Letters to the editor: Interfaith Sanctuary, grow up, salmon plan, Micron and surplus

Interfaith Sanctuary

We all recognize the urgent need to provide shelter for the most vulnerable people in our community as rapidly rising housing costs are pushing more of our neighbors into precarious living situations. At this time Interfaith’s proposal is the only viable solution on the table to meet this need. I was deeply disappointed by the recent decision by the planning and zoning commission to deny the proposal. I hope the city council will reconsider the decision when this issue comes before them.

If they are unable to approve the current proposal, it is imperative that we as a community take responsibility and act with urgency to find a solution to meet this need. While it is easy to nitpick the latest proposal, the reality is that any proposal to shelter the most vulnerable homeless population will meet with the same objections from a vocal minority of homeowners. It is unreasonable to push this obligation onto a single organization to face alone. Failure to act urgently will leave far too many people with no safe shelter and lacking access to many vital resources and will erode the quality of life for everyone in our community.

David Barr, Boise

Grow up

A third of you should be ashamed of yourselves.

This is what character, strength, and maturity look like:

“Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.”

That quote is from Al Gore not Donald Trump. The result was a peaceful transition of power in 2000; not a riot, not an insurrection, and not by changing the rules of democracy when it fits your interest.

It takes a man to own up to a loss. Donald Trump isn’t a man but a feeble crying baby, and anyone supporting the “lie” is right there with him.

Perhaps the 33% that still believe the lie can’t personally accept a game where BSU loses. Maybe you are the type that will body slam a coach when your kid gets benched at soccer. That’s the difference between mature people and cry babies.

Grow up and man up 33% of you.

Perry Lea, Nampa

Salmon plan

Congressman Mike Simpson should be re-elected because of his Columbia River restoration proposal, not in spite of it. Simpson’s proposal is good for Idahoans, all Idahoans and all Americans. His proposal not only replaces but upgrades the services provided by the four Lower Snake River dams. It leads to truly clean, renewable energy along with upgraded irrigation and (grain) transportation systems. And of course, his proposal, which hinges on restoration of a free-flowing lower Snake River, puts abundant, sustainable, harvestable salmon, steelhead and lamprey back into our lives. What does this really mean? We need only to look at the outcomes of river restoration (dam removal) initiatives on the Elwha, Kennebec and hundreds of other rivers to realize that, among other things, river restoration means:

- Rebirth and Revitalization of cultures, religions, and traditions

- Long-overdue social justice, especially for Native Americans

- Economic revitalization and sustainability, particularly for river/fish-based communities

- Ecological richness and security – Idaho’s anadromous fish nourish everything from the most diminutive creatures in the Stanley Basin to six-ton Orcas.

So, while Mike Simpson boldly steps forward with a solution-driven vision for better Idaho, our other “leaders” embrace a pathetic status quo and a grim future.

David Cannamela, Boise

Keep Micron

Recent news reports have indicated that one of Idaho’s largest and most important companies/employers, Micron Technologies, has decided to put a design center in Georgia. Now they are looking at other states to build a $40 million factory.

Why would they not consider Idaho? Is it due to the lack of highly educated residents? The poor political environment? Is this the first step to getting Micron out of Idaho entirely?

Has anyone from the governor’s office or the legislature contacted Micron management to find out why this is occurring? It would seem prudent to get ahead of this and see what can be done to get these built in Idaho to bring good wages and employment to Idaho citizens.

In my opinion, this is one of the most important functions of government here in Idaho, to encourage high wages and employment in higher-technology industries. But it seems this is being ignored by our leaders.

Glenn Anders, Meridian

Source of surplus

In his recent state of the state address, Governor Brad Little proudly announced, that for the second year in a row, and that because of his leadership, the state has a $1.9 billion budget surplus. In the same announcement, the governor scolded the federal government for significantly increasing debt levels compared to Idaho’s conservative “kitchen table economics.” Senator Risch and KTVB were quick to rebroadcast the governor’s sentiment.

To anyone that has fully analyzed the budget surplus, this is the result of Idaho not spending nearly $2 billion in federally provided COVID relief funds which is mostly the result of Idaho ranking 45th in the nation for actual COVID impact amidst the federal funds being distributed evenly based on population. Thus the budget surplus has nothing to do with the leadership of the governor where Idaho did nothing different than any other state while simultaneously the source of the surplus is the federal-debt-derived COVID funding that the governor is claiming to be so much morally better than. For the governor to both take credit and then blame is hard-to-forgive, shameless self-promotion.

Derek Leavitt, Melba