I write with a warning. I moved from the University District in Columbus, Ohio, to Lincoln Park. This was a purposeful relocation of a retired couple from a large 110-year-old house within walking distance to my Ohio State University office, to a 1894 Old Town Triangle building. We left an unregulated, frequently illegal and accident-prone plague of electronic rental scooters.
With scooter rental companies rewarding both the City of Columbus and Ohio State University not to enforce their own written laws, Columbus has the worst problem among U.S. cities and university campuses. Major cities, led by Paris, are banning rental scooters entirely. Others, including New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto, have increased regulation and enforcement.
My conclusions are based on discussions with police and city inspectors, public records and visits to about 10 cities and 20 major campuses during the last few years.
The dangerous and deadly results: rental scooters ridden illegally on sidewalks; and scooters abandoned on public pedestrian passageways, thus threatening pedestrians including disabled persons, those with carriages and strollers, children and senior citizens like me.
The extraordinary number of accidents is the only element that I see publicized by Chicago media. Some accidents involve large four-wheel and larger motor vehicles, and scooter drivers ignoring traffic laws from stop signs and lights to crosswalks. Many accidents follow, caused by multiple riders on a single scooter, lack of helmets, delivering large orders on one’s back, and driving while drinking or drunk.
In Lincoln Park, I am disappointed to see signs of the scourge of scooters emerging in the limited attention and lack of education, including signage. In my new neighborhood, scooters are left, sometimes chained and locked, blocking sidewalks and pedestrian right of way. Their riders ignore traffic laws and endanger others on the roads and themselves.
The problem is emergent. I issue a warning from experience and comparison.
Harvey J. Graff, Lincoln Park, professor emeritus of English and History, Ohio State University
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Election exhaustion
I can’t take it anymore. Please let this election be over. The pandemic kick-started a period of isolation among us, and the electoral process has only deepened the divide. Family, friends and neighbors have stopped speaking to each other because of their political following. The hatred and vitriol among some voters of each party is worse than any animosity among sports rivals.
I keep hearing the term “fair election.” What is fair about seven states controlling the destiny of all the others? It is disheartening to see the national candidates shower the magnificent seven with all their attention and completely ignore the rest of the country. If you want my vote, you have to come to my state and ask for it. Neither national candidate set a foot in our state in an attempt to earn my vote.
At this point, I can only cry “uncle!” Please stop and let it be over.
Steven Fortuna, Naperville
More than a treat
There are so many shootings in the Chicago area — and most of them end tragically. I loved the front-page photo last week of trick-or-treating Zayden Garrett, 7, who beat those odds after he was shot in West Pullman. The joyous smile on his face brought joy to my heart.
Clare Donovan, Westchester
Hard not to channel Scrooge
Well, it’s officially the holiday season; after all, the Hallmark Channel is cranking out their seasonal flicks and the “All-Christmas/ All-the-Time” radio station has already begun playing everyone’s favorite holiday tunes.
But it’s not beginning to seem a lot like Christmas, not with a contentious election about to be resolved and the Bears season on the brink of imploding. And what’s to become of Thanksgiving if the candidate we voted for is defeated?
If it’s all the same, I’d like to forego winter in favor of an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, followed by a good old-fashioned family barbecue. Maybe we can even use those obsolete campaign signs as a fire-starter.
Bob Ory, Elgin
Bezos’ backward blunder
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Washington Post, decided to block its editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. He implausibly claimed endorsements have no real effect. Apparently the 250,000 readers who abruptly canceled their subscriptions seemed to disagree. Bezos failed to recognize an endorsement as a statement of principle, a public revelation of what a newspaper stands for.
In withholding an endorsement Bezos ( as well as Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times) is fearful of upsetting the business interests of the paper. Imagine: a billionaire afraid of offending the business world. The word ” pathetic” comes to mind.
So when calls have gone out to put country above party, it’s clear the call Bezos has responded to: money above country. Political cowardice for all of us to see, and it’s ugly as can be.
John Shaffer, Evanston
Radio silence
Regarding The Score’s Mitch Rosen’s letter urging sports fans to turn to the radio. There is a reason radio is free, not streamed or you don’t pay extra: It’s boring. And why should we support teams that can’t show or make it difficult to watch games?
Jake Getter, Huntley