YOUR VIEWS

Fund education

Re “Virginia Beach proposes $2.6 billion operating budget with real estate tax break, funding for Rudee Loop park” (March 19): What could possibly cost $60 million for a public park with block after block of ocean and sand? Those were my first thoughts when reading about the proposed Virginia Beach budget to be approved in May. Talk about shocking. The number of residences who participated in the survey: 4,269. According to reported data, 71% of those responding indicated that they wanted green or open space at Rudee Loop. An even greater number, 83%, indicated that they did not think hotels or resorts belong in that location.

Let me think on this for a moment and try to justify this expenditure based upon roughly 1% of our population of about 450,000. I had no idea that so few people could hold sway for such an outlay of public dollars.

With some high schools in sad need of repair or replacement, with teachers always needing a well-deserved boost in pay and with the School Board tightening the budget because of an expected reduction in funds, apparently all that is needed is to convince City Council that fewer than 5,000 people think there should be enough money allotted to the School Board for infrastructure and salaries, and poof. Construction can begin right now. Our teachers can come closer to a living wage. That’s a relief.

I don’t want to think that a public park is more important than money for education. Perhaps when the schools are eventually built, they, too, can have a park. Yeah, that’s it.

— Ginny Diezel, Virginia Beach

Oyster progress

Re “New report shows oyster restoration progress worth celebrating” (Our Views, March 11) and “‘Oyster renaissance:’ 6 billion oysters have been added to the Chesapeake Bay, alliance reports” (March 14): The editorial and article explained how valuable oysters are to the health of our local rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

The Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach is one of the 11 Virginia and Maryland tributaries recognized in the pieces as keys to a healthy bay. For more than 20 years, Lynnhaven River NOW has been working to bring back our famed Lynnhaven oysters to the river. When we began our work, only 1% of the river was clean enough to harvest oysters. Today 50% of the river is open to oystering, in part because we have 126 acres of thriving protected oyster reefs. The goal to support a fully healthy native oyster population in the Lynnhaven River is 152 acres of sanctuary reef.

These oyster reefs also are standing strong and protecting our wetlands and shorelines from erosion as waters rise with climate change. The Lynnhaven

River’s thriving oyster population and those in other rivers are not only the key to a healthy Chesapeake Bay, but they also create healthy waterways for both humans and marine life here at home.

— Karen W. Forget, executive director, Lynnhaven River NOW, Virginia Beach

Campaign finance?

Re “Virginia General Assembly adjourns after passing 2-year state budget proposal” (March 9): The article reports that the General Assembly sent more than 1,000 bills to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his signature, amendment or veto.

Missing from this General Assembly’s gurgitation was any mention of campaign finance reform. This number of bills evokes a quotation from Publius Cornelius Tacitus, widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians, “The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the state.”

— Norm Carrick, Virginia Beach

Election needed

As many have said, it is wrong to meddle into matters internal to another country, especially properly elected officials. But are there other, even worse, wrong actions? What about an elected official and his followers damaging international shipping or committing genocide in another land, concealing reality with proper sounding but mendacious statements? Or what about an elected official whose actions increase hate levels against his own country and threaten a large escalation of war? Or what about an elected official who openly defies the International Court of Justice? Is it then appropriate to say nothing? Is silence a greater wrong?

Should the Israelis who clamor for a new election be ignored? Is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a credit to his country and to Jews everywhere? Has he decreased antisemitism in the world?

Some of us remember that Adolf Hitler became chancellor through democratic means and brought the upheaval of not just Germany but the entire world. Russian President Vladimir Putin, outwardly “elected,” likewise has brought a great amount of suffering and destruction — again with lies to mask the truth. And now we have Netanyahu, who with his supporters and the obedient military, has created a great deal of suffering and destruction — including 31,000 deaths (and counting).

If new elections in Israel were held, many Middle East problems would immediately disappear. Famine in Gaza would end, threats of wider war would disappear, the Houthis would cease to attack shipping, many countries would be spared from trying to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the United States would not need to construct a pier, etc.

— Richard Dunn, Williamsburg