Letters to the editor
Ending homelessness price tag
Re “Cost to end homelessness: $8.1 billion a year” (Dec. 20):
The article states “the legislators who set state homeless policy don’t have a clear understanding of where that money is going or how much more is needed.” The number of homeless stated in the article varies but the federal government recently estimated 172,000 people in California experienced homelessness this year. With the above information is it reasonable to spend the taxpayers’ money on this proposal?
The fate of P22
Re “Famous mountain lion euthanized” (Dec. 18):
In many ways P22’s ending days are symbolic of the fate of Los Angeles. With the population growth of the city, we are living our lives with the challenges of urban life, searching for livable space, time spent in transit, and climate change, facing the issues that P22 struggled with in his shrinking environment. There is a lesson for us from P22, we are residents of the larger world and can only exist if we understand our part in it.
Temecula’s Glen Oak High School students protest
Re “Students protest critical race theory ban” (Dec. 17):
Critical Race Theory by its very name it can immediately be shot down from legitimate curriculum. CRT is just that... a theory. It is accepted by some, rejected by others, but regardless of which side of the issue you’re on, children walking out of class making statements such as “teach us the truth” and “we have the right to make change and have our voices heard” demonstrates the woke brain-washing that is going on across the country.
Teach the history of our country based on facts of what happened, not subjective interpretations and future predictions, and when these students reach adulthood perhaps they will have the maturity and background to form their own views. And who knows? If our education system would re-focus on the fundamentals, maybe the California schools system could actually escape the embarrassing depths of being in the bottom ten nationally.
Karen Bass plans for homeless housing
Re “Bass accelerates L.A. housing plan” (Dec. 17):
Let’s see how the new mayor can get financing for the tens of thousands of homeless people.
The last time Los Angeles approved a measure to do that, they were building $700,000 homes for the homeless. What a joke that was. Hopefully she can do it one town at a time and see how productive it works. San Pedro would be a great place to start as the new waterfront needs to be clean,safe to attract visitors from out of town.
Rent control is a terrible policy
Santa Ana has rent control and will soon have a new seven-member board to handle disputes between renters and landlords.
I can think of nothing more designed to increase rents and destroy the rental market.
“In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city – except for bombing,” wrote Assar Lindbeck, a Swedish economist.
When the costs of being a landlord outweigh the rents they’re allowed to charge, bad things happen.
The first thing to go when money gets tight are building maintenance and services. Rentals then rapidly turn into decaying slums and the renters are even worse off. Santa Ana should just let the free market decide rental rates and not try to become a benevolent Big Brother to renters. They’ll just make things worse.
Editorial board’s anti-government stance
I’ve come to the impression that the editorial board thinks that no federal government is good government.
One wonders, indeed, what they think the acceptable activities of the federal (or for that matter, state) government are?
All they do is rail against any and all rules that might make someone do something they don’t want to do.