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Cindy Hagen's story illustrates Minnesota's need for immediate emergency funding for home care services ("Who guards against guardianship law?" Feb. 5). Minnesota has, in the past, demonstrated leadership in its adoption of programs that support independent living for adults with disabilities, but not so recently. Adults with disabilities should not be forced to choose between living in a hospital or nursing facility and being in their own homes.

How is it that poor funding of in-home personal care services has been allowed to continue for several years now, putting individuals' safety and autonomy at risk, yet this has not been considered an emergency requiring immediate action? By default we've slipped back into a charity model, with medically necessary care being relegated to trained professional caregivers willing to provide in-home care for wages below those of fast food or entry-level grocery store positions. Or to family members who are forced to be the safety net for a system that crashed even before the pandemic started.

In-home care is not only right, upholding the dignity and self-determination of individuals who belong in our communities, it's also more economical than institutional care. The 2023 Minnesota Legislature has three bills before it — HF 584/SF 902, HF 585/SF 903 and HF 696/SF 695 — that seek to address aspects of our neglected home-care funding systems. If these bills make it into law, we'll see positive changes in 2024. Does Cindy Hagen need to live in the hospital for another year before we address this crisis?

Krista Westendorp, Minneapolis

I was elated to read that Buildworld concurred with my assessment that U.S. Bank Stadium is butt-ugly. So much so that the architectural website suggested it to be the seventh-ugliest building in the United States. I had been pronouncing such since it appeared under construction nearly a decade ago. Unlike its predecessor, the Metrodome, it did not begin with a four-story hole in the ground to diminish its scale. Rather, it slid into town like a beached whale, or a supersized McBurger, boastful of its enormity.

James Lileks' Feb. 5 column ("Ugliest building in town? Or just misunderstood?") does well to bring the question of aesthetic propriety into the local public discourse. Anecdotally he deems ugly Ralph Rapson's design of the Rarig Center, an aesthetic that borrows heavily from ugly building No. 2, Boston City Hall. Rapson was on the esteemed jury that selected the Boston City Hall design from more than 250 entrees.

I personally have always been charmed by Boston's City Hall. It may be because I watched it come to life while living in Boston in the late 1960s. The other building on the ugly list I disagree with is the Denver International Airport. When I've arrived on Interstate 76 from the Midwest, I've appreciated the energetic white sails set against the majestic Rocky Mountains.

By comparison, when I arrive to downtown Minneapolis from the northeast on I-35W and crest the hill just west of Hwy. 280, an ugly black behemoth shields what used to be a majestic view of downtown. But, alas, I should soon see it gone, as I've come to realize stadiums are short-lived, and a new and bigger one is certainly already being entertained. Maybe this time the designers will take out their beauty pencils.

Dale Mulfinger, Minneapolis

The writer is an architect.

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I've enjoyed reading Lileks' articles for years. His Sunday summary of the "ugliest building in town" left a great opportunity on the table.

The promoters of downtown Minneapolis have been working diligently for a couple of years to revitalize downtown after the COVID abandonment. The answer is right in front of their face.

Minneapolis has the largest pole barn in the world. It is officially named U.S. Bank Stadium, but just look at it. We need to promote it. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has the Empire State Building, and look at what those structures did to attract tourism.

Just think of the rural Minnesotans who will be attracted to the "Cities" to see it. The influx of visitors will put hotels and restaurants in the black in no time. When Morgan, Minn., hosts 2023 Farmfest, the pole barn will be the subject everyone will be talking about. "You gotta see this thing — you can get your combine, all your tractors, manure spreader and trailers in it and still have room for your hay and corn, and you won't have to put tires on top of your silage piles." "It should be listed as one of the seven wonders of the world."

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, and when Bloomington hosts the 2027 World's Fair, we will already have the attraction to draw people from all over the world — the World's Largest Pole Barn.

Warren Kapsner, Golden Valley

The Gophers men's basketball team is so bad that it is starting to take on a metaphysical, almost supernatural, state of being. I can no longer place blame on the coaches or the players. Some spell has overcome this team where they appear to have completely forgotten how to play basketball. This type of bad mojo requires a witch doctor. Perhaps we need to conduct an exorcism of Williams Arena. This season is so horrible that I think we should commemorate it with a banner in the arena as a reminder for generations to come.

Chris Edwards, Edina

I am wondering why Social Security increases are a percentage. If we want to help those with low incomes, the best approach would be an increase of the same amount for everyone. Example being every recipient would get a $100 increase instead of a percentage of their current amount. Yeah, it sounds like socialism. Socialism is hard to achieve, but using some of its ideas does help make things more fair for all of society, not just the upper few.

Esther Lenartz, Eagan

On Jan. 29, Jennifer Brooks ("Imagine 'Footloose,' only worse") wrote about the "grim news from our western border" regarding lawmakers formulating and introducing bills to "wall children away from 'lewd' performances where someone is singing, speaking, dancing, acting or existing in a manner that 'exhibits a gender identity that is different from the performer's biological sex through the use of clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.' "

Brooks bemoans that voters will "never experience the joys of drag story hour at the library or witness the absolute delight of small children meeting a grown-up who enjoys dressing up as much as they do."

I know already that I'm being labeled homophobic and a bigot. If colleges and universities want to hold drag performances on campus attended by young adults with the understanding and mental capacity to make their own decisions regarding LGBTQ lifestyle, so be it.

But let's be transparent — drag story hour or dress-up has nothing to do with providing absolute delight or joy. It is a subtle part of the LGBTQ effort to indoctrinate kids "unfamiliar enough" with this ideology and where our children — the most vulnerable — are affected. Build the "wall."

Ray Moore, Dayton