Maybe this will help I have read recently that shopping carts have been piling up at local bus stops, particularly very close to popular big-box stores and large shopping centers. These bus stops have become problems for adjacent businesses because they inherit the abandoned carts and trash that comes with them. No one seems to be able to find a solution. In some instances it may be rather simple. People who push carts to bus stops must use public transit for shopping, both coming and going. I am particularly aware of this situation on South Robert Street in West St. Paul. There are two stores that lose many carts daily to bus stops, Target and Walmart, merely two blocks apart. Instead of these bus stops being on busy thoroughfares at intersections which cause regular traffic problems, why not build bus pullouts on Robert Street in front of each of these stores so that shoppers don’t need to push carts a block or two to get there? These people have a particularly difficult time trekking to the bus stop with a week’s worth of groceries as it is, but during winter months in the snow and ice it is much more tenuous. Making this change would result in the carts being left in front of or very near  the store from which they were taken. A side benefit would be the persons needing public transit having far more convenient use of a service supposedly designed for them. Such an arrangement may not be appropriate for all trouble spots but it would be an almost perfect solution to the problem on South Robert Street. The unused frontage property for both these stores has more than adequate space for pullouts and staging areas for shoppers. The solution is for public transportation to be more aware of both the problems they cause as well as the ones they could solve. There is conversation about again studying traffic safety on South Robert Street since the first multimillions spent didn’t do the job. Fewer median plantings and decorations and more practical use of resources would be appropriate. Maybe this will help. Earl Bailey, West St. Paul   $666 per tree? It is simply outrageous that vandals, under the cover of darkness, destroyed 60 trees along Shepard Road in St. Paul. What is even more outrageous is that the cost of these trees is estimated at $40,000.  If my math is correct, that is $666 for each tiny tree. Why are taxpayers paying $666 per tree when you can buy a similar tree at a local nursery for about $100? Taxpayer money is not Monopoly money. Who approved this outrageous use of taxpayer dollars? Cheryl Hanzlik, St. Paul   Maintain the trails we have The recent vandalism of trees along the Samuel Morgan Regional Trail is reprehensible. I applaud the city’s effort to beautify the waterfront. There has also been an effort to fix the lights along the trail over the last month. Those improvements look nice as you drive down Shepard Road. What is missing is a daily commitment to the upkeep and safety of the trail for people who walk and bike it daily. Recently I recieved a message from the city that a work order was put in place to clean up broken glass I had reported on a Sunday that was in three seperate places along the trail. When the glass wasn’t cleaned up by Thursday, I sent another message on the city’s website and copied the message to the mayor’s office. The mayor’s office must have sent my message to Public Works who responded to me in part by saying, “We do not have involvement with that.” A week after I first reported the broken glass, it was still there. How can a city claim to be proud of its trails and at the same time find out on a Tuesday of multiple hazards on a popular trail that runs along the heart of St. Paul and not have it cleaned up by the weekend. How long after learning of hazards on the trail does the city become liable if my service animal or someone’s pet gets cut by the glass? There are zero garbage cans on the trail between Sibley and the fountains by Upper Landing. For context, that is the stretch of the trail that runs adjacant to Union Depot to the Science Museum. How can the city take the cleanliness of the trail seriously while having such a large stretch of the trail with no place for citizens to dispose of trash? This is not some remote part of the trail. I’m sure if the riverfront improvement project ever gets approved and finished, the upkeep and cleanliness of the trail will be a priority. I ask the city to take the care of the trails they are responsible for, now. Ryan Radunzel, St. Paul   Not joking around I am not sure what world Jerald McNair is living in (“Parents should be mindful of what they say about the election around kids,” Nov. 15). Has he seen how whole families attended Donald Trump rallies to cheer on a felon who called his opponent a b###h and called whole groups of people criminals and mentally insane? This is a man who suggested that two hours of violence would rid our inner cities of crime. And McNair thinks parents are telling their kids that slavery is coming back? If you are a person of color, you better be scared because the felon-elect and his followers are not joking around. Lee Kossin, St. Paul   What a mindset The author of a Nov. 17 letter to the editor wrote, “You did this; this is on you.” What a mindset! Well, the millions and millions of citizens who are “garbage deplorables” of course deserve severe condemnation. I for one beg the writer for her forgiveness. I apologize sincerely. Please run Harris again in 2028 and if I am still alive I promise to vote correctly then. T.J. Sexton, St. Paul   To run it or to destroy it? Some citizens today have concern about select individuals whom President-elect Trump is appointing to cabinet positions. While one’s first reaction may be that they are not qualified to run the agency, one has to keep in mind that Trump is not selecting them so they can run it, but destroy it. When viewed from that perspective, these appointments make perfect sense. Curtis Dahlin, Roseville   Endless partisan attacks We should brace ourselves for an onslaught of attacks on everyone in the new administration. There will be a series of intense investigations on all of Donald Trump’s picks. How about another version of Russian collusion? Impeachments are certain to follow. The majority of Americans are tired of all of this and will resist being duped again. If the left insists on this direction they will dig a deeper hole and find it even more difficult to be in a position to lead. Warren Poole, St. Paul   Blame America America repeatedly broke its commitments to Russia not to expand NATO towards Russian borders. In 2014, America facilitated the removal of an elected leader in Ukraine and in 2019 helped place a Ukrainian comedian and actor, Volodymyr Zelensky, as president of Ukraine. A joke. In April 2022, America helped scuttle a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine. Subsequently, hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians have died. Russia is not the main culprit here. America is. Do we still embrace the domino theory of how communism spreads? Wasn’t that theory discarded after Vietnam? Certainly, people can recognize false comparisons of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Hitler’s occupation of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Austria. Putin’s attacks should be seen more as self-defense in response to our aggressive actions.  And now Biden expanded our aggression by authorizing the use of our missiles on Russia. Nobody cares we have a senile president who has edged us toward WWIII and a nuclear holocaust? A majority of voters hoped Trump would end the war. Biden’s move will hamstring Trump’s administration. What sane man would escalate world tension just before he left office? It’s time to implement Amendment 25 to remove Biden. D. Roome, Red Wing Related Articles Opinion | Residents of St. Paul senior center make blankets as gifts for Dorothy Day Center Opinion | GiveMN raised a record-breaking $37 million during Give to the Max Day Opinion | Feline Rescue raises more than $50,000 on Give to the Max Day for outreach services Opinion | Man gets jail, probation for wounding teen girl in St. Paul shooting Opinion | Driver who crashed into St. Paul house sentenced to five years on gun charge