Make Texas consumer-friendly

Re: “Gov. Abbott, your electricity market is a hot mess — Special session needed to address price transparency,” by Dave Lieber, Sunday Metro column.

As usual, Lieber is one of the lone voices for consumers in Texas. Price transparency, whether shopping for electricity, cellphone plans, cable service, health insurance and so on, is in no one’s interest but the consumer’s. The complexity and overwhelming array of choices is just deception by obfuscation and confusion.

I hope Gov. Greg Abbott reads Lieber’s letter. Remember, though, that Texas is a business-friendly state, not a consumer-friendly state. In my opinion, it seems actively hostile to the interests of consumers.

I wish our elected representatives would stand and speak for us the way Lieber does. Thanks, Dave.

Terry Anderson, Garland

Answer Watchdog’s letter, governor

The Watchdog’s open letter to Gov. Greg Abbott from the electricity consumers’ perspective is a great service to all Texans. Since the February 2021 freeze, my electricity rates have skyrocketed. My base charge has gone from zero to $14.95 per month. My per kilowatt price has gone from 11.5 cents to 17.1 cents (a 33% increase).

My solar panels are the only thing that keeps my electricity cost somewhat reasonable. But even there, my electricity providers now cap how much they pay for the electricity my panels send back to the grid. I will no longer see a credit on my bill from providing more electricity than I use.

Thanks to The Dallas Morning News and Lieber, Texas consumers have someone looking out for them. I think Abbott should provide a response to Lieber’s open letter, but I have my doubts that he will even bother to read it.

My message to our governor is that Texas should be business-friendly, as he often points out, but it also needs to be consumer-friendly.

Richard Bach, Garland

Kunkle respected female officers

Re: “‘He left a legacy and a very high bar’ — During tenure as Dallas’ top cop, morale went up as crime rates fell,” Saturday obituary.

In 1973, I joined the Dallas Police Department as one of the first women in uniform and on patrol (Badge 3574). This was a result of a federal subsidy program offered to large city police departments. Women officers performed the same duties as the men with the same pay.

It was a challenging position for a long time, mainly because the majority of the male officers did not welcome the women officers.

David Kunkle was a sergeant at that time at Northwest Substation. I worked with him on a daily basis, and he was always so professional and accepting of the new women officers. He treated us equally.

I always remembered his generosity during that difficult time of adjustment for the women on patrol. I would see him many years later, and we would laugh about things and people during those precinct years.

May David rest in peace.

Maggie Morgan, North Dallas

Chief was also a good student

David Kunkle attended classes at Christian College of the Southwest. It was through the federal government Law Enforcement Education Program that allowed officers to attend college to get a degree.

Kunkle was in my Wednesday night biology lecture class and lab, and with him was most of the Dallas Police Department command staff also attending to get an education. Kunkle always sat toward the front and took copious notes on my lectures and asked tons of questions.

During the six months, Kunkle and I became friends. I participated in the police ride-along program. His beat was in South Dallas. It gave me the ability to see Kunkle from the academic side and the professional side.

One knew immediately that he was going to go to much higher places in his career. I will never forget the officer who later became chief of police for the city of Dallas.

James Howard Sherrard, Plano

Civil letter exchange applauded

Re: “Hoping for civil debates,” by Walter Dunlap, July 10 Letters, and “Civil debate welcome,” by Richard Cherwitz, Saturday Letters.

The letter exchange you published between Dunlap and Cherwitz should serve as a reminder to all of us about the value of decent and respectful dialogue in our society. I nominate both men to any high office in our state or country. Either would be a huge step in the right direction.

I was tempted to write a letter about the current Barbie obsession of our esteemed Sen. Ted Cruz, but felt that others would do it for me. I was right.

George Neary, Dallas/Preston Hollow

Rethink downtown Frisco plan

Re: “$50M makeover planned — Downtown revamp aims to improve walkability and attract tourists and jobs,” July 5 Metro & Business story.

While I applaud Frisco’s efforts to make its central business district walkable, eliminating curbside parking on Frisco’s Main Street could be counterproductive to that goal. Enabling businesses to convert curbside parking directly in front of their shops is a good step, particularly for the hospitality industry. Yet most businesses wouldn’t benefit from this and would suffer when customers couldn’t conveniently park to shop.

Furthermore, converting curbside parking to an additional lane of traffic each way would increase the speed of traffic flow on Main Street, which is the opposite of walkability.

By calming traffic, parked vehicles complement the conversion of select spaces for spillover retail. Parked vehicles decrease speeds, and the buffer they provide enhances the sense of security in select spaces converted to other uses.

In fact, Frisco’s CBD would benefit from a road diet of one lane in each direction, with a left-turn lane in the center, and no parking near intersections to enable right turns on red. A two-lane road with these features would conduct traffic even more smoothly than a conventional four-lane road and with less stress and fewer conflicts.

Ken Duble, Dallas

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