Letters for January 3, 2019

Re: “A Confederacy of Grinches,” (News, December 20):

I don’t know what it is with voters. We just had protests over Stephon Clark, and then the district attorney that refused to hold the police accountable gets reelected. Everybody complains about the high rent, and then the ballot measure to help with those overpriced rents is voted down. Everyone talks about how we need a young progressive candidate and then they vote in [Sen. Dianne] Feinstein, who will be 91 at the end of her new term. Are people stupid or just too lazy to do a little research before they vote? It’s very frustrating when people vote against their own best interests.

Janna Welk

Sacramento

via sactoletters@newsreview.com

Brown bad for California

Re: “Vision and guts,” (Letters, December 20):

I do not agree with everything that Jeff vonKaenel says because of Jerry Brown and his reckless spending of our hard-earned money. Do not blame President Trump for the mess Brown has made in this state.

[…] Brown says we need more taxes to fix roads. If the money [had been] used for roads all these years, we would not have these tax increases …That’s how much of our money is wasted so Brown can build his toy train while the rest of us live in poverty.

David Simonetti

Grass Valley

via sactoletters@newsreview.com

Rising rents and homelessness

Recently, homeowners in the affluent Wilhaggin neighborhood in Arden Arcade have started raising concerns about increased homelessness. Wilhaggin is filled with single-family homes on quarter-acre lots along the American River Parkway, with prices often exceeding a million dollars. Arden Arcade is also home to some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the region, with the largest one-year jump in poverty and highest inequality of any large place in California.

A few weeks ago, Zillow released a new [study] that shows rates of homelessness are likely to increase in communities where residents spend more than one-third of their income on rent. It is happening in Arden Arcade, Carmichael and North Highlands, where rising rents are driving people from their homes.

It’s simple—as rents continue to rise in our communities, so will homelessness. I encourage you to get involved in local organizations such as the Sacramento Tenants Union and to urge county supervisors to take action to address the rising rents in our unincorporated communities.

Shaun Dillon

Carmichael

via email