LETTERS

A partially rigged yawl off Venice breakwater.

CREDIT: KRIS DAHLIN

Re: Responses misrepresented the original letter Editor:

Thank you very much for publishing my letter on July 1, but the “corrections” to it by both Jack Schwartz andAngus MacDonald misrepresented my letter.

Mr. Schwartz claimed that he “did not promote building private housing for the homeless,” while in his original letter he wrote, “So, if you want to help, support housing groups like Venice Community Housing Corp., who are actually building these projects to house people.”

He also repeated that it is “unconstitutional to decree mandatory destination housing for the homeless,” although he has yet to cite the article, section and clause in the Constitution (or the amendment) that this violates. I didn’t realize that our Founding Fathers had a significant homeless crisis to deal with back then, or for that matter polluted, public, modern cities and waterways. If one is going to reference the Constitution, then it is important to be specific. National Parks, public schools, NASA, Medicare, Social Security and the EPA, to name just a few, are not in the Constitution either, so does that make them unconstitutional?The Constitution, as demonstrated by the aforementioned and the 27 amendments, is a living document, which must keep up with our ever-changing world.

He also stated that “Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were prime examples of ‘majority rule,’ as is modern-day China,” but all three of these examples were or are authoritarian regimes that did not and do not represent the majority, which is determined by free and fair elections. It is irresponsible to compare our republic with an authoritarian country — our government is elected, it controls no private businesses, has no wealth, only brings in 16% of the GDP in revenue, which it spends right back into the economy, and it only owns 28% of the land, most of which consists of National Parks, military bases and our borders. We are nowhere close to becoming an authoritarian socialist or communist country. If anything, we are a feudalist one, which our forefathers rebelled against, when you research the extreme wealth inequality and who owns what in this country, which I believe is the direct and indirect contributor of the homeless crisis; 80% of the population owns less than 15% of the wealth and lives on 3% of the land, which is not economically sustainable.

Mr. MacDonald wrote: “William Hicks, Our Town cities must be constructed on federal land, not prime real estate,” which would imply to anyone who read or reads this, who may not have read my previous letter, that I support homeless cities being constructed on prime real estate, which I do not.What I did write was: “I disagree with...his NIMBY comment, since nobody is entitled to live in a prime real estate area, plus we have public transit.”

Thank you for allowing me to clarify.

William R. Hicks Marina del Rey

No cash for Big Blue Bus Editor:

I believe the Big Blue Bus line going cashless as of July 12 is a mistake. Traditionally, lower-income people use bus lines as transportation to work and elsewhere. Many of these people may not have a credit/debit card nor cellphone, which you will need to ride the Big Blue Bus now. This policy is going to severely impact lots of people who could only use cash to use public transportation. I urge the LA Dept. to reconsider taking away cash fare for the Big Blue Bus line.

Adam Kaplan

Re: Prison Project (July 8) Editor:

Very belatedly … terrific information … knocked my socks off! Being a retired teacher, I believe in education and rehab, not blind lashing out with punishment. This program should be offered in every prison!

Lisa Edmondson Los Angeles

We want to hear from you!

Being in print is a lot more meaningful than grouching on Facebook. Send compliments, complaints and insights about local issues to kkirk@timespublications.com.

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