Thankful for quality health care

Editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Rolando Simeon and all the staff at Lodi Wound Care (Adventist Health). You guys are miracle workers.

It was a long road ahead of me week after week, month after month, but it was all worth it. Thank you for your time, effort, hard work, professionalism, and excellent care and treatment that I received.

I can’t say enough. You are 10Star and The Bomb. Thank you for everything you do.

DEBRA WARNE

Burson

Lights need replaced

Editor: Street lights in the older areas of the city are a thing of the past with no hope for anything different.

My case in point is the lamp post in front of my property on West Walnut by Lodi High. I bought the property in 2005 and the old lamp post was extremely rusty and looking hazardous in the face of the winds we have. I have discussed it with three different directors or managers of the lighting district and I have been told that they didn't have any money to replace the light pole as they had to spend it on all the new homes being built.

That has been 17 years now and It might be possible to stick an object through the skin of the pole it is so rusty. The commercial properties on the street pay our taxes but receive no consideration from the very important city directors as they light the new homes being built. Go by 1330 W. Walnut and see a pole put in when the home was built in 1943.

SCOTT W ANDERSON

Lodi

Better use of money than tent housing

Editor: So, the million-dollar idea is to take 50 people out of the tents they currently live in and put them into different tents? One million dollars is a lot of money, especially when you consider spending it on tents and services for only 50 people. My first question is how could the cost be that much?

A better idea than this crappy band-aid of a temporary tent shelter idea would be to take a page out of Richmond Mayor Tom Butt’s book. Instead of spending the $1.3 million allocated to Inner City Action and the Salvation Army to put 50 people in tents in a warehouse, the city could house twice as many people leasing actual apartments at $1,000/month for one year. Individuals could use that year to find work, take classes, attend workshops, do whatever they needed to do while re-adjusting to normal life and could have the option to take over the lease at the end of the year.

The community would benefit in several ways, such as eliminating the impact a temporary shelter site could have on surrounding neighborhoods and providing local property owners with guaranteed income from their rental properties.

Obviously, it is not as simple as merely writing rent checks. For one thing, we are still only talking about providing services for a select few, a very small number of those in need, and I haven’t even addressed basic questions associated with eligibility, participation requirements, administration, etc. I am simply presenting an idea that could become a solution.

My point is there are better ways to help homeless people (like me) who need and want help, but I think we all can probably agree that more tents are simply not the answer.

KELLY COSTAIN

French Camp

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 letters@lodinews.com.