Letters to the editor for Dec. 21
Cheating is never right
Trump cheated in the 2016 presidential campaign by asking Russia to release and timely distribute emails stolen from his opponent, and it worked. Trump tried to cheat in the 2020 presidential election by forcing Ukraine to publicly announce a (non existent) criminal investigation into Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, and he got caught.
In this country cheating is usually unacceptable. For example, imagine if a football team in the NFL secretly hired medical professionals from China to administer a new, undetectable performance enhancing drug, and then they got caught. What would happen? What kind of punishment would NFL fans expect for that team? Who makes that decision?
What ramifications should Trump experience for using foreign governments to cheat on elections? Should he be removed from office or should he remain in office but not be allowed to run in the 2020 presidential election? The United States Senate will soon be making that decision.
Homeless solutions
These are heady financial times with Thurston County seeing a surge in building new apartment complexes and homes on small lots, infilling vacant land. In the midst of these good financial times we are seeing more homeless people living under bridges and along the interstate. If we as a community do not address this problem during the good times, we will be unable to find solutions in the recessions that are coming.
We need to forget low-density solutions and finance subsidized housing. An apartment complex needs to be built for the families in crisis, with rents dependent on income, with other housing built for people with substance abuse issues and a hospital-style facility for the mentally ill where they can be helped or monitored. We need to offer housing solutions that give a hand up for everyone. All subsidized units need to be located on the bus routes so people can get to food banks or employment or medical/social services.
As a community we are not meeting our responsibility to the homeless in our area. Everyone needs a place under a roof to live. Some people will only need short-term assistance but some will have intractable problems and need long-term assistance. I would like to think the Olympia area is capable of putting the welfare of all residents into the housing each group needs. Market-rate housing is going up everywhere in these boom times, but it is low-income housing we desperately need.