These two actions would greatly relieve this country of the scourge of scorched-earth partisan politics, but it would require a commitment from voters of all parties to set aside the will to prevail and to abide by the majority’s choices. Do you think we could do that?

Jay Leslie, Plano

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He cares about the future

What am I missing? Republican voters in Texas, following their brethren across the country, have bowed to the wishes of President Donald Trump. They have nominated to the U.S. Senate a person totally bereft of a moral core. Of course, they elected a president with the same affliction. Character no longer counts. Telling the truth no longer matters. Adherence to the Constitution is passé.

Why do I even care? I am a white, retired, privileged man. People of my ilk will not be negatively affected by this foolishness. Heck, it might even benefit us!

But I do care. I care about the future of our state and nation. Hopefully, there are enough Texans who feel the same way come November.

Scott Kimball, McKinney

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Vote your conscience

I am 84 years old and have always voted for Republican candidates. My main reason was the abortion issue. At times I wasn’t voting “for” a Republican candidate but rather “against” a Democratic candidate who supported abortion.

Today abortion is illegal in Texas, and I have the freedom to vote my conscience. In November I will vote for James Talarico if the Democrats will let me in the booth.

Sandra Phillips, Lindale

It won’t fly

What’s telling about John Cornyn getting crushed is that Texans are damn serious about: keeping a secure border, stopping the sexual changes of minors and the radical LBGTQ-whatever agenda in our public schools, stopping the growing Islamic/Shariah influence in our schools and government, deporting illegal immigrants and getting tough on crime.

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By the way, in attacking Ken Paxton, it’s quite funny to see Democrats now attempting the role of moralist. It won’t fly.

Rick Atkinson, McKinney

Ignore the firehouse of filth

In Tuesday’s primary runoffs, MAGA Republicans put the finishing touches on a slate of candidates that will, no doubt, fill President Donald Trump with glee. Impeached and indicted, spewing hate and raining lawsuits gives them plenty of common ground.

Christ-following, law-abiding Texans should be alarmed and disgusted.

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Texas voters, please do not overlook the fact that Ken Paxton, Bo French and their ilk are just that: candidates. You still have a choice in every one of these races, as you’ve had in the school, city and other down-ballot races that have increasingly rejected this dangerous nonsense.

Brace yourselves for an avalanche of hate, AI distortions and half-quotes taken out of context. Between now and November, these folks and their PACs will spend millions lying about their opponents. Do not be swayed.

Parties choose tickets, but voters choose their elected officials. Ignore the firehose of filth, then turn out by the millions in November and show the rest of the U.S. that Texas can do better than this.

Bob Buckel, Azle

Sad about Julie Johnson

I am saddened that Julie Johnson was unable to win her runoff. I feel that Colin Allred should not have vacated his seat to run for a Senate seat.

When he did and was unsuccessful, he should have left politics and relied on his sports and law background to make a living.

Given our toxic political climate, the LGBTQ community needs a political voice more than ever. (I’m neither a Black person nor an LGBTQ person.)

Aram Azadpour, Grapevine

Enough Atmos increases!

Re: “Gas bills rising — Atmos settlement would add $9.46 monthly to the average invoice,” May 25 Metro story.

Really, the “average” gas increase per residence is $9.46, and it would be higher in the winter based on use? And the commercial bill would only increase by 6.5%.

When are city and state officials going to realize that the businesses they gave tax incentives should be paying more taxes than middle and low-income families.

Electricity costs are up, water fees are way up and now Atmos. The Dallas City Council needs to vote this down and look at our water bill issues, also.