Letters: Dec. 18, 2006

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Your article on the disintegrating state of affairs in Miami struck a personal chord in our home [Nov. 27]. My wife lived in Miami for 14 years, and when I was a child, I would visit the city each year with my folks. We both have seen vast changes to the lifestyle that Floridians used to enjoy. When we visited Miami a year ago, we were dismayed to find it overcrowded with traffic, lacking in customer service at retailers and restaurants and generally difficult to enjoy. It seems Miami has big-city problems and a small-town mentality. What was once a beautiful, pleasant city has become an example of expansion and corruption gone wild.

VICTOR PEREZ

Schaumburg, Ill.

TIME's story was way off base.  Miami boasts the most beautiful beaches in the U.S., and it attracts tourists from everywhere in the world, so many that airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale are being expanded. Miami has a perfect climate for a stress-free lifestyle, with no snow to shovel or heating bills to pay. The city will continue to attract young families.

BRIAN KOSLOW

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Healing the CDC

"What Ails The CDC" [Nov. 27] provided an incomplete picture of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's reorganization and recent achievements. Here are a few: for the first time in 10 years, childhood immunization rates in America do not differ by race and ethnicity. The CDC is collaborating on efforts to help save 100,000 lives from hospital infections. We've also created faster diagnostic tests for influenza, botulism and other illnesses and created a campaign to make HIV testing routine, so that people can more readily access lifesaving treatment and prevention services. The CDC has increased its ability to face urgent threats like bioterrorism and flu pandemics, and we want to do the same for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and obesity. While we are proud of our accomplishments, our reorganization is based on the recognition that we must create new networks and greater collaboration, both inside and outside the agency, to succeed.

JULIE LOUISE GERBERDING, DIRECTOR

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

Atlanta

Win the War! Save String!

TIME reported that American troops in Iraq are using Silly String to detect trip wires affixed to bombs [Nov. 27]. Rather than ask civilians to mail cans of it to the troops, shouldn't we just ask Halliburton to order it by the truckload? That would be quicker since the company seems to have an unlimited government expense account. Or have the Defense Department buy Silly String directly from the manufacturer and ship it on military transport. Here's a third idea: buy all the Silly String you can find, and drop it off at the closest military base to be shipped along with the same troops whose lives the stuff could save.

KAREN GARNER

Newport News, Va.