Re “Who really pays to phase out diesel?” (May 4):
It’s time to take the regulations out of the makers and enforcers hands — the California Air Resources Board and the local AQMD. This autonomous and self-serving group both makes the rules and enforces the rules. They answer to no one. Their latest rule-making regarding the phase-out of diesel trucks will cost billions of dollars and the loss of thousands of independent truck drivers their jobs. And they don’t care. This new rule will cost California businesses and cities untold billions of dollars. It will add untold costs to all consumers. Elon Musk stated that you cannot make a long-haul electric truck. The long-haul truck drivers will become the new Pony Express. They will have to stop at their centers and change tractors like the Pony Express used to have to do to change horses.
— Earl Miner, Riverside
California’s housing shortage and sprawl
Re “Orange’s cynical ploy to stop housing” (May 4):
It is time for the state of California to stop interfering with cities’ requirements for housing. And time for the newspaper to butt out of our business. I have been a resident of the city of Orange for over 37 years. I have seen massive development, unbearable traffic, water shortages, utility outages, due to over-development. Orange is a large, sprawling city, one of the “big six” in Orange County. We have three — three! — east/west corridors in our city. Massive development in the east end has caused hundreds of thousands of car trips every week and peak-hour gridlock.
That doesn’t include car trips when the freeway has a boondoggle and motorists exit in Orange to use the hills to travel to Riverside/San Bernardino counties. Requiring cities to over-develop further only compounds an already over-taxed system. Sure, our drought is “over” for now, but what about the next one? Where is the water going to come from?
What about rolling blackouts in the summer due to overuse of the electrical grid? Our city leaders were elected to address and handle our city, not what Sacramento thinks is best for our city. Enough. Butt out.
— Carol Ellwood, Orange
Trump’s border wall
After hearing and reading so much about the migrants crossing our U.S.-Mexico border in the thousands daily, maybe President Trump’s idea of the border wall wasn’t such a bad idea after all?
— Terri Glaser, Simi Valley
Newsom’s energy tour
Re “Newsom touts state’s energy shift in tour” (May 2):
Newsom’s energy tour is the same old slick salesman approach to cover up awful energy policies and social programs. Our one-party system in California is leading our state off the cliff. It is even worse because we have agencies with unelected people appointed by the governor adding to the problem. Gov. Newsom calls all people who disagree with him troglodytes. He does not get why people want to leave California. He wants to make all of us still living in California troglodytes to fit his climate change agenda and social agenda.
The total lack of a cohesive energy transition plan and runaway social programs shows us why we need a two-party system in California. If businesses were run like California they would be bankrupt. The Sacramento politicians are trying their best to bankrupt California.
— Don Black, Rancho Palos Verdes
Californians for school choice should get it
Re “School choice is rejected by the Legislature” (April 27):
It’s too bad Democrats in the California Legislature don’t know the meaning of the word “representative.” They are all representatives of the people living in their districts. It is up to them to find out the wishes of those people and vote accordingly.
If a majority of Californians want school choice, that is what true representatives would vote for.
They aren’t to vote according to what they themselves want. The Democratic legislative majority in the state has done a great job in sending us all down the tubes. It’s time for voters who are unhappy with that to clean house in November 2024.
— Arline George, Reseda
![Last week, the editorial board asked readers what they thought about whether or not the state of California should pay reparations for slavery. We published the first round of responses on Tuesday, as we normally do, but as a result of the volume and quality of letters submitted, we are presenting additional letters from across […]](https://www.sgvtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-12.jpg?w=513 "Last week, the editorial board asked readers what they thought about whether or not the state of California should pay reparations for slavery. We published the first round of responses on Tuesday, as we normally do, but as a result of the volume and quality of letters submitted, we are presenting additional letters from across […]")
![Re “Enough of the Marxist delusions” (May 14): I agree with Matt Fleming that taxing the rich is not going to save democracy (though our democracy is in extreme peril and I hope something can save it). But, in usual fashion, he sets up a straw man, the obscure Excessive Wealth Disorder theory, and […]](https://www.sgvtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-11.jpg?w=513 "Re “Enough of the Marxist delusions” (May 14): I agree with Matt Fleming that taxing the rich is not going to save democracy (though our democracy is in extreme peril and I hope something can save it). But, in usual fashion, he sets up a straw man, the obscure Excessive Wealth Disorder theory, and […]")
![Re “Should the United States have open borders?” I was fascinated to read the arguments of both Sal Rodriguez and Susan Shelley … because Rodriguez’s position isn’t really “open borders” at all. He argues it should be easier for well-intentioned immigrants to come to the U.S. without having to navigate such a complicated series […]](https://www.sgvtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-10.jpg?w=513 "Re “Should the United States have open borders?” I was fascinated to read the arguments of both Sal Rodriguez and Susan Shelley … because Rodriguez’s position isn’t really “open borders” at all. He argues it should be easier for well-intentioned immigrants to come to the U.S. without having to navigate such a complicated series […]")
![No, it would be impossible to help all ethnicities that suffered past injustice History is the study of past events. The operative word is “past.” We can’t go back and help those people who in the past have suffered injustice. Probably every ethnic group on the planet has suffered injustice at one time […]](https://www.sgvtribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-9.jpg?w=513 "No, it would be impossible to help all ethnicities that suffered past injustice History is the study of past events. The operative word is “past.” We can’t go back and help those people who in the past have suffered injustice. Probably every ethnic group on the planet has suffered injustice at one time […]")