Letters for October 6, 2005

Un-stuff those shirts

Re “The young and clueless” (SN&R Bites, September 29):

The gated community in El Dorado Hills called The Summit, which elected a gentleman by the name of Marty Walden to its homeowners-association board, must be a wonderful place to live. His campaign centered around the community not reflecting qualities of an “exclusive upscale community” and stated that The Summit “is supposed to be an upper class neighborhood, not an immigrant ghetto.”

It sounds to me like the inhabitants of The Summit are a bunch of xenophobic one-hour-a-week Christians who consider themselves “compassionate conservatives” and voted for George Bush. I strongly recommend that before a permit is issued for any new gated community, there be a provision for affordable housing in the development. These stuffed shirts could use some egalitarianism in their lives.

James G. Updegraff III
Sacramento

Incomplete picture

Re “There goes the neighborhood” by Mosi Reeves (SN&R News, September 22):

While Mosi Reeves’ effort is, for the most part, factually correct, we believe the reader is left with an incomplete and incorrect picture of Del Paso Nuevo, and downright confusion regarding appropriate standards and responsibility. We respectfully submit the following corrections and additional information for your readers’ consideration:

First and foremost, there are no outstanding customer-service requests at Del Paso Nuevo. As is Myers Homes’ custom and practice wherever they build residential construction, all customer-service requests are promptly responded to and, as appropriate, promptly corrected.

Second, this is not to say that every single complaint is corrected. There are industry standards that apply. We believe the readers would have been better served had reporter Reeves become familiar with these standards so as to know what is normal and what is not.

Next, the driveway cracking in the captioned photograph has not been submitted by the homeowner for repair, possibly because it does not show normal stress or shrinkage cracking, but rather breakage, probably from a large heavy vehicle. All similar damage that occurred during the course of construction was corrected before the houses were sold, and, for the record, the captioning incorrectly states the location at Ms. Hamilton’s driveway when in fact it is on another street entirely.

Next, due to the large number and nature of the complaints that came from Ms. Hamilton, we took an extra step of conducting an inspection of her home prior to the expiration of her warranty time. Together with representatives of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA), Myers Homes again looked at each and every item presented, and those deemed legitimate warranty issues were promptly corrected.

As to the issue of standing water in backyards, the reporter probably should have mentioned that no backyard landscaping was included on these particular residences. Rather, it was the home purchaser’s responsibility to take the necessary steps.

Additionally, the article seems to bypass the fact that the “petition of complaint” it discusses has not, to date, been served to either Myers Homes or our joint venturer, New Faze Development. If and when it is presented to us, we will address it as appropriate. For the time being, it is suffice to say we have heard from other Del Paso Nuevo owners expressing disagreement with the article.

In claiming that an impasse is developing between the Del Paso Nuevo residents and Myers Homes, your reporter makes a misrepresentation. While we continue to believe all issues out of standard have been resolved, we are presently awaiting the homeowners’ selection of a qualified housing inspector of their choice for verification concerning all issues. Should the homeowners, or any of them, remain dissatisfied even after this step, part of their purchase contract includes the right to arbitration concerning these issues as well.

In closing, all purchasers at Del Paso Nuevo were provided the terms of both our warranty and an explanation of what would and would not be covered by the warranty. In reviewing a request for warranty service, Myers Homes has consistently applied the guidelines of our warranty manual and the California Residential Construction Manual. Myers Homes stands ready to continue to do so in the future.

Clinton Myers
Myers Homes

Listen to Rush much?

Re “The neocons’ bathtub” by Kel Munger (SN&R Essay, September 22), “Early indictments” (SN&R Editorial, September 8) and “New Orleans speaks for me” by Stephen Pizzo (SN&R Essay, September 8):

One cannot help but come to the conclusion, when reading the editorials and commentaries in SN&R regarding the recent hurricanes, that if only there had been a good ol’ Democrat in the White House, preferably Bill Clinton, and Democrats in charge of the Congress, everything would have been just dandy.

Just imagine:

Senator “Ku Klux Klan” Byrd would have personally rescued all those African-Americans in distress within one hour of the last raindrop. Bill and Hillary Clinton would have flown in on Air Force One to personally give each needy person a Big Mac with fries and a Coke, or any needed abortions. Jimmy Carter and his Nobel-winning hammer would have already built a home for each displaced person. Ted Kennedy, an expert on drowning victims, would be administering first aid and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to all good-looking females under 21. Joe Biden could give valuable advice on plagiarism and hair transplants, and John “Did I tell you I was in Vietnam?” Kerry could have single-handedly provided all the security with his trusty M-16 rifle, along with all the money needed for reconstruction from his wife’s trust fund.

Yep, if George Bush had not illegally stolen the 2000 election, there might not even be hurricanes or natural disasters anymore. The reason is that Al Gore would have signed the Kyoto Protocols, and there would be no more global warming, thus nirvana.

Agnes M. Cera
Citrus Heights

Double standard

Re “Inside the Bee’s Ivory Tower” by Jeffrey M. Barker (SN&R Cover, September 15):

According to Bee editorialists, one of their shining accomplishments was 2001’s editorial crusade against Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) for raising student bus fares. The crusade’s centerpiece was a photo (published for 29 days) of three Sacramento siblings; updated daily, the photo’s caption read (on September 4, 2001): “Francisca, Monique and Christopher: 11 days in school, $99 in bus fare.”

I recently mentioned that same crusade to the Poynter Institute (they’re here teaching the Bee about ethics) as an example of the Bee’s double standard regarding how Bee editorialists target and criticize outsiders—but never the Bee. For example, the Bee’s editorial board is never going to repeatedly publish a photo of three children kneeling by a graveside with the accompanying caption (updated weekly): “Number of cigarette promotional ads distributed by The Sacramento Bee since emphysema killed little Freddie, Mary and Charlie’s nicotine-addicted mother 11 weeks ago: nearly 3,000.”

What double standard enables the Bee editorialists to rationalize a 29-day crusade against outside (non-Bee) entities over something like bus fares, while for decades they’ve remained editorially blind and mute and never once criticized Bee activities that are far more detrimental to our community, such as the Bee’s decades-long annual distribution of millions of advertisements promoting addictive and deadly cigarettes?

Gary Sawyer
Sacramento

Republican playbook revisited

Re “The Code Pinking of Cindy” (SN&R Letters, September 15), and “No, we don’t” and “Sheehan’s lost perspective” (SN&R Letters, September 8):

It never ceases to amaze me reading the letters coming from Bush-loving fanatics. It shows me once again the ignorance of many of these people when it comes to the protests against the Iraq war. So-called conservatives would to like to link the war protest with protests against the troops; it’s right out of the Republican playbook! No one has questioned the honor or the patriotism of the troops; not even Cindy. Cindy is questioning the rationale for going to war; she’s against the false message, not the messenger!

When it comes to honoring the troops, I wonder how many “conservatives” do so. The Republicans have cut their veterans benefits and failed to give them the equipment they need, all the while dramatically lengthening their deployment periods.

Perhaps we can give back our tax-cut money, ask our government to pay our soldiers the same we pay the contractors in Iraq, implement fuel rations like we did during World War II and give them a clear objective. We thank them for their sacrifices but aren’t willing to sacrifice ourselves. It takes more than a magnet on your car to show your support!

As some liberal crackpot said, “Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.” That was Abraham Lincoln.

George Avila
Lincoln

Clarification

Re “Best of Sacramento” (SN&R Cover, September 29):

In the People & Places section of our Best of Sacramento issue, we mentioned the Old Timers Barber Shop at 4307 Broadway in our piece about the “Best commingling of the past and the future.” As we went to press, the barbershop reopened after being closed for about a year. The shop is now open Monday through Saturday. Call (916) 451-8924 for hours and information.

Correction

Re “Loving the warrior, hating the war” by Ryan Rose (SN&R News, September 15):

Russell Loving was mistakenly identified as the father of Laurie Loving’s son. He is not the soldier’s father. Also, Laurie Loving’s e-mail address was printed incorrectly. The correct e-mail address is LLoving@dcn.org.