Category: Opinion

Be sure to vote in this stupid but vitally important election Editor: A hundred years ago California added a recall provision for elected office holders so that crooks could be thrown out if they were discovered to be unfit office holders. Unfortunately, the provision was poorly crafted and the result is that our elected state governor could easily be removed and replaced by a candidate with a much smaller share of the votes. If governor Newsom gets less than 50 percent of the cast votes, he must vacate his office. Then whichever of the 47 gets the most votes will be our governor — regardless of their qualifications or whatever actions they’d promote. I can easily understand how many people have their own reasons not to love our governor, but that alone is no reason to vote “Yes, throw the bum out.” Even if you are a strongly partisan Republican who looks upon this as the only foreseeable chance for California to have a Republican governor, you should not risk the future of our state by placing an unqualified person in the driver’s seat of the very complex vehicle California has become. In Texas and Florida, we have already seen culture wars produce nutty government opposition to sensible Covid mitigation. Voting “Yes” to replace Newsom without being entirely certain a fully qualified leader from the pack of 47 will replace him is the...

Monday’s Article in the LA Times Editor: All the people mentioned in Monday’s LA Times article on the Venice homeless cleanup: • “Robles had been living with her son in San Bernardino until the Hillside fire in 2019 destroyed her home.” • “McKenna, who has been living on the beach, is a truck driver from Chicago but lost his license to a DUI.” (a caption) • Michael Freeman, 19, hummed quietly as he packed up his tent and belongings. Originally from New Orleans,” • Originally from the San Fernando Valley, he has been homeless for three years and on the beach in Venice for the last couple of weeks.” Mike Bonin claims we can’t clear the homeless from Venice to be far from where they were living and away from their family and friends…What city does Bonin work for? Kris Dahlin Venice Decline of democracy in Mar Vista Editor: It appears to me that either we have a crisis in democracy in Mar Vista or the community just does not care. Our community council does not seem bothered by the recently elected chair’s reorganization of the committee structure that removes several important committees and reserves committee leadership positions for board members only. The public comment portion of the meetings has been interrupted and stopped twice in as many meetings and was moved to the end of the committee meetings. These unilateral...

Why and where is USPS holding our mail? Editor: It’s been one week, July 29 and continuing to count the days since any mail has  been delivered to the Tierra Del Rey Community. I am unaware if other Marina del Rey communities are experiencing the same inconvenience with the USPS. I have asked Marina Del Rey Post Office if they could help us. I was directed to the postmaster general at Venice Post Office who did not answer the phone after two days of trying. I have contacted Mike Bonin’s office and they were not aware. I then called the office of Rep. Karen Bass. I signed and filed a complaint against the USPS for not delivering and holding our mail. I was told by two USPS drivers that there are … no trucks … no drivers … no mail. “Get used to it.” Packages are delivered, but no mail is placed in those trucks. There is no information where the mail is being held. In the meantime, bills need to be paid, checks need to be cashed, medication needs to be taken and important correspondence is not being sent. USPS is hurting our Tierra Community. This is unacceptable for all the residents who are not receiving their mail. I myself have Informed Delivery through the USPS to know what mail will be delivered each day, which has been none. Even given the...