TNT letters to the editor, 5/28/2021
Votes and vaccines
So let me get this straight. There is 0% evidence of voter fraud, yet the Trump crowd insists that no one be allowed to vote unless they show an ID card.
Meanwhile, there is 100% evidence that getting vaccinated dramatically reduces COVID-19 spread and saves lives, yet the (largely unvaccinated) Trump crowd insists they should be allowed to go anywhere they want without a proof-of-vaccination card.
It seems to me that if anyone who should not be entrusted with the responsibility of voting, it is people who have demonstrated that they are disconnected from rational thought.
And I think we know who they are.
Michael Thompson, Tacoma
Tacoma housing
Re: “Will plans to rezone Tacoma to allow for more housing satisfy the City Council?” ( TNT, 5/22).
It’s common knowledge that our city has a disastrous housing shortage.
As a real estate professional, I see my buyer clients routinely face bidding war situations, forcing them to pay tens of thousands over the list price for their dream homes while competing with other buyers who waive inspection requirements, as well as almost every other contingency under the sun.
This situation is not sustainable. It is pricing out so many Tacomans from being able to afford home ownership.
The solution is obvious: We need significantly more housing constructed. As a largely built-out city, the most cost-effective solution is greater infill opportunities and thoughtful, livable upzoning – especially near transit corridors.
More housing choices for Tacomans means cooling down the worst aspects of today’s market. It is vital that the City Council passes the “At Home in Tacoma” proposal, with the most robust provisions possible.
Anders Ibsen, Tacoma
(Ibsen is a former Tacoma City Council member)
Governor power
Fourteen months later and our governor still has his emergency powers. Why? There’s simply no need anymore. It’s time to end his fiefdom.
It smacks of a power-hungry individual remaking the state in every manner as evidenced by Jay Inslee’s free-wheeling flip-flops on phase opening, using the pandemic to redistribute income, punting his responsibility to stop the rioting in Seattle and CHOP nonsense last summer and now his recent surgical veto of legislation that’s come his way.
It’s time to give the appropriate power back to the Legislature so it’s a co-equal branch of government, like it’s supposed to be. And for the Legislature to think long and hard before giving this governor or the next one emergency powers for more than 30 days, again.
Matthew Slichko, Puyallup
Global morality
Re: “World’s supply of chips in danger unless Taiwan gets vaccines,” (TNT, 5/25).
This Bloomberg News article reminds us that we are all connected in this world. A semiconductor shortage is a huge risk to the global economy. But that is just business.
A bigger moral risk to the world is the number of people driven into poverty. It is the estimated 1.6 billion children not in school that we should be addressing.
How can we expect to regain our economic footing following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic if we can’t educate our children and the next generation of workers? Where is the imperative for helping people help themselves?
Congress is working overtime to support those people and programs that need help. The Global Partnership for Education is one program that deserves our support. Please contact Washington Sens. Murray and Cantwell and Rep. Kilmer and ask them to provide funding for the GPE.
Andy Clarke, Gig Harbor
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 10:07 AM with the headline "TNT letters to the editor, 5/28/2021."