TNT letters to the editor, 5/8/2021
Tacoma zoning
As North Tacoma homeowners for 20 years, teachers/artists now retired, my husband and I participated in the “Home in Tacoma” forums about new neighborhood zoning.
We’re concerned about impacts of up-zoning on infrastructure and preservation of healthy residential neighborhoods. We welcome modest development which adheres to criteria set by “Home in Tacoma.”
That includes accessory dwelling units, townhomes and apartments that “prevent abrupt transitions” and don’t negatively impact current infrastructure.
We support housing sized and priced for lower- and middle-income families – all such families.
TNT columnist Matt Driscoll wrote in an April 21 column: “There’s no question that efforts to thwart development — particularly in whiter, more well-off neighborhoods — are often thinly veiled campaigns designed to keep others out.”
We take offense at this negative judgment of our motives in seeking to hold “Home in Tacoma” to its proposed objectives and criteria.
The city should cease allowing construction of large apartment complexes with tiny apartments at inflated rents, which don’t adhere to the stated criteria and do nothing to provide homes for families of limited means.
The only ones many North Tacoma residents want to “keep out” are developers seeking to maximize profits without protecting infrastructure.
Marilyn Bennett, Tacoma
Drug regulation
Re: “Lawmakers chart new path for drugs, substance use law,” (TNT, 4/26).
Five years ago, I sent a polite letter to the Seattle mayor describing drug scenes I saw in Seattle that I thought perhaps he was too busy to notice. I didn’t get a reply back.
Later, he proposed drug-injection sites as a means to save lives. The next mayor did the same thing; she proposed drug-injection sites and contacted surrounding cities to do the same.
This is where our state is heading: drugs, injection sites and government proposals to spend $88 million to expand access to treatment and recovery support services for people who use drugs.
Our courts and law enforcement officials appear to be disconnected from each other. One day drug laws are enforced, the next day they aren’t.
It’s becoming clear that people who understand the dangers of drugs and oppose them are being pressed to succumb to accepting them as a part of life.
I say no. Products such as heroin, meth, cocaine and Fentanyl are not part of life. If the movement to legalize drugs continues, young people will be subjected to more than drugs.
Deana Veldhuis, Edgewood
Gun control
Re: “Misconceptions about gun violence,” (TNT letter, 4/30).
This letter writer stated that “despite what you may think/believe about gun violence in America, researchers have found that more guns in possession actually reduces crime.” He doesn’t state what researchers or what study.
He then stated there’s more gun violence in New York City than Wyoming. Well, there is a lot more of everything in New York City than Wyoming.
Here is the irony: There is a much higher percentage of gun violence in Wyoming than in New York state. Wyoming has the sixth-highest percentage of gun violence in the US. New York is No. 47 out of 50.
According to an Annals of Internal Medicine study, homes with guns are twice as likely to have a gun-related death compared to homes without. And homes with guns are three times more likely to have a family member commit suicide.
In the vast majority of gun violence, the victim knows the shooter, typically a family member, friend or acquaintance. It isn’t criminals that are killing us. We are killing ourselves!
If you want to protect yourself and family from gun violence, it’s easy. Don’t own a gun.
John Whitmore, Gig Harbor
Voting rights
Denying American citizens their constitutional right to vote is a direct opposition to the best of our country’s ideals.
It’s like putting your knee on someone’s throat for 9 minutes and 29 seconds.
Mike Vindivich, Tacoma
This story was originally published May 8, 2021 at 1:43 PM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 5/8/2021."