Letters to the Editor 7/15

Enforcement

I just don’t get it. We have these ordinances about noise, cell phones, parking, litter and others. Which ones are enforced?

We will assume that there are fines for violating these ordinances. Hot doggies! There’s a revenue source. It might also send a message to the people violating them.

Or it may be that municipal ordinances are like military ordnance. Costs a lot. Noisy. Doesn’t always work. Hard to operate and maintain. And hard to keep track of.

David Tissue

Atascadero

Economic reality

Pro-tax zealot Jim Mallon is “an imaginative fellow.” He quotes a small-government advocate as a straw man (Letters, July 1). He then claims that unless we allow government to endlessly grow we are shrinking it!

Of course government makes cuts that affect the most vulnerable. Government is a cruel, heartless, manipulative beast and it cuts where it thinks the cuts will generate the most support for more taxes.

Whenever the budget doesn’t balance, instead cut state workers’ and politicians’ pay until it does. A cycle or two of this kind of economic reality would be all it takes to make the politicos do their jobs. Our well-paid state workers can certainly afford the cut more than the folks they are cutting.

Sharliss Ferris

San Luis Obispo

Health care

I would like to reply to Hildy Owen’s July 3 letter on the Medicare myth. She suggested that we ask a Canadian or British senior citizen about single-payer medical insurance. I have had an opportunity to do that many times.

My husband and I have traveled extensively to Britain and Canada.

We have used the health systems in Britain and Switzerland. I have talked with many British and Canadian senior citizens over a period of 36 years.

They have some complaints (no system is perfect), but when I ask them if they would like to change their system for ours, they get a look of horror on their face and reply, “Absolutely not!”

The myth that people come to the USA for surgery has been repeated so many times that people believe it. I was told many times by people in Canada that if they have a life-threatening or emergency situation, they are taken care of right away. Some people do come to the states for elective surgery.

Maggie Fertschneider

Atascadero

Smart growth

I’m afraid Bev Phifer in her letter of July 9 misunderstood the intent of “smart growth” and “senior-friendly communities.” While smart growth and senior-friendly communities do make it easier for new residents to find good locations, the real advantage is for people currently living in these areas.

Smart growth means that we will rebuild our inner cities instead of creating new rural housing projects, develop safe walking and biking areas within our current city limits, and bring offices, medical services and shopping areas within easy walking and travel distances of the residents.

When we do not rebuild our inner cities as they age and we do not build age-friendly cities, we end up paying much more for new roads, more sewers, water supplies, and transportation. We also end up removing services from people remaining in the cities.

Smart growth and aging-friendly communities are critical to all of our families and will clearly limit the need for new expenditures and taxes.

Charles R. Carlson

Los Osos

Missed something?

As I read Patrick Veesart’s June 30 letter on California’s budget, I realized I must have missed something. Mr. Veesart said a recent poll indicates a majority of Californians want to limit spending and raise taxes.

We have all seen that the results of opinion polls are extremely dependent on the way the questions are asked.

However, Californians recently went to the polls and voted — the only “opinion” poll that counts — and we stated we did not want taxes raised.

Our California government is in a very precarious position. It has taxed individuals and businesses for years to provide services, and some of these are highly questionable services, but the taxes had unintended consequences. Our schools do not produce highly educated students, even though we have some of the nation’s highest-paid teachers. Businesses are leaving the state for other more business-friendly locations.

The people voted — telling the politicians to live within available funds. In essence, the people told the politicians to stop borrowing from future citizens, stop raising taxes, and find a way to fit expenditures within currently available revenues!

Jim Vint

Nipomo

Raise our taxes

Are we feeling like Alice in Wonderland yet? Is there any possibility that the president or Congress or the governor or the Legislature might suffer a “rush of brains to the head” and say to themselves or each other we haven’t financed government in the manner that real people would spend money? Is there hope that any of our make-believe leaders could see that only working taxpayers can get us out of the mess that they and their single-minded sponsors have gotten us into?

We need to raise our taxes! Stop the fiscal bleeding. Interest payments on more borrowing will just increase the problem. We cannot save ourselves from drowning by lifting our own hair.

Chuck Meissner

Morro Bay