Congress must reject the EATS Act; keep Iris as a route to move traffic; ostentatious transportation decisions

Congress must reject the cruel EATS Act

Late last month, the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee approved its version of the Farm Bill: an omnibus federal law that shapes our nation’s agriculture, food and agriculture system. Unfortunately, the House Farm Bill contains dangerous language that would roll back state-level protections for farmed animals in a race-to-the-bottom approach to animal welfare.

Originally proposed in the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act (EATS), this legislation would roll back state agricultural regulations, such as California’s widely supported Proposition 12, which ensures that eggs, certain pork products and Veal sold in the state comes from unraised animals. in the cruelest forms of confinement. People across the country want to know that the products we consume come from well-treated animals, and this language makes it impossible to achieve – or even approach – that ideal. By not allowing states to establish their own animal welfare requirements for farm animals, the federal government is infringing on states’ rights, overriding the will of the people, and stripping farm animals of protections essential.

Unlike the House, the Senate appears to understand the importance of allowing states to make decisions that reflect their values ​​and those of their constituents, since their version of the bill is devoid of this deplorable language. I call on my representative, Representative Neguse, to vote against any version of the Farm Bill that contains language resembling the EATS Act. I encourage all those who believe in protecting animals from the cruelest forms of abuse, and who believe that stripping states of their rights is an unacceptable overreach of federal power, to do the same.

Ashlee Andersen, Boulder

Keep Iris as a route to move traffic

In Athens, Georgia, a road diet conversion on an arterial with 20,000 vehicles each day increased traffic diversion by almost 4 percent. Where have these 800 vehicles gone? Here in Boulder, Iris Avenue is a thoroughfare that handles an average of 20,000 vehicles per day. Judy Nogg’s recent opinion strongly argued that there would be more traffic on Iris in the future. Fewer lanes on Iris could now divert at least 800 vehicles per day along family/residential streets such as Hawthorn and Kalmia Avenue. In the future, fewer lanes and increased traffic on Iris would mean even more traffic in the neighborhoods! Isn’t it reasonable to expect more noise, accidents and even deaths in these areas?

Keep Iris as a route to move traffic. Keep side streets like Kalmia and Hawthorn bike, pedestrian and family friendly.

Kent Olson, Boulder

More visible transportation decisions are being made

How ironic to have two articles in the Daily Camera on May 30 that so blatantly expose anyone’s ostentatious transportation decisions that bring us more bike underpasses, bridges to nowhere, of bollards and curbs, and wonderfully smooth bike paths, while the automatic lanes continue to become secondary roads similar to those in Costa Rica. Really? $165 million for a bridge over the intersection of 63rd and Diagonal Highway is already signed and ready to go. I live on country roads north of Boulder and see 20 times more bikers passing my house than on the Diagonal bike path, but I’m sure the new bridge will change all that. How about just 10% of the $165 million to hire a crew to resurface our municipal and county roads? Oh, I forgot, local governments are struggling to make ends meet due to a decline in sales tax revenue and the roughly 35% increase in property tax, forcing the county to live from one paycheck to the next.

And, thanks to Judy Nogg’s follow-up article regarding Iris Avenue and her unsolicited and likely overlooked contributions to concerns about bike plans for Iris, this project will almost certainly move forward, with both (the bridge) expected to be completed at least by the end of the current decade. Judy’s research and specific suggestions are far too complicated and make too much sense to listen to or implement.

Unfortunately, this is what happens to government decisions when there are absolutely no checks and balances in place. As long as we freewheel it for bikers, I would like a bridge over US 36 at Left Hand Canyon to make my commute safer from my house to the canyon. I’m even going to install a camera to prove that it will see more bike traffic than the Diagonal Trail.

Stan Nicolas, Longmont