Sacramento DA’s lawsuit diverts critical resources from homeless population’s basic needs | Opinion
A mere distraction
“Sac DA’s homelessness lawsuit against city must be dismissed,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 29)
The League of Women Voters of Sacramento County supports actions to reduce and eliminate homelessness. We advocate for programs and policies to meet the basic human needs of those experiencing homelessness and support the decriminalization of homelessness.
We agree with UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky that Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho’s lawsuit merely describes a problem that the city of Sacramento has long sought to resolve without specifying a remedy the court could provide.
Although no solutions will emerge from it, Ho’s lawsuit diverts resources from the city’s efforts to meet the basic human needs of its homeless population and distracts from progress toward real solutions.
Paula Lee
President, LWVSC
Complicity
“Sacramento Jewish, Muslim leaders denounce Hamas, Netanyahu,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 21)
I cannot believe I am still witnessing the genocide of Palestinian civilians in the Israel-Hamas war being aided and abetted by our country.. Not only is the U.S. giving taxpayer funds to Israel to carry out this genocide, it is also providing bombs and other instruments of war to Israel. Nothing can be more immoral.
As Palestinian Christian theologian Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac said in a sermon he delivered on Christmas Day in Bethlehem, “Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world.”
“If you fail to call this a genocide … it is a sin and darkness you willingly embrace,” Isaac said, calling out Western governments and decrying the complicity of the church.
Larry Dorshkind
Redwood City
Opinion
Suburban sprawl
“New homes, hospital complex planned near Folsom CA,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 27)
Another 8,000 houses are being planned for Sacramento and El Dorado counties under the guise of building a Community for Health and Independence where the elderly can live in their houses longer and be close to medical care. This is a warm and fuzzy idea, but how many of the 8,000 houses will be dedicated to the elderly in reality? As the article pointed out, the 8,000 will consist of market housing, middle- and low-income worker housing and apartments. What actual percentage of these houses will be one-story, built for the disabled close to the medical center?
This looks like a continuation of suburban sprawl across two counties — a unique feature from past developments, adding to the already out of control growth of south Folsom, replacing rolling hills with rows and rows of production housing.
Roger Allan Bailey
El Dorado Hills
Seeking replacement
“Sacramentans demand Rep. Doris Matsui call for ceasefire in Gaza. Will she listen? | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Nov. 21)
Rep. Doris Matsui is nowhere to be found. I submit that we need another representative that can focus on California rather than what I see as someone who has forgotten what she needs to be accountable for. Is there someone else from either party who can be available to us?
Ginger Barr
Sacramento
What’s at stake
“Bid to remove Trump from ballot fizzles in California,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 31)
Chris Christie and Gov. Gavin Newsom both say Donald Trump must not be kicked off the ballot because, apparently, voting is the only way to prevent someone from office-holding in America. This betrays an extreme ignorance of law and history.
We have a system of civil and criminal justice whereby offenders can lose the civil right to move about and keep up their predatory behavior. Bad actors are not welcome at polling places in a democracy.
If we go with the idea that Trump must be allowed on the ballot, we are opening up his pathway to a perpetual monarchy, which holds that the king can do no wrong. That’s our choice, folks. Rule by one person, or rule by everyone else. Allowing Trump on the ballot takes a giant step toward disqualifying 330 million people from the ballot in America.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
