EDITOR'S NOTE: Below is a selection of responses shared by readers of MDJOnline.com in reaction to recent MDJ stories ...

Council considers Franklin Road purchase for park ...

Miss Spent wrote - I am disgusted. I voted for the parks bond. Had I only known! Also, I would not have supported Johnny Sinclair. I'll know better next time.

Dangerous Park wrote - As someone that lives near that neighborhood and knows how dangerous it is, tearing down two apartment complexes out of the many in that crime-ridden neighborhood will not make it safe to go to a park there. Instead of a park, you will have to make it a memorial park!

Atlanta Girl wrote - First, they need to clean the area from all the drug dealers or that will be a good place for the exchanges. I use to live on Franklin Road, but as everyone knows now it is drug alley!

Voted for Parks wrote - I voted for a parks bond to improve our parks, not as a redevelopment slush fund. I say spend the money to improve park services for residential areas, not for commercial corridors. It's amazing how the supposedly fiscally conservative Sinclair is now eager to spend money in his benefactor's ward.

Marietta Resident wrote - Good Job. Finally, something worthy of our tax dollars! I wish the city could spend the entire $25 million parks bond on Franklin Road. This is a great start to some much needed change in that area.

Transportation leader meets with bus drivers ...


Wally B wrote - If everything is so hunky dory, why did it take the attention of the media, as well as a grand jury investigation, before these managers began talking to their employees? They want to downplay this grand jury, obviously, but the facts are that this is a huge black eye for this manager's reputation and he'd better be clean as a whistle or he'll never regain the trust of Cobb's parents.

Anonymous wrote - Asking for help is right. There are good people here. If you want to change rules to allow you to be a slacker, go someplace else. A change in management may be what you are asking for, but remember the old saying, be careful what you ask for, you might get it. And a new person may enforce rules tougher than what you got now!

Pat M. wrote - I do not like to be thought of as Barbara Caldwell's "we." I have a mind of my own and can speak for myself. If she is so unhappy, why doesn't she quit. Obviously the meeting she went to and the meeting I went to were two different ones because the one I went to was very positive.

Asking for Help wrote - I am sad that the director had to personally defend himself to his team. The buses maybe aging, but they are well maintained and safe. If their employees are so unhappy, they are welcome to go be a problem to another company. With unemployment what it is, I bet others would gladly join what sounds like a good job with good benefits and (mostly) good people.

Wheels on the bus wrote - If you've ever worked with this department, you get the feeling that the wheels on the bus will stop going round and round unless management is replaced. This school district needs to be cleared out from the board to the administration, and this department is no exception.

Laura Armstrong column: School board abdicates responsibilities to citizen grand jury ...

Want Proof wrote - Ms. Armstrong, I believe you need to go to work for Star Magazine or another trash magazine that really does not care if you report all the facts, or just the ones that kill the morale of hardworking people.

Anonymous wrote - Pssst, this is God. Remember, I am watching, sometimes at least. Better do better or I will call Santa as well.

Anonymous wrote - "the board could've read some of the detailed posts employees have written on the MDJ blogs" Detailed? Not really. Rambling complaining? Yes. Basing decisions on people's gripes would be letting the inmates run the prison. There are avenues to ask questions, etc. If things are being done unfairly then Superintendent Sanderson needs to answer, but if rules are followed and things happen, so sorry.

More already wrote - The columnist never said she as a "savior" and hardly mentions the drivers, except to call them professional. People have every right to want the answers to whether the buses are safe, and just because one reporter does a little homework (unlike the WSB reporter who never even interviewed anyone about this but put his opinion out there anyway) - that is no reason to attack the messenger. Get a grip. This story has just begun.