Reader Reactions

Ralph W. Guida IV, president of American Council of Engineering Companies-California, Yorba Linda, and Benjamin I. Kasdan, president of American Institute of Architects-California Council, Santa Ana CALmatters’ columnist Dan Walters severely misconstrues Assembly Bill 626. Recent ambiguous court rulings have upended decades of local contracting practice and created chaos for local agencies. The result is […]

Dawn Hakim, Santa Clarita Our family moved to the Santa Clarita Valley because it was a great community. Since then, our family has seen first-hand the value of school choice. One size does not fit all. Although our local school was great, we quickly concluded it wasn’t a good fit for our son as he […]

Susan Kirsch, Livable California, Mill Valley I read “California’s hottest housing bill moves ahead—with a break for smaller counties” while sitting in a café in Athens, Greece. I was struck by the irony of being in the birthplace of democracy while Sacramento legislators deliver death by a thousand cuts. Senate Bill 50 marches ahead under […]

Susan Harman, California Public Banking Alliance, Oakland Dan Walters’ April 28 Commentary on Assemblyman David Chiu’s Assembly Bill 857, the local public bank bill, is a dumb comment on a very smart bill. In his commentary, Walters writes says that shifting local governmental funds away from the Wall Street banks they’re in now will have “virtually […]

Brett Garrett, Santa Cruz Cities such as Oakland and Los Angeles are eager to divest from large banks that invest in fossil fuels or engage in unethical business practices. These cities can benefit from Assemblyman David Chiu’s Assembly Bill 857, which will establish a framework for licensing public banks, owned by local or regional government entities. […]

The pharmaceutical industry has shown a hostility to e-cigarettes because they present a direct threat to pharmaceutical products.

David Swerdlin, San Juan Capistrano The best incentive to find solutions to the homeless situation is as follows: That each politician’s family residence house no fewer than three families; the governor house five; politicians in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and federal elected officials, house four. When viable solutions are implemented, we will move onto finding […]

Steve Heilig, former co-chair, San Francisco Tobacco-Free Coalition Ashley Gould of JUUL Labs is in denial in defending JUUL’s partnership with the world’s biggest marketer of toxic addicting tobacco. Decades of tobacco industry deceit have taught us to follow the money rather than their words, and JUUL is now using messages and tactics remarkably similar […]

Kevin T. Byrne, Oceanside Regarding the recent guest commentary by Robbie Hunter of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California: utter nonsense. Instead of dumping good money after funds poorly spent on high-speed rail, let’s explore an alternative. The concept of moving business and technical professionals from afar is counter-intuitive to good planning. […]

Ron Nichols, Southern California Edison president, Rosemead In his March 5 guest commentary, Brett Bouchy delivers several mischaracterizations about Southern California Edison’s time-of-use rates.  In truth, SCE’s time-of-use rates incentivize customers to use power when it is cleanest and available at the best prices, and conserve energy when it is less clean and more expensive. […]