Hey Shredder: There's no racism in Mads world 

Please look in the mirror: It's you that has the problem. I admit I don't know you, but if I had to guess, my bet would be that you didn't vote for Romney or McCain (OK, perhaps you were too young to vote for McCain) in recent presidential elections. In any case your argument in the April 14 column, "Mads world," reeks of leftism, and to me that's a group that sees racism anywhere and everywhere. Of course, so many of you lefties still live in your parents' basement (oops ... that's an East Coast tradition) that you have no idea what it feels like to save for years so you can invest half a million dollars in a nice home only to learn that seven homes nearby will soon house 112 foreigners.

Forget about whether they're Mexican, Russian, or Vietnamese, or just imagine if they were Cal Poly students or even 112 members of Donald Trump's extended family. It wouldn't make any difference. It's going to have a significant, negative impact on quality of life in the neighborhood (you should care about quality of life) and the value of every home.

Once established, if a neighbor wanted to leave they probably couldn't without financial ruin. The way I see it is Donna and Greg France had a bad idea and should have checked with the neighbors before moving forward. Had they done so, they would have avoided all the turmoil and criminal response. No racism here, just a bad business decision.

-- Gary Wechter - Arroyo Grande