Letters for June 19, 2014

Hell yes, prosecute bike thieves

Re “Dangerous bait” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R News, June 12):

I was surprised to find this article was written with no regard whatsoever to the victim. Let me share my experience with you: I was orphaned suddenly at 14. I became a foster child in south Sac. I started working at 15 (foster kids can get special permits), which involved working at a fast-food restaurant after school (I still maintained a 3.5-4.0 GPA). I worked every summer to earn money for college.

Well, some jerk stole my bike. This left me, a teenage girl with the options of one, quitting my job, or two, walking home through south Sac at 11 p.m. at night! Let's face it, Regional Transit does not operate in certain neighborhoods after 8 p.m.

My desire to better myself allowed me to focus on my goal. However, walking left me vulnerable to kidnapping, sexual assault and dog attacks.

If people are so concerned about these perpetrators, let them purchase bikes for them. Let them start a nonprofit to supply bikes for them.

Those of us who worked hard to legally purchase our own transportation have a right to keep it, and people who steal our property deserve to be prosecuted for doing so.

Mari H.

Sacramento

Bites is sour grapes?

Re “Voters send a message” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Bites, June 12):

Bites has a point-the-finger issue with The Sacramento Bee. I am not a great fan of the Bee, but you are like sourer grapes when it comes to them. Grow up. I like SN&R, but it has a history of attacks on the Bee when it comes to Bites.

Carol Lemos

Sacramento

Indie voters could still go partisan pre-Prop. 14

Re “Less gridlock, more governing?” by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, June 12):

This article is factually wrong when it says that before Proposition 14 passed, independents could not vote in partisan primaries. Between 2001 and 2010, independent voters who walked into the polling place on primary day were informed that, if they wished, they could have a Democratic or a Republican primary ballot, for all congressional and partisan state offices (however, independents could not vote in Republican presidential primaries). Vote-by-mail independent voters had a self-addressed stamped postcard included, letting them request a Democratic or Republican primary ballot if they wished.

Richard Winger

San Francisco

No ag, yes affordable housing

Re “Ag order” by Nick Miller (SN&R News, June 5):

Agriculture? Really? It makes far more sense to put money into affordable-housing developments near transit, so that low-income residents don’t need to drive to work, shopping and so on. In Sacramento, we need to develop more than 52,000 affordable units, so that our low-income fellows are not spending most of their income on rent. (Ninety percent spend more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and 70 percent spend more than 50 percent.) Working to reduce the number of people who must drive, and don’t have the money to buy low-emission vehicles, would have far more impact than reducing agricultural pollution.

That Gov. Jerry Brown is more interested in agriculture than the development of affordable housing is little surprise. I’ve found over the last 35 years that the problem of affordable housing is always somewhere that Brown isn’t.

Alison Brennan

via email