Letter to the Editor: Hello again, and help

To the Editor:

In case you all haven’t noticed we have a serious problem here in rural hometown Iowa.  It’s called accessibility.

If Main Streets really do Matter, take a look around your town.  Folks in our rural communities do get older and choose to live in rural areas because they don’t want to struggle with traffic and other urban nightmares.  Does that mean they should have to struggle with getting where they may want or need to go?

Many of our towns in Northeast Iowa do not have public transportation available, and that’s a whole other issue.  There are also a lot of us who have a ‘hitch-in-their-get-along’ that would like to get out of a vehicle and go into our amazing small-town shops or restaurants.  I can tell you from personal experience, folks with physical disabilities in our area are for the most part unhappily limited to accessing discount stores and fast-food places.

Chambers of Commerce, City Councils, County Boards of Supervisors and business owners please get a clue and let us in!

Thank you for your time and consideration,

“Catfish Annie”
Ann A. Gallagher
Lansing