Cobalt or Cadillac, it doesn’t matter as long as jobs stay

Opinion: May 14, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

EDITOR:

On Thursday, GM vice president Mark LaNeve was in the Mahoning Valley for a United Way banquet. Naturally, while he was in the area many people asked him whether or not the next-generation Chevy Cobalt Pontiac G5 would be built in Lordstown or in Mexico. LaNeve couldn’t give a definitive answer but he did mention the upsides about a fuel-efficient vehicle being made in Lordstown. And, all I have to say about this is, does it really matter?

Don’t get me wrong, I myself have been driving a Lordstown-built car for over two years: a black 2006 Chevy Cobalt LS coupe that I get 32 MPG on and has been very reliable for me driving back and forth from New Castle to YSU. But GM already announced back in October that Lordstown was staying open. As to what is rumored to be built there after 2009 (whether it be the next Cobalt/G5 or the upcoming Cadillac BLS and a Pontiac sibling) shouldn’t really matter: jobs are staying in the Mahoning Valley.

It surprises me that people are being picky as to what is going to be built there. It was only a few years ago when the Cobalt was in development that people wanted to keep using the Cavalier name. GM hadn’t even officially announced that the Cobalt was going to replace the Cavalier (though it was already known at this point that the Cavalier name was going to be retired), and people were making a fuss about it. The Cavalier had a good run, but GM was making so many improvement with replacing the aged J-body cars with the current Delta-based cars that it warranted a new name. The Vindicator actually had an online poll about which name people preferred, and if I remember right the majority of people actually wanted to keep the Cavalier name around. The story made so much news that both Motor Trend and Car & Driver picked the story up. I remember one person in the article who was indifferent; he was just happy that jobs were staying in the area.

The man was right. Either way, Lordstown is staying open beyond next summer, and it wasn’t like the fiasco that Ford experienced with the Taurus: the Cobalt has been a strong seller for GM since coming out and has basically picked up where the Cavalier left off.

JOE GERARD

New Castle

Let’s lick the problem

EDITOR:

Recently the United States Postmaster General, John E. Potter, asked his subordinates to shave $1 billion from the postal service’s annual budget.

One area that the postal service could save money is by reducing printing costs of postage stamps. Last year the postal service printed over 42 billion postage stamps. The vast majority of new stamps are self-adhesive, which is made with petroleum. They also require two sheets of paper, one side for the stamps and the backside which is thrown away after the stamps are used. Up until the 1980s, most stamps were water-activated with a dextrin gum made from potatoes, wheat and acacia. They also require only one sheet of paper.

Postage stamps were first used by Britain in 1840 and in the United States in 1847. Dextrin gummed stamps have been good enough for about 150 years. Why not go back to water-activated stamps to save oil and to benefit American farmers, while also reducing printing costs?

LAWRENCE HIGHFIELD

Youngstown