Letters to the Editor 8/24

Support good works

The cost of health care infuriates Joe Tarica. (Tribune, Aug. 20) But wait. There are reasons why that bill for his wife’s emergency room tetanus shot was a real “ouch.”

Joe’s self-reliant wife couldn’t go to her doctor or to an urgent care business because it was late on Sunday. Only a hospital emergency room was available. And it is — 24/7 as that annoying phrase goes. Trained doctors, nurses, lab techs, fancy machinery, always at the ready. The annual cost is laid off against the fraction of walk-ins who are insured or self-insured.

Is the bill in this case inflated? Perhaps; Joe is pursuing that. Joe’s cost would be lower if the total bill was lower. But his share of the cost is the co-pay feature of the health care insurance plan Joe chose.

Then there’s the good works aspect. In the column opposite Joe’s column we learn that Catholic Healthcare West (unaffiliated with the hospital Joe’s wife visited) gave half a million dollars to our county Housing Trust Fund — part of $123 million given to various causes over the past nine years.

Hospitals can’t support good works unless they charge high enough rates to have money to make such gifts. So, Joe, when you’ve got that bill right-sized, pay it in good will — you may be supporting good works.

Jim Talbot

Arroyo Grande

Don’t be next Vallejo

I hope SLO voters read carefully the Associated Press article out of Vallejo that appeared in The Tribune on Aug. 22. Vallejo, the first California city to institute binding arbitration for public safety employees and the first to repeal that provision, is working its way out of the bankruptcy it filed in 2008 because of rising pension and salary costs for police and fire personnel.

Since filing for bankruptcy, Vallejo’s police and fire departments have shrunk by more than 40 percent, three of its eight fire stations have been closed, and city employees, active and retired, have had benefits reduced.

San Luis Obispo could be the next Vallejo! Vote yes on measures A and B and restore fiscal sanity to our city.

Lynn McKibbin

San Luis Obispo

Job requirement?

The Saturday, Aug. 20, paper had a notice from the San Luis Coastal Unified School District seeking applicants for the school board.

The notice is in English and Spanish. I would think being able to speak English would be paramount to the position!

Bill Alberts

Paso Robles

Nothing to stop it

This is a response to Norm Staswick’s Aug. 19 letter.

At one time, three miles of country separated Pismo Beach from Arroyo Grande. Before incorporation, Shell Beach was a separate community. Pismo was contained between the Shell Café to the north, the cement shell and the old bridge to the south.

There were two or three streets of residences on the heights. I object to the relentless sprawl outward when there are weed-filled vacant lots, some a city block in size within the town. Actually, I object to the relentless sprawl for any reason. There is plenty of room for all the people who lived here in 1950.

I don’t imagine there are many left from the original owners. I would guess that most of them sold out long ago to speculators who are now holding onto their properties, waiting for the values to reach heavenly figures.

They won’t clean up their lots or build them until they are forced to do so. Understand, Norm, when the Price Canyon development starts, there is nothing in the way to stop it. It will just spread like a giant cancer.

Wayne Robert

Oceano

Raise those rates!

I read with dismay in your Saturday, Aug. 20, paper that once again California comes off with the second-highest unemployment rate, trailing only Nevada.

I’m very tired of my native state being constantly denigrated by the news media! I call on Jerry Brown and the California Legislature to immediately raise the corporate income tax to the highest rate ever, raise building and permit fees to even more ridiculous levels and force companies with at least one employee to provide 30 days paid vacation, full medical, dental, vision, massage, hats, etc., and lifetime unemployment benefits and/or a full pension if they work at least one full day.

I think these things will ensure that California will certainly bypass Nevada as the state with the highest jobless rate in our great nation. We’re No. 1!

Shelby Rinck

Los Osos