In letters to the editor: Dueling views on ‘white dudes for Harris’ | Opinion

‘White dudes’ rebuttal

“Organizing ‘white dudes’ for Harris - or anyone else: Is that such a great idea?” (sanluisobispo.com, Aug 1, 2024)

David Broadwater’s letter (“White Dudes column so wrong”) about David Mastios’ “White Dudes” column was off the mark. I found the lighthearted humor in the column about the “white dudes for Harris” well put.

Fortunately, David’s letter ends with what we need to do and that is work together to get things done.

As it stands, this constant bickering is resulting in a stalemate in getting anything done in our country. When you vote in November ask and answer yourself one simple question. Do we want an angry, retributive administration or do we want a positive administration that is into getting things done other than name calling?

Fred Raleigh

Templeton

Everyone needs a home

“Gov. Newsom wants cities to remove homeless camps. Will it happen in SLO?” (sanluisobispo.com, July 30)

Do you want to know why homeless encampments become trash heaps, costing millions over time for cleanup? Look in your garage, you have stuff you might need. You and the unhoused aren’t so different. Some of you may lose your housing and end up on the streets also, due to age deterioration, mental illness, addiction... The county’s resources are restrained and sadly under-addressed.

To have no ground zero where you’re welcome, no safe place to “be” and work on your current uncomfortable situation, wanting to institutionalize you in homeless recovery to go from street to housing — housing that hardly exists. The homeless legally now have nowhere to even sleep legally.

Camp San Luis has a large area at O’Connor Way, across from a financially successful paintball field that enjoys a lease with Camp San Luis. Cal Fire has plans for a large training camp to the north. Setting up a well-managed (Kansas Avenue was completely mismanaged) encampment village is the first step to helping the homeless have a home. Not a bad location.

Imagine yourself living without. And then imagine yourself trying to find a path back to normalcy. It’s scary to be on your own, maybe thrown to the wind. The shelters are full already. Many can’t qualify for help.

I urge “us” to develop village concepts on our unused government land to provide homeless victims the option to not have to survive on our community streets when there is a decent and helpful place to be’

L. Owen

Los Osos

SLO needs child tax credit expansion

Recently, Senate Republicans blocked bipartisan legislation that would have expanded child tax credit eligibility for low-income families and cut taxes for working-class families. This issue is of particular concern in California, which ranks 43rd out of 50 in children’s economic well-being.

In California, 15% of children live in poverty and 28% of children’s parents lack stable employment. About 41% of California families with children face burdensome housing costs. Expanding the child tax credit and cutting taxes would have helped these children, but the GOP, supposedly the party of family values and low taxes, blocked the legislation, which had already passed in the House.

JD Vance, the Republican nominee for vice president, has been in the news for criticizing childless women, yet his party is making it harder for children to survive, let alone thrive. Whatever our politics, we need to come together in defense of children and demand better policy for children and families at both the state and federal levels.

McKenna Johnson

Templeton

Finding middle ground

When did we become so divided? I would rather focus on what unites us. As a hospice nurse who helps people at the end of life, I see that we have much more in common than what we have that separates us.

We all will eventually die one day and how we do so is up to us. We can hold on to our differences or we can focus on our mutual concerns and what brings us together. I’d like to shift our perspective to what unites us. We all care about our families and those we love. We all want enough to eat, to have a home, enough money to pay the bills, to have a doctor to help us when we are facing disease, to have loving childcare or elder care when we need it.

As I see it, we all want to live our lives knowing that we did the best we could and somehow, made a difference in this world. Living on the Central Coast, we have it better than the majority of the people on this earth. Let us take time to remember what we have and what we are grateful for no matter who we vote for. We have more that unites us than divides us.

Susan Quinones

San Luis Obispo

Beware of ballot Initiatives

We seem to be presented with more and more initiatives on our election ballots. That is because in California, citizens have the power through the initiative process to directly propose and enact laws, make or change local ordinances and even make amendments to the state Constitution.

Usually individuals or groups resort to the Initiative process to bypass their elected representatives who have not moved on or do not support their issues. Many Initiatives sound fine on the surface, but contain verbiage or legalese that hide the actual motives of their writers. Also, laws often have unintended consequences, just as laws passed by the Legislature often do.

Unfortunately, once an Initiative is voted into law, we pretty much have to live with its consequences — unless another initiative is proposed to modify it. With all this in mind, I think it wise to be very wary of ballot initiatives.

Frank Merrill

Morro Bay