Letters to the editor

We are writing to support Christina Aranguren’s letter to the editor published in the Beacon on April 20, 2023.

We urge the Board of Directors of the Mendocino Community Services District (MCCSD) to record, post, and video archive all of its public meetings. There are consequential issues being addressed by the MCCSD, and it is extremely important that the public stay informed and engaged. Attending MCCSD meetings in person is difficult for many ratepayers for many reasons. Many people still have COVID concerns or are unable to attend because they are part-time residents or cannot attend in person because of the inconvenience of the time of these meetings. Video archiving of the meetings would go a long way to keeping interested members of the community informed.

At a time when the MCCSD is embarking on an ambitious upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant and planning to install a large water extraction and storage facility, paid for with a hefty increase in fees from ratepayers, it is crucial for the public to know how these projects are being implemented.

— Ken Flannell and Denise De Luise, Mendocino

Why has legislation against transgender people become such a priority in various state legislatures? What is the threat to them? What is the threat to any of us? Why has this become such a huge issue in red states? Why are so many elected officials so fearful of trans people?

I wonder how many trans people these legislators personally know. Most of us want to live a safe and productive life. Yet repeatedly, we see state legislators work to exclude those they consider “different.” Why are they not focused on the reallife issues their constituents are facing?

This country is gripped by problems such as the realities of climate change, which is impacting people from coast to coast (diminishing water supplies, extreme weather incidents everywhere, environments not able to support communities), lack of affordable housing in both cities and rural areas, unaffordable and/or unavailable healthcare, childcare, and eldercare, crumbling & outdated infrastructure nationwide, and education systems that don’t prepare our kids for the changing world we live in. This is all inherently destructive to everyone, and today’s GOP addresses none of these issues important for everyone.

And yet legislators spend their taxpayer-financed time working to make life harder for people whose lives are already harder than most. Why?