Coddled prisoners

EDITOR: I, as a resident of Illinois and a citizen of the United States, resent the coverage given prisoners in your July 1981 issue. They are coddled and felt sorry for enough as it is. There should be plenty of worthwhile subjects that you could write about. Wake up! This is a violent society we live in so don't be feeling sorry for the "poor" prisoners who have made it a violent society with the help of our esteemed judges and lenient courts.

Disgusted,
Ellen Flanagan
Chicago

Politics of utility rates

EDITOR: I wish to take this opportunity to compliment you, and especially Bill Lambrecht, for his fascinating article titled "The Politics of Kilowatts." It is articles such as these that continue to make Illinois Issues one of the most important publications of our time. I wish to suggest that a side bar on the work of various consumers in the area of utility rates might be of interest. Perhaps you might consider a follow up story at a later date. Organizations like the Legal Assistance Foundation, the Illinois Public Action Council and our own Energy Consumer Information Project have an important role to play in the politics of utility rates.

H. Brent De Land
Executive Secretary
Illinois Association of Community
Action Agencies

Housing issues

EDITOR: During the past few weeks I have received a copy of the publication Housing Issues in Illinois which contains the series of articles that originally appeared in Illinois Issues. When I read the articles at the time that they were first published I found them to be an excellent summary of many complex subjects and advised students and professional colleagues alike to use them as a valuable reference. Now that the articles are available in a single publication, their value is further enhanced.

Beverly Ann Fleming and her co-authors have pinpointed a number of the current issues that are faced by both the public and private housing sectors during a period of scarce resources and a backlog of unresolved problems. While readers may not agree with some of the findings and feel that the authors should have provided more "answers," I am very impressed with the coverage that they have provided and I come away very much convinced that housing is everyone's problem and that "solutions," if they exist, will only come over an extended period of time.

I commend you on the series and the Ford Foundation in supporting this most worthwhile endeavor, and I urge your readers to try to get their hands on the publication which I understand you are distributing without charge.

Robert D. Katz
Director and Professor
Housing Research and Development Program
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

16 | October 1981 | Illinois Issues