California Forum letters: Sacramento Bee readers weigh in on Latino voter turnout, Placer restaurants

Convention catastrophe

“It’s new. It’s shiny. But Sacramento’s $245M convention center is stuck in COVID limbo” (sacbee.com, March 9)

The convention center will be a disaster for Sacramento. The Stockton Arena that helped drive that city into bankruptcy five years ago. Councilmember Jay Schenirer wondered aloud whether the money could not be better spent on affordable housing.

No one listened, and the city ignored two detailed analyses that showed conventions were a dying business and that the vast majority of cities that expanded their convention centers saw no increase in visitation business. Now we have a spiraling problem with homelessness and are saddled with $240 million in debt for a white whale in a Zoom economy.

Christopher Weare

Sacramento

Religious values

“R-rated or empowering? East Sac ‘sexy mom’ wages war of words and nudes with the Church” (sacbee.com, March 10)

I read Marcos Bretón’s “sexy mom” commentary with great interest. What a story! I am so curious about the “one dad (who) blabbed to his wife.” Seems like more than one party in the story was using the Only-Fans site. Did this not compromise his own religious values? And will his children also be expelled from Sacred Heart? What’s good for the goose…

Maureen Driscoll

Davis

Powers that be

“After blackout debacles in California, Texas, state tells utilities to bulk up for summer” (sacbee.com, March 5)

A primary cause of the blackouts last August was in fact the “equipment failure” of a 500 megawatt natural gas power plant, not the poorly defined concept of “power shortages” generally. The extension of retirement dates of a few aged Southern California power plants last September was a potential envisioned in the original regulation from decades ago to ensure reliability as these plants repower or retire.

They don’t operate much today, so retaining them a while longer is not a huge emissions burden. The California Public Utilities Commission’s decision last month requires jurisdictional utilities to procure power from certain plant upgrades that increase capacity and flexibility of these older plants – changes that add reliability but do not necessarily add to greenhouse gas emissions (since the plants will be more efficient) nor even criteria emissions.

Timothy Tutt

Davis

More daylight

“Yes, you still have to turn those clocks ahead for daylight saving time, California” (sacbee.com, March 13)

I, for one, am delighted when Daylight Savings Time rolls around each spring. I get to be up to see the sunrise for the first few weeks and I get another glorious hour of daylight at the end of the day.

States like Arizona and Hawaii are in southern latitudes, so they have less shift of day length, and less need of time shift. Here in Northern California we have over five hours of difference between winter days and summer days. Spring Forward! Fall Back!

Richard Buss, M.D.

Jackson

Admitting mistakes

“Being right about COVID was tough. Just ask the superintendent for Elk Grove schools” (sacbee.com, March 15)

Marcos Bretón’s article dissecting the tough decision-making process to shut down Elk Grove schools illuminates Christopher Hoffman’s courage and integrity. I remember the criticism of what seemed like a knee-jerk reaction.

In hindsight, though, it seems like a logical step to have taken. Thanks to Marcos for admitting he was wrong. As we move toward a “post-COVID” world, I think it is reassuring to take a look at how some leaders were able to forge a path forward, in the absence of enough reliable information.

Penny Hill

Sacramento

Disappointing piece

“‘Disappointing’ 2020 Latino turnout found in new analysis. Youth voting also lagged” (sacbee.com, March 15)

Amid an unprecedented pandemic and on the heels of a historic election, the word “disappointing” as an adjective to describe Latino voter turnout is gravely misplaced. Research on Latino voters in the presidential election found a 30.9% increase in ballots cast between 2020 and 2016; almost double the nationwide growth of 15.9%.

Across the nation in Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania and California, Latino voters made a difference. Campaigns are won by the growth in raw votes, and Latinos, Asian Americans and youth showed up in record numbers. The study cited by USC fails to accurately acknowledge this. The electoral voice of California’s plurality population, Latinos and fastest growing demographic, Asian Americans, are not “disappointing,” but motivating change.

Michele Siqueiros

Advisory Board Member, UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative

Los Angeles

Selfishness in Placer County

“These Placer County restaurants are suing Gov. Newsom. I’ll never eat at them again” (sacbee.com, March 12)

Many thanks to Hannah Holzer for calling attention to the renegade restaurant problem in Placer County. When we have driven through Auburn on Highway 49, we have wondered if we’ve entered an alternative universe where there is no deadly pandemic: virtually every restaurant is open, many with banners ostentatiously proclaiming so.

As a former teacher, I can tell you what the owners of these establishments suffer from — Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Its manifestation is the basic attitude that “The rules do not apply to me.” My pet name for this obnoxious behavior is “Specialitis,” and those who are afflicted by it mostly use the pronouns “I,” “me” and “mine” as opposed to the collective “we” and “us.” Shame on these establishments for their cavalier dismissal of deaths from COVID, and double shame on Kiley and McClintock for encouraging their entitled behavior.

Susan Greenwood

Auburn