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Generally, anything put out by the Center for the American Experiment I read with suspicion. Yet I have to agree with some of the points John Phelan made in his commentary about the Northern Lights Express ("Northern Lights rail is just a shiny illusion," Opinion Exchange, June 30). It is an attractive but incomplete solution.

Back in the mid-1970s, while I was working for Amtrak in Philadelphia, a ticket agent position opened up in Superior, Wis., for the new route from the Twin Cities. Though I had never been there, I was fascinated with the North Shore and applied. I didn't get the job, but 10 years later, after a stint in the Navy and grad school (with daily train trips), I finally moved to Minnesota. By this time the train to Superior was long gone. For several years I drove about 10 trips a year to a lakeside cabin near Split Rock. As Phelan mentioned, the drive on Interstate 35 was a chore, especially returning on Sunday afternoons. The couple of hours driving on Hwy. 61 was no better. Since I was headed farther north, the train, if it was still running, wouldn't have helped at all.

While Duluth has its attractions, I would imagine most people heading up north these days are interested in visiting parks, waterfalls and scenic overlooks farther up the shore, inland to Ely or over to Wisconsin. With no connecting train service and few buses, one's left with renting a car, adding to the expense, or heading back that day. Phelan's example of a future traveler from Hibbing works well in the opposite direction, too. Including two grandchildren on the trip and driving from Hibbing is even more attractive.

The NLX is just one link in a transportation network. The other missing links will cost just as much, or more, to implement and operate as the NLX. I'm still a firm supporter of mass transportation. This time, let's do it the right way.

Roy Forsstrom, Pepin, Wis.

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Maybe the train from Minneapolis to Duluth needs a little help. Duluth and Superior have their own charm. But there is more. A shuttle bus up the North Shore to the Canadian border could get people to a nice, cool lakeside resort. A shuttle bus along the South Shore to Bayfield, Wis., might also make the train from Minneapolis more popular. How many people from the Twin Cities know the South Shore has sandy beaches strewn with driftwood? In summer, the South Shore water of Lake Superior is often warm enough to swim in. How many have taken a canoe or kayak down the Brule River or visited the Apostle Islands? Big Manitou Falls? The train might be just the first step to the beautiful forest, streams and lakes of the Arrowhead area of Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.

John O'Neill, Minneapolis

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In his opinion regarding the Northern Lights Express, Phelan indicates that it will be cheaper to drive from Minneapolis to Duluth than take the train. I'm no economist, but a little simple math challenges that assumption. AAA estimates that it costs up to around $0.75/mile to own and operate a car. On a 300-mile trip (round trip to Duluth) that would be $225 dollars, where two round-trip tickets would be $140.

Steven Hepokoski, Maple Grove

NOISE POLLUTION

The reprinted New York Times piece "Chronic noise could take years off your life" (July 2) cites jet engines, leaf blowers and train whistles as making the sort of jarring sounds that scientists believe are more harmful to health than the continuous whirring of a busy roadway, given similar average decibel levels. In the Twin Cities, by contrast, the top such offender is arguably the high-performance cars and motorcycles that now ubiquitously roar, snarl and backfire down city streets, as if on a racetrack. Often accompanied by reckless driving, this "farty car/cycle" noise is startling, fright and anger-inducing, obnoxious, disruptive and uncivil — not to mention illegal, per local noise ordinances. Moreover, unlike unsafe driving, which endangers only those sharing the same physical space, unsafe/excessive vehicle noise impacts the entire surrounding community, multiplying and distributing broadly the noise's adverse mental and physical health effects.

Although to date our traffic safety planners have neglected vehicle noise, municipalities in other states and countries have already begun using automated noise detectors — analogous to automated speed cameras — to impartially issue tickets to excessively noisy vehicles. Are such measures worth considering here, before our community becomes a "Road Warrior"-like dystopia?

James R. Johnson, St. Paul

The coverage of the lawsuit by Golden Valley's former interim Police Chief Scott Nadeau is lousy journalism ("Ex-police official sues city, cites bias," July 6). The line "He retired in 2021 but returned to serve as Golden Valley's interim chief" raises the question: Why did Golden Valley need an interim chief? The unraveling of the Golden Valley police began before Nadeau came on the scene. You can only make a first impression once, and the city bungled its initial diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with public safety. It has never admitted it.

As the Star Tribune reported in December 2022, the mayor's requested investigation by Greene Espel Law Firm concluded:

"Greene Espel recommends the city reframe its DEI work to better engage with officers on discussions of anti-racism and structural inequalities. The law firm found meetings on these initiatives were scheduled on a reactive basis and [had] listening sessions that were 'ultimately counterproductive, seemed to enhance resistance to concepts regarding systemic racism, and caused further backlash against city management. A different approach is needed to foster a more courteous, productive dialogue regarding the city's DEI work and to work toward the elimination of any racial disparities in policing.'"

I don't need to know Nadeau's pension amount; he earned every cent.

Paula Pentel, Golden Valley

The writer was a Golden Valley City Council member from 2004-2013.

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Radley Balko gives his opinion that fewer cops in a city will not mean more crime, and maybe even result in less crime ("Half the Golden Valley police force quit. Crime dropped," Opinion Exchange, July 6). He acknowledges several studies that indicate that more police result in less crime. He counters this with his example of a low-crime Minneapolis suburb where the police chief claims crime has decreased even as the number of officers has declined. He then adds a cherry-picked one-year period in New York City when a "slowdown" in policing corresponded with fewer complaints of major crime by civilians. No thanks, Mr. Balko, I'll go with statistical studies.

Then Balko adds the usual straw man that those who want fully manned-up police forces to decrease crime for some reason also think that this precludes having an accountable and professional police force. It is actually the opposite that is true. There have been several studies that show that shrinking police forces have more incidents of police misbehavior. This is presumably because the higher stress and more overtime when officers can't keep up with crime lower their effectiveness. Police defunding results in higher crime and lower professionalism of police.

Mark V. Anderson, Minneapolis