Former Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan’s legacy includes 500 homeless deaths since 2023 | Opinion

Chan’s legacy

“Hers was one of the 500 homeless deaths in Sacramento since 2023. ‘She fought til her last day’” (sacbee.com, Jan. 30)

Departing Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan has shown an appalling lack of urgency in helping the homeless. Over 500 homeless individuals have died in Sacramento since 2023. Meanwhile, Camp Resolution residents have been evicted, and most of their trailers have been hauled off and destroyed.

Chan could have pushed the city council for an emergency declaration to help the homeless and utilized countless vacant lots to set up trailer parks or structured tent camps and warming shelters.

Chan’s legacy should include note of these deaths.

Stanley Jones

Sacramento

California helps residents

“Republicans want to sabotage America’s most important tax credit for workers | Opinion,” (sacbee.com, Jan. 30)

Thank you, Katie Porter, for highlighting an important issue: the shameful cuts proposed by Congress to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). As president of Golden State Opportunity, an organization dedicated to ending poverty, I know that the EITC is one of the most powerful tools to combat poverty.

The federal government’s failure to expand the EITC means working Americans will lose a vital lifeline to keep up with the rising cost of living. A larger tax refund can mean the difference between getting ahead or falling further behind.

While Washington debates, California is stepping up. Our state’s EITC, the CalEITC, is one of the most inclusive in the nation, putting money back into the pockets of workers earning less than $32,000. Our community partners will operate free tax preparation programs throughout the state helping millions of Californians claim billions.

Amy Everitt

San Francisco

Protest FBI firings

“FBI Agents Sue DOJ Over ‘Unlawful And Retaliatory’ January 6 List,” (sacbee.com, Feb. 4)

Unlike political appointees, FBI agents are non-partisan federal government employees who are assigned to investigate allegations of federal crime without bias.

Firing these agents sets a dangerous precedent that retribution could take place if a rank-and-file FBI agent investigates a federal crime. This would fundamentally damage the core messaging of our country’s premier law enforcement agency: that justice is blind.

The mass firings of FBI agents would also indefinitely halt thousands of cases of violent criminals and gangs, drug cartels and terrorists, which is something this current administration promised to focus on.

Mirna Jope

Carmichael

Wrecking our economy

“China responds to Trump’s tariffs with retaliatory economic measures,” (sacbee.com, Feb. 4)

Tariffs imposed under President Herbert Hoover one year after the stock market crash of October 1929 led to a severe worsening of the Great Depression. These actions by the Trump administration are systematically wrecking our economy.

Steven Tracy

Davis