The writer of the Sept. 6 letter, "Funds for smoking gazebos could be better spent," argued the $264,000 to be spent could go instead to the homeless in Pakistan. That money will go to the homeless, but it'll be Duluth's homeless.
Every homeless person in Duluth will be seeking out the heated, octagonal gazebos the Duluth Housing and Redevelopment Authority is planning to build. I will not predict, but we can all imagine what will happen. Yikes! Talk about maintenance.
If the HRA has all this money burning a hole in its pockets, the cash could be given to animal shelters, children's hospitals, cancer research, Parkinson's research and other worthwhile charities.
If people live in low-cost housing, how can they afford the high cost of cigarettes?
I live in an apartment building. If it went non-smoking, my landlords would not build a gazebo because they don't have taxpayers' money for it. So let's rally around the gazebo and say no!
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JOAN CORNELL
DULUTH
