Is The Washington Post really a world class newspaper determined to inform their readers?
The Letters to the Editor doesn't seem to reflect the actualities of the situation. The Post just doesn't inform it's readers.
The basics of the situation are:
- National Arboretum management lost sponsorships that supported 2 gardener positions in an area OTHER than the azalea collection.
- Management failed to find replacement support.
- So, to make up for their mismanagement, lack of fundraising, etc. management seeks to compensate by literally cutting back on an area that DOES seem to have support.
This a metaphor for how the Post and the government seem to address management issues. Management is doing everything correctly, even when they can't find the weapons of mass destruction. Even when they can't save anyone's house from foreclosure, even when the banks floated fraudulent paper on the street, and when nobody cares whether one party in this democracy tells the truth.
At a minimum Arboretum management should be answering the following questions:
- Why did you lose the sponsorships? How?
- How long have you known these sponsorships were lost? When did you inform staff?
- What alternate plans did you consider?
- Why haven't you found other support?
- Why did you choose one of the oldest and most popular collections to cut back on?
- Will the conversion of azalea plantings to meadows really save money?
- How will it save money? Will the meadows be unmowed and otherwise neglected?
Like I said these are minimum questions that the Washington Post should be asking, and the Arboretum management should be answering.