“Wake up, lefties!” So begins Gary Wechter’s Nov. 2 op-ed, “The affordable housing myth.” No matter what merit his op-ed has, his derogatory exclamation poisons his whole argument and negates any civility. With that beginning phrase, Mr. Wechter sets an acrid tone of derision for his neighbors that he labels as lefties. He states, “We know that most residents in SLO city are lefties.”
Really?
I’m old enough to remember the nightmare of McCarthyism when the term “lefty” was stamped on anyone with progressive views and strongly intimated that he or she was a Communist or at least a communist sympathizer-aka “pinko.”
Mr. Wechter now broadens his lefty labeling to include anyone who wants to preserve to beauty of the Central Coast and the quality of their lives. The hard-working, mostly middle-class folks that he labels as lefties, consist of a broad spectrum of political and social views—conservative to liberal and even some Trump supporters. Mr. Wechter wants to give developers free reign to turn the Central Coast into another Los Angeles to San Diego conurbation of nightmare traffic, a myriad of pollution and the destruction of natural beauty.
Charles Ewing
Bradley
This article appears in Nov 9-19, 2017.
Developers currently have a free reign to build all the mini-mansions they want. Charles’ viewpoint is what made LA like it is. Refusing to build affordable housing for the working folks close to jobs created the sprawl and the traffic mess.
We have done the same thing here in the name of “keeping it like it was” .
If we add jobs we must also add housing. Currently our local economy operates by exploiting every working family with abhorrent rents and housing prices. Paying 1/2 to 2/3 of you income is the result of policies that Charles Ewing and his supporters approve of……….yet………….One mile off 101 and you will find all the natural beauty there is. Looking for your natural beauty and open space in the areas we need housing is wrong and a tool used by the wealthy ” haves” to preserve and enhance their property values and to keep the “others” that are not as wealthy OUT.
FAIR housing policies for all, not just the existing property owners.