Mercury News Letters to the Editor for Aug. 11, 2024
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Re: “Group homes going unregulated” (Page A1, Aug. 4).
I have lived the private hell of group homes in Santa Clara County for the last 15 years trying to keep my 35-year-old, schizo-affective, bipolar disabled son off the streets.
What it all comes down to is that there have been no government facilities for mentally ill disabled adults since Agnews Developmental Center closed its doors in the 1990s. Here are the choices: jail, prison, street or unlicensed group home (if you are lucky enough to find one).
Hospitals and emergency psychiatric services have a “catch and release” operation. Stays are usually three days or less before the patient is sent to a homeless shelter. The homeless shelters do not work for schizophrenic and bipolar people who have paranoid minds. They need a stable home and gentle caregivers to keep them stable.
Cindy Webenbauer
Morgan Hill
Re: “Vote against rent, retribution ballot initiatives” (Page A8, Aug. 4).
Your editorial notes that the legislative analyst has said, “Rent is high in California because there is not enough housing for everyone who wants to live here.” While I fully support your vote-no recommendation, I do not agree with the legislative analyst’s premise.
Rents are high in California because property owners can charge what the market will bear, much more than they need to make a reasonable profit. If property owners charged only enough to cover their costs and make a fair profit (maybe 9%) but not set the rate at whatever the market will bear, rents would be significantly lower, and we wouldn’t be talking about rent control.
But there would still be a shortage of housing and the need to develop a sustainable process for adding new housing. Providing incentives to property owners and builders is the key. How about the state guaranteeing low-interest (say 2%) loans for development?
Richard Gertman
San Jose
Re: “New teaching credential program offered” (Page B1, Aug. 3).
While a new PK-3 credential program at San Jose State will address the shortage of teachers of critical early education for 400,000 children in our state, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 poses a challenge to this need.
Project 2025 would close the U.S. Department of Education and eliminate preschool and Head Start programs, thus making the PK-3 credential totally unnecessary.
That would be a grave loss to the children of our nation.
Rosemary Everett
Campbell
Re: “Biden drags the high court into politics before election” (Page A9, Aug. 4).
Nolan Finley’s opinion piece on Joe Biden’s proposed changes to the Supreme Court is wrong in many ways.
He writes that Biden is being political for calling for reforms, but it was the Supreme Court’s politicized actions that drove the need for reforms in the first place. They overturned established law (Roe v. Wade, weakened voting rights and the Environmental Protection Agency).
He seems to agree with Biden on the need for a code of ethics in government and that granting presidential immunity is wrong, but then waves it off as too arduous to change. I would rather have a president who proposes changes to address major flaws than one who does nothing.
Finley’s solution to the Supreme Court is to win the presidency, but how well did that work for President Barack Obama when Sen. Mitch McConnell blocked the Merrick Garland nomination? Yes, let’s keep politics out of the Supreme Court.
Tom Calderwood
Los Gatos
In the 1960s, the average person could own a home, send kids to college, save for retirement, take a vacation and afford health care. Now the average person can’t afford these things.
Decades of Republican legislation have moved money from the working class to the wealthy class, starting with the Reagan administration. Some examples are union-busting, moving jobs overseas, stock price manipulation and massive tax cuts for the wealthy.
The rich and corporations said they would use their tax windfalls to grow the economy and create jobs. They did neither. They hoarded the money or spent it on yachts. The economy is strongest when people earn a decent wage and spend it. That creates jobs.
Financial stability is a human right. Vote blue to rebuild our middle class.
Martha Laubaugh
Sacramento
