Letters for July 11, 2013

Kumbaya

Re “Sactopia” by SN&R staff (SN&R Feature Story, July 3) and “Passed over” by Dave Kempa (SN&R News, July 3):

I truly enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek article. It was a great piece highlighting the kumbaya spirit that makes up what is seen as the “real” Sacramento by the editors and staff of this newspaper, as opposed to the harsh realities faced by most of its citizens. This spirit was further highlighted by the story in the same edition's news section, “Passed over” (by Dave Kempa).

Instead of reporting with cold facts, the writer and us readers would be better served if the writer had taken a few days and “walked the walk” instead of just “talking the talk.” That is, live as a homeless person would and provide a firsthand account.

Also, it would be great if SN&R would dedicate an edition to talking about solutions to the problems: homelessness, gang violence, drug abuse, etc., and getting those possible solutions put into effect instead of merely just talking about how terrible the problems are.

Jeffery Cassity

Sacramento

Happy to vote on the arena

Re “Playing to vote” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Bites, July 3):

I was happy to find in Bites’ column a place (Kmart on Stockton Boulevard) where I could sign the petition to place a measure on arena funding on the ballot. I had hoped to be advised by [Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork] of all the places where they planned to collect signatures, but the first I heard of signature gatherers anywhere was in this morning’s [Sacramento Bee], which said they had been but were no longer at Safeway stores. I was not surprised to find nothing in the Bee article about where petitions could be signed; after all, one of their more [Mayor Kevin Johnson]-smitten columnists recently termed the strategy of preventing us from being able to vote on spending city money on the arena project as “brilliant.”

As it turned out, I did not have to make a special trip to Kmart, because I happened upon signature gatherers outside Save Mart Supermarket on Folsom Boulevard (after having earlier looked in vain at the Sacramento Downtown Plaza, which seemed to me the ideal place to sign). I wish them success in reaching their goal.

Miles D. Wichelns

Sacramento

Smokers miss the point

Re “Don’t demonize smokers” by Brian Moist (SN&R Letters, June 27):

Brian Moist’s letter misses the point entirely. Moist talks about his right to make his own life choices, even if they are unhealthy. What he fails to address is that smoking is the one bad habit that affects not only the smoker, but everyone in the vicinity.

If people near me are drinking alcohol, or for that matter, even if they are shooting up heroin, the poisons they are using go into their own bodies, not mine. If they are smoking, their smoke goes right into my lungs as well. And it lingers for hours afterward, trapped in my hair, in my clothing and on my very skin. The effects of that sidestream smoke are well-documented as contributing to lung cancer, asthma, emphysema, heart disease and a host of other serious medical problems.

So, no, Brian, those of us who support anti-smoking ordinances are not just meddlesome busybodies trying to tell you what’s best for you. The health we are seeking to protect is not yours, but our own. The day they invent a cigarette that produces no sidestream smoke is the day it will make sense to repeal all the anti-smoking regulations.

David Urman

via email