In praise of bike lanes and beautiful murals

Editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bike Lodi and the Lodi City Council for working together to help create the new bike lanes on Church Street (between Lodi Avenue and Lockeford Street).

This has made the ride into downtown Lodi much safer and enjoyable. Bike riders and cars can now share the space and the businesses along Church Street still have parking. Thank you.

I would also like to thank Pacific Coast Growers for the absolutely gorgeous mural they had painted on the side of their warehouse at Tokay Street and Stockton Street. If you haven’t been by, please take the opportunity to do so. The graphics remind me of the old fruit boxes used in the past. It is stunning!

Again, thanks to Bike Lodi, Lodi City Council and Pacific Coast Growers for helping to make Lodi more ‘liveable and loveable.’

JULIE GIOMETTI-WAHL

Lodi

What happened to that huge surplus?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I could swear I read, fairly recently in the Lodi News, that Gov. Newsom was proclaiming what a wonderful financial position California was in. We had a huge surplus, and the economy was roaring back, all due to his leadership.

Yet I now read, in this same paper a short time later (July 31-Aug. 2), that our governor is now begging the feds for money to put “boots on the ground” to fight our wildfires. According to the article, Biden was told by Newsom that “the state’s resources are already stretched thin months before the peak of the wildfire season.”

Help me understand: If we have a huge surplus and are in good shape financially, why are we now stretched thin"? We do not have the money to fight fires, yet there is money for homeless, illegals’ benefits, bullet trains, twin tunnels, etc.?

The budget is ultimately the responsibility of the governor. “The buck stops there.” Perhaps this is one of many reasons (French Laundry, anyone?) why there is a growing demand for a recall election.

SHARON KIRKPATRICK

Lodi

Remove the filibuster

Editor: There’s so much being written about the filibuster these days, but in all the articles I read I feel like this important point gets lost: The filibuster isn’t mentioned in our Constitution. Not even one time.

Despite what some in the Senate might imply, the filibuster is just a procedural measure that can be changed at any point, like when Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump put Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.

That’s why it’s so ridiculous that the filibuster still stands in the way of almost every single progressive priority on Democrats’ docket. The Biden-Harris administration clearly has their eye on passing necessary reforms, like comprehensive climate legislation and raising the minimum wage, but the threat of the filibuster continues to throw the future of their legislative agenda into question.

Luckily it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m putting my faith in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster as soon as possible. We can’t let a minority of senators continue to block the progress a majority of Americans voted for.

BARBARA BAILEY

Stockton

Don’t make the homeless comfortable with homelessness

Editor: In response to the May 14 article, “Lodi secures $2.8 million in county funds for homeless access center,” there are three sites considered.

I agree with downtown businesses who are opposed to the site on Sacramento Street. The city of Napa spent millions to revitalize its downtown which included moving its homeless shelter far away from downtown or residential areas. In Daytona Beach, Fla., they have their homeless shelter not near the beach, downtown or residential areas.

The city of Lodi spent millions to create another Napa. Downtown Lodi is a tourist destination spot. Is it wise to put it on Sacramento Street? No. Salas Park is used by kids. There are homeless who live in RVs or in their cars at the Salas Park area. It’s close to residential homes.

By the way, Newsom released over 30,000 prisoners in 2020. There are 70,000 more to be early released in 2021/22. Our San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Salazar Verber is not prosecuting crimes committed by homeless.

I question the vote by Supervisor Chuck Winn against the $6.5 million allocation for a Stockton low-barrier center. Has anyone been to downtown Stockton and looked at Mormon Slough/freeways? San Joaquin County has a humanitarian crisis. It makes the USA look like a third world nation.

That 300-bed shelter in Stockton would have been near St. Mary’s kitchen. It’s a pure disgrace from Supervisor Winn. Winn voted for funds to the Lodi access center, but not Stockton?

I hope the vote is reconsidered in the near future. I thank Supervisor Tom Patti for his strong leadership on the access centers. The focus should be on drug/alcohol rehabilitation. The USA has an out of control drug/alcohol addiction problem that causes homelessness.

The access center should not be a place to enable homeless to be comfortable as ‘homeless’.

ALEX ALIFERIS

Lodi

Letters invited

The Lodi News-Sentinel welcomes opinions from its readers. Letters must be signed and include the writer’s address and phone number for internal verification purposes. All letters are subject to editing. Letters from local readers dealing with local issues are given priority. Letters from outside the local area are published at the editor’s discretion. Letters longer than 350 words will be cut to fit or returned to their writers. There is a holding period of 30 days between publication of letters by the same person unless no other letters are queued. Send letters to P.O. Box 1360, Lodi, CA 95241-1360; or email to letters@lodinews.com.