\u2018No one gave me anything\u2019: Disagrees with housing op-ed<\/p>\n
Steve Pleich (\u201cHousing is a human right\u201d \u2013 Guest Commentary, June 18) is a personal friend and I\u2019ve always supported him and his missions; I have trouble with \u201cmust be given\u201d (housing).<\/p>\n
I can only speak from my personal experience. I transitioned from a \u201crenter\u201d to \u201chomeowner\u201d at age 55, after 19 years of hard work in the building trades. I made my purchase with a \u201cfirst\u201d (mortgage) of 8% and a second at 10%. No one gave me anything.<\/p>\n
Granted not everyone can reproduce my path, but if \u201cwe as a community\u201d are going to \u201cgive\u201d it should be all inclusive: housing, health care and the right to be free from hunger.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Lee Brokaw, Santa Cruz<\/p>\n
Op-ed claim of housing as a human right? \u2018Nonsense\u2019<\/p>\n
The Guest Commentary of June 18 claims that housing is a human right.<\/p>\n
That is nonsense.<\/p>\n
A human right is inalienable and non-rivalrous. A right such as free speech imposes no obligation on someone else, so may be enjoyed by anyone without reducing anyone else\u2019s enjoyment of the same.<\/p>\n
A claim to housing requires others to provide goods or services. This is not a right but a political wish.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Tom Pennello, Santa Cruz<\/p>\n
Santa Cruz filled with \u2018no character\u2019 housing projects<\/p>\n
On a recent trip to Park City, Utah, I was met with a city full of breathtaking views, a quaint downtown and grand architecture. How sad to come home to Santa Cruz where new high-rise buildings have taken over our lovely town! What used to be a happy and funky beach town has now been filled with New York projects-style housing with no character. All of these buildings cast giant shadows on the downtown and neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
While I support housing for all and understand the politics involved, I ask the question: Why didn\u2019t the city government demand building architecture that blends with the character of our city? Santa Cruz had an opportunity to provide housing for all reflecting the natural beauty and heritage of our town. Instead, they bowed to pressure and put up unattractive and invasive buildings.<\/p>\n
As always, \u201cit is always about the money!\u201d Shame on the city government for allowing this to happen.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Joy Parker, Santa Cruz<\/p>\n
Letter writer chose to make tragedy a political point<\/p>\n
A life was tragically cut short in a hit-and-run accident next to the Santa Cruz Town Clock. The person had friends and family who are still grieving their loss less than three weeks later.<\/p>\n
A letter write shamefully chose to leverage this fatality to make a political point in her June 16 Letter to the Editor \u201cTragic hit-and-run and Chen Mills\u2019 anti-Flock advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The writer blames Ami Chen Mills\u2019 privacy advocacy against Flock license plate reader cameras, saying: \u201cour police were denied a critical tool to identify the driver who killed our neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flock requires a license plate number to look up. Per Santa Cruz Police Department scanner traffic, the license plate of the suspect vehicle was unknown. The writer is wrong that Flock could have helped find the suspect. And the suspect was arrested by the Santa Cruz police the same day, without using Flock.<\/p>\n
The writer owes the victim\u2019s family and Ami Chen Mills an apology for her reprehensible and deceptive smear.<\/p>\n
\u2013 David Moore, Santa Cruz<\/p>\n
Why 2022 Measure D vote was not a \u2018mandate\u2019<\/p>\n
Over the past many, many months we\u2019ve read multiple letters written by members of the FORT alliance proclaiming that the \u201cmajority\u201d of Santa Cruz voters \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d voted down Measure D in 2022 and consequently are opposed to the RTC\u2019s proposed Interim Trail. I believe the term mandate may have also been used in one letter.<\/p>\n
I find this confusing as, irrespective of \u201cwants\u201d or \u201cdesires,\u201d the simple facts are available for all to view (Santa Cruz County election website):<\/p>\n
\u2022 Total Registered Voters in 2022 =167,659 Total Measure D Votes = 78,902(= 47% of all registered voters)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Total NO Votes = 56,390 (= 33.6% of all registered voters).<\/p>\n
Yes, for those who chose to vote, the majority voted against Measure D. However, less than 50% of all registered voters actually cast a vote on Measure D and, most importantly, those who voted \u201cNO\u201d on this measure accounted for less than 34% of all registered voters.
Does 34% represent a \u201cmajority\u201d or \u201cmandate\u201d or an \u201coverwhelming\u201d representation? I think not.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Marc B. Yellin, Capitola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018No one gave me anything\u2019: Disagrees with housing op-ed Steve Pleich (\u201cHousing is a human right\u201d \u2013 Guest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,181,1564,975,3234],"class_list":["post-369565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-letters-to-the-editor","tag-opinion","tag-santa-cruz-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}