Letters 

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You're a moron for standing up for developers
Jason Setser's rant ("Developers don't deserve demonization," Aug. 10) about what nice guys developers are alleges: "Developers don't write the laws we do." Say what?

Has Setser never heard of Dalidio Ranch? This sneaky attempt to get SLO County's biggest megamall approved by voters is 100 percent developer-written law which:

- exempts DR from zoning laws.

- exempts DR from planning laws.

- exempts DR from environmental laws.

- exempts DR from mitigating its impacts (like gridlock traffic on 101).

- exempts DR from paying its fair share of costs it imposes on us, the local residents, and our local governments.

- establishes a terrible precedent, which opens every privately owned square inch of SLO County to similar developer-legislated attacks.

Dalidio Ranch is driven by the cortex of greed, the lobe of selfishness, the hemisphere of indifference, the globus of narcissism, and the glandus of testosterone, while Setser's article emanates from the hemisphere of vacuity. Some future advice for him: Know what you're talking about lest you appear a blustery fool in print.

George Jones
San Luis Obispo

 

Thanks for standing up for developers
I really appreciated Jason Setser's Aug. 10 column on developers ("Developers don't deserve demonization"). I am not a developer, but we work for developers and industry. I appreciate someone else standing up and saying "Hey, we are just like everyone else and what we do is valuable to society." I've also sat in plenty of meetings where people claimed that all that companies care about is profits, then in the same testimony opined that the development would hurt their property values. Hmmm!

Thanks, Jason. Maybe next time you can write about how when people talk about no growth, they are talking about renters like you and me not being able to buy a house.

Carolyn Casavan
Ventura

 

 

SLO city blew its chance
In response to the letter written by Ms. Seigel ("Dalidio vote is wrong," Aug. 10): If memory serves me correctly, I seem to recall a project that got started years ago. The property owner took a plan to the county for approval. Then, because it impacted the city so much, it was referred to the city and its planning people and elected council. After years of negotiations, the city and the property owner agreed on a plan that included the construction of a bridge. At that point, the elected representatives on the city council approved the project. What happened to that project? What was it called? Oh! I remember: Dalidio.

What happened was that a vocal minority, quietly funded by downtown real-estate interest, convinced enough people that they would be losing "valuable" agricultural land and that all this open space should be left alone. They got it on the ballot and overturned what the elected officials approved without "spin." Meanwhile, the other guy who owns a big chunk of that "valuable" agricultural land kicked down $20 grand to the vocal group, who then got reaaalll quiet.

Today, you can drive past and see that large chunk of "valuable" ag land being paved over for car sales lots. No complaints from downtown real-estate people. As a county resident who works and shops in SLO almost every day and as a proponent (within reason) of property owners' rights, I look forward to voting for this project and the businesses it will bring. As for the traffic, yes it will get a bit worse. But the citizens of SLO had their chance to get that bridge and blew it. Perhaps the added congestion will finally make it critical enough to get the bridge built or the LOVR overpass improved sooner.

Hans Drexler
Atascadero

 

 

Shred someone who deserves to be shredded
Thanks for advertising our film gatherings in your last week's Shredder ("I don't need no education," Aug. 10). And thanks for letting people know about HopeDance's local listserv (just go to www.HopeDance.org and sign in) that gave you the mini report on the dismal attendance at a recent film festival. I thought it interesting that of all the local e-mails that the HD local listserv posts, you decided to harp on that report. To use the word "bust" in quotes, implying that it was my term, is untrue. If you read the e-mail, I used the word "flop." But, then again, "bust" is presumably sexier, and I gather you were trying to connect it with the word "exposing" as in the Exposing Consensus Reality Film Festival. Why?

If you really wanted to include sex in your shredding, you could have included a necessary shredding of Brian Reynolds, the head of the SLO County Library Department, who sent out a directive to all the librarians in the county informing them to dump all the copies of HopeDance's current issue on sexuality (That's almost a thousand copies! Not to mention it's against the First Amendment!) because of a few nude paintings/drawings (hopedance.org/new/issues/57/index.html). Or you could have reported on the standing-room only (135 plus) audience that attended the panel/film discussion on electric transportation to coincide with the two-week screening of Who Killed the Electric Car? at the Palm. Or you could have shredded us for posting award-winning war journalist Robert Fisk's reports from his hometown of Beirut on Israel's brutal invasion of southern Lebanon (news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/). Or you could have reported on the growing number of people in Santa Barbara interested in impeaching Bush (www.justiceforbush.com). Or shredded us on reporting on the new documentaries at the HopeDance Film Library at the Novel Experience, especially the ones investigating the lies and distortions of the 9/11 Commission, including CSPAN's coverage of the LA 9/11 Truth Conference (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_+_The_Neo-Con_Agenda_Symposium).

With so much crisis and urgency in the world, you'd think your group of shredders over at New Times would start shredding the people who deserve to be shredded, like the ones who are shredding our Constitution and dropping bombs on innocent civilians and insisting on a paradigm that is totally broken. And if you are going to shred, you must also back up the shreds with some solutions rather than simply shredding for shredding sake.

Bob Banner
HopeDance publisher

 

 

 

I'll stay out of the ocean
I recently stayed with some friends at the beach house at the Sea Venture hotel. We were there for two days, and I had a great time, however, within six hours of swimming in the ocean, I started to get the symptoms you describe in your Aug. 3 article ("Sea sick"): sinus, ear basically upper respiratory infection. I was the only one in our group who went into the water, and I was the only one who started to feel sick.

After checking out of the hotel, I saw your article at the front desk, and was amazed that what was described was exactly what I was experiencing.

After about 48 hours, the symptoms started to clear up (with the help of decongestants, vitamins, tea, etc.). I am an otherwise healthy 39-year-old who stays active, has an average-or-better immune system, and never suffers from more than moderate allergies. Definitely not a hypochondriac. I run class 4 to class 5 whitewater often, and spend a lot of time in the many rivers in the Sierra Nevadas.

This is the first time I have ever taken ill from being in water (beaches or rivers). If I was susceptible, you would think with all my years of kayaking and rafting that I would have had plenty of opportunities to get ill.

My personal experience, common sense, deductive reasoning, and your article lead me to believe that there is something seriously wrong with the water off of the Central Coast.

I will never go in the water again while visiting the area. It's sad, as I grew up in Los Angeles and remember all the years as a child and teenager when no one ever gave it a second thought, and beaches were never closed due to pollution.

I heard that some group was suing the EPA for not properly protecting the coastline. Have you heard of this?

I'd like to join up.

Eric Meyers
Glendale

 

 

 

We are stopping bloodshed
I am writing to respond to Eric Parkinson ("We should be able to stop further bloodshed," Aug. 3). I am glad that the United States responded by sending precision-guided bombs to Israeli aircraft to "keep peace and security in the region."

I feel we Americans have short-term memory loss. Let's not forget how this conflict started. Did the Israeli military go into Lebanon and take two soldiers? No. It was Hezbollah who started this in the first place. If the Lebanese government can't control Hezbollah, I guess Israel will.

Eric Parkinson writes: "If we still live in a democracy, then we should be able to do something to stop our participation in further bloodshed." We are by sending precision-guided bombs to Israel. What a great democracy we live in. God bless Israel.

David Harding
Santa Maria

 

 

 

 

We can get affordable housing if we want it
If the people of San Luis Obispo want affordable housing for their families, their students, the professors, the people who provide services for our community (i.e. doctors, firemen and women, police women and men), and their elderly, then the people of San Luis Obispo have got to say, "I do not want to take this anymore!" and go to the Board of Supervisors meetings at 9 a.m. Tuesday mornings at the County Government Center.

It is important to recognize that we are the government. People can change the laws or create laws that can prevent the housing from increasing in this town. Start talking where it matters, go to the Board of Supervisors meetings. It is not impossible to find change. From what I understand, only 13 percent of people in this town can afford to live here. Housing is not a low-income problem, it is a city issue, and if we want to change it, we have to be a part of the city government and start finding solutions to this issue, now.

For discussion on how you can find change, go to: groups.yahoo.com/group/sloGranola.

Gina Turley
San Luis Obispo

 

 

 

Let's get a new leader
Five years after 9/11, the Bush administration has failed to keep us safe. The war in Iraq has diverted attention from protecting America from terrorism. This past week, 9/11 commissioners said Iraq is distracting from security at home.

The war in Iraq has inflamed the whole Middle East and is helping Al Qaeda attract new recruits. Osama Bin Laden is still on the loose.

Katrina showed all of us that the Republicans aren't able to protect America at home. The Republican Congress hasn't followed through on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

Republican political attacks during last week's terror threat are outrageous.

It's time for a change in leadership.

Bob Markel
Pismo Beach

 

 

 

The game is politics, not safety
We are not more safe now than we were five years ago, when 9/11 changed the way we viewed our homeland safety. The Bush administration fails in so many ways to follow through on promises made the war has taken too long and used too many resources, stolen too much attention from our own safety. A very dangerous side effect of this war is how many of the Middle East are becoming friendly to the ideals of Al Qaeda leading many (who may not have joined before the war) to join Al Qaeda, or at least to sympathize with them. And where is Osama? What of that promise made by President Bush?

With the nation clearly unprepared to deal with even a natural disaster like Katrina, how are we to feel safe from manmade attack? To date, the Republican Congress hasn't followed through on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission and, after seeing the widespread political attacks last week during the terror threat, it's clear that the game being played is Republican politics and not American safety.

Namu Williams
Santa Maria

 

 

Read between the lines
Here we are, getting ready for the onslaught of political commercials.

We are hearing our first terror alert, and the administration is posturing our "war president" as strong and reliable.

Meanwhile, the Republican Congress hasn't followed through on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. After five years. Connect the dots, anyone?

Joseph Giral
SLO