Thursday’s Letters to the Editor

Look elsewhere

EDITOR: “This is a communitywide issue, and it needs a communitywide response. Not just a St. Rose response, not just a downtown response.” This quote by Santa Rosa City Councilman Chris Rogers in your July 15 editorial makes a key point (“Some progress on homelessness, but promises unfilled”).

As a resident of the St. Rose neighborhood, I want to voice my objection to the county’s proposed purchase of the Hotel Azura as a location to house the homeless. Our neighborhood already has a concentration of homeless services in and around it. In fact, we are most likely the neighborhood in the entire county the most impacted by homelessness and homeless services, which include Catholic Charities’ Family Support Center and Homeless Drop-In Center, the Redwood Gospel Mission and the St. Vincent de Paul kitchen.

In addition, for the first six months of this year, residents of our neighborhood couldn’t walk under Highway 101 because of the encampments that grew exponentially when the Joe Rodota Trail was closed. These encampments just got cleared, but history says they will start to return by winter.

There are nine cities in Sonoma County. I urge the county to understand our situation and look at some of these other cities. Our small neighborhood is maxed out.

JOE LILIENTHAL

Santa Rosa

Blaming Trump

EDITOR: How much more ink are you going to use blaming President Donald Trump for COVID-19? Talk about ignorance. The dude is trying to run the White House, and The Press Democrat hasn’t helped this dude at all — everything is Trump’s fault. Grow up, the country is going great.

Why don’t you complain about another offshore platform, or maybe which dam should be torn down?

What the hell does Trump have to do with COVID-19? He’s living in the same world we are. Stop bad mouthing our president. Who cares if you won a Pulitzer Prize?

Would you rather have a politician in office? Yeah, Joe Biden is gonna be president — and I’m the governor of Pennsylvania.

CHRISTIAN SNELLING

Rohnert Park

Spreading the word

EDITOR: I know the importance of wearing masks because I hear about it constantly in the news: If everyone wears a mask for four to eight weeks, COVID-19 will be brought under control. Scientific consensus agrees that, more than any single action short of everyone entering solitary confinement, face coverings can prevent the transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The problem is people who don’t read the paper or watch or listen to the news. This simple step needs to be promoted on every radio and TV station. Posters should be everywhere (Forget social media, as it’s too biased and confusing): “Help Our Businesses Open, Bring COVID-19 Under Control in 4 to 8 Weeks, Wear a Mask and Stay 6 Feet Away.” I’m having a T-shirt made.

EMILY WEBSTER

Sebastopol

Big birthdays

EDITOR: On Thursday, Medicare/Medicaid turns 55 years old. Think about it — Medicare is almost old enough to qualify for Medicare. It could use the help, given ongoing efforts by some in Congress to gut these vitally important programs. They’ll soon be on life support if those efforts gain traction.

On Aug. 14, Social Security will celebrate its 85th birthday. This past Sunday, the Americans With Disabilities Act turned 30, and the U.S. Postal Service turned 245 years old.

These programs are being celebrated across the state by members and affiliate organizations of the California Alliance of Retired Americans. As a nonpartisan advocate for seniors, we know these services are lifelines to our senior population.

On Thursday, the Sonoma County chapter will celebrate these programs with a birthday caravan that will stop and sing “Happy Birthday” (using social distancing protocols) outside the Coddingtown Post Office at 1:30 p.m., at the Social Security office on Range Avenue and at the main Post Office on Second Street at about 2 p.m.

We hope everyone will join us in celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote (Aug. 26) by voting in November for politicians who commit to protecting and strengthening these programs.

BONNIE L. PETTY

Santa Rosa

Stopping Trump

EDITOR: I’m not an alarmist by nature, and as I approach my 80th year I can look back at many perilous moments and realize that we have survived threats to our democracy in the past. Today, we have reason to hope that the Trump era, with its divisiveness, attempts to dismantle protections against environmental destruction and whatever social safety net is left, ignorance, lust for power and willingness to sacrifice people to the coronavirus to guarantee his reelection, will be seen for what it is, and he will be voted out.

But the actions of what would seem to be Donald Trump’s private military in Portland, Oregon raise red flags that we ignore at our peril. Speaker Nancy Pelosi correctly characterized them as “storm troopers,” and anyone who underestimates Trump’s shamelessness and willingness to do anything to maintain power is being naive.

His ability to create chaos is well established. His attempts to create a narrative of threats from the left that must be met by force will appeal to some. We must urge, we must demand, that responsible members of our government, whatever their political affiliation, do everything in their power to curb the recklessness of this man who will do anything to avoid being “a loser.”

RICHARD BLOOM

Cotati

You can send a letters to the editor at letters@pressdemocrat.com.