It’s nice to hear praise instead of complaints

How wonderful it is to have people like Barbara Newhall (July 30 letter, “Count the reasons to rejoice in your life”) in our beautiful city. I will be 80 years old on my next birthday and I share her thoughts about our city. Our City Council and mayor are doing a great job of bringing our flood-damaged city back to the beautiful city it once was. What bothers me is that it takes time and money to fix things.

I hear and read about people griping about rough streets and potholes. Now the city is doing the best it can with limited funds to fix them. So now you hear them gripe about detours, yellow road signs, and that it takes too long to repair. Wow, you can't win.

I once was in charge of snow removal at a college in Cedar Rapids and we did the best we could in the frigid temperatures, but we would get calls like “I don't know who taught you about snow removal but they sure didn't teach you much.” A nice thank you, don't you think? Again, thank you, Barbara, for your most thoughtful letter.

Kermit Postier

Cedar Rapids