Letters to the Editor 7/20 | San Luis Obispo Tribune

Who are the greedy?

According to MSNBC, 57 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax. The top 1 percent of earners pays nearly 40 percent of all federal income taxes (more than the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers combined, despite earning only about 20 percent of total income).

Now, those who pay no taxes cry that these who pay 40 percent of the taxes are greedy and should pay more?

Who are the greedy? Are not the ones getting the free ride the greedy?

If families have maxed out their credit cards and are in danger of losing their homes because they cannot make payments, should they berate the credit companies? On the other hand, should the father go to his employer and call him greedy and demand more pay? In fact, if he got more money, would this family reduce their spending? You know the answer. So, why do we allow the government to do just that?

Sophia Schwan

Arroyo Grande

Support for energy

Congratulations to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors for its courage and foresight in approving First Solar’s 550 megawatt solar farm. Together with the SunPower project, 800 megawatts of renewable energy will be generated — nearly the equivalent of a nuclear reactor.

Several hundred jobs will be created, the environmental impact will be positive — not negative — and our county will show the nation that solar energy can be an economically viable alternative to fossil fuel electrical generation.

It will also demonstrate how to keep our nation economically competitive with the rest of the world, as it deals with the very real threat of global warming.

I hope our congressional representatives will take note and support further Department of Energy initiatives.

Ray Weymann

Atascadero

Heart of trouble

Unbelievable — Roger Briggs’ Viewpoint (“All farmers should be aiding clean water,” July 10) — the executive officer of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB) using tactics from Activism 101: indirectly implicating all farmers for polluting your water, in the hope folks from the city will lose sight of the fact that most farmers aren’t part of the problem.

He repeats three times that everyone has the right to clean water — how can anyone not agree — without a mention that the vast majority of San Luis Obispo County citizens already enjoy high-quality water. Real problems reside in Monterey and Santa Barbara counties. And this goes to the heart of the trouble with the CCRWQCB’s approach. When Briggs concludes, “It’s time to make sure all farmers are doing their part,” he underlines, but understates their approach; an approach that will take thousands of dollars out of the pockets of each and every farmer and further seals the death grip regulation has on small farming.

As an afterthought, if Mr. Briggs is so inclined, perhaps we could mull things over on a round of golf. It seems to help the president and John Boehner.

Mike Broadhurst

Cambria

Unethical editorial

In response to The Tribune’s editorial published July 13, shame on you. Taking Erik Baskin’s comments out of context and manipulating them to engineer sensational reporting is unethical.

Earlier this year, The Tribune published the salaries of city workers, which led the public to believe that the salaries published were gained by union bargaining; however, the highest paid workers listed were not unionized employees. Police chiefs and fire chiefs constituted the highest paid public workers whose salaries were not gained by union bargaining.

The problem with our city’s financial shortfalls will not be solved by rescinding binding arbitration. SLO firefighters have never used binding arbitration. SLO police have used it once. Perhaps the biggest financial dilemma our city faces is with the salaries of the administrators that run our fair city.

Vickie Bryant

San Luis Obispo

Praise for mayor

We love our mayor! What other mayor in the USA would:

Borrow a tractor and disc the fields of the Barney Schwartz Park in 106 temperatures for two days so Paso Robles residents could enjoy fireworks?

What other mayor in the USA would help our committee with additional pledges to make sure we would have enough money to pay our bills for the 2011 Firework Show?

What other mayor in the USA would show up at the park on the Fourth of July to help set up at 7 a.m. for our Independence Day celebration and volunteer in the parking lot all day long, from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.?

What other mayor in the USA would attend our fireworks meetings each week and provide his valuable insight on previous Paso Robles fireworks issues and concerns?

The answer is easy. There are no other mayors who could compete for the title of “Best Mayor in the U.S.A.”

That title belongs to Duane Picanco!

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your support and dedication to the Paso Robles Fireworks Show of 2011.

Sally Reynolds

On behalf of 2011 Fireworks Committee