Letters to the editor for Dec. 1

Thurston County needs attainable, sustainable housing

Dear Thurston County Commissioners,

I am writing to urge you to authorize a Home Fund tax to support housing for our most vulnerable neighbors in Thurston County. As you know, providing attainable and sustainable housing requires regional solutions. As a 20-year business owner in Thurston County, I support this action.

These funds will clearly help pay for existing homeless housing plans enacted by Thurston’s cities and the county. With more locally controlled and ongoing funds, we can more quickly meet the well-thought-out housing objectives in each jurisdictions’ attainable and sustainable housing plans and well as the 2019–2024 Thurston Housing Action Plan.

Your authorization of this funding can help us solve this crisis at a much faster pace. With more funding, we can purchase abandoned hotels and convert them to rapid re-housing units. We can help close the funding gap and more quickly build the 254 units already in the pipeline, like Pear Blossom and Tumwater Townhomes, serving families; single-family home projects in Yelm housing vets; in Lacey housing disabled persons; and senior housing units at the Martin Way project. We can invest in programs that help our more vulnerable people move forward and open a new chapter in their lives.

Please move forward with enacting a Home Fund ordinance. Thank you for your consideration.

Yanah G. Cook, McKenna

Thank you Mr. Swanson and President Biden

I applaud Mr. Robert Swanson’s letter to the editor which sought to correct the many misconceptions and untruths you unfortunately published in Marc Thiessen’s diatribe, “Democrats’ progressive wing is on a kamikaze mission.”

Thiessen is exactly the type of lemming extremist who is widening the political divide in the country.

I support President Biden because he understands, and acts on, the great value of political compromise, particularly at a time when extremist partisanship is threatening the very core of our society. Those “glass half empty”’ types who vilify this great man are, in effect, closing their eyes to the needs of everyday people who want good jobs, quality education and a healthy environment.

President Biden is providing the kind of leadership we need in dire times. He leads the most diversified administration in our history. He is working to reduce the immense divide between the ultra rich and the middle class and poor. He is, for the most part, providing powerful leadership in the fight against climate change and environmental degradation and he has taken a strong stand against social injustice and the COVID pandemic.

Uncle Joe, as I refer to him, is an elder statesman. He is a man who has mostly overcome a crippling handicap and unspeakable personal tragedy. He is not a perfect man, but he is one who has devoted his life to the service of our country to great effect.

I deeply respect him and I am grateful to have him as my President.

Steve Robinson, Olympia

Oppose Biden’s misguided foreign policy on Ethiopia

I urge you to oppose the Biden administration’s effort to undermine the democratically elected government of Ethiopia.

Failing to stand behind a legitimately elected government contradicts the deeply held democratic values of the U.S. and tarnishes its image worldwide, particularly in Africa. By alienating Ethiopia, the U.S. stands to lose a major strategic ally in the most volatile region of Africa.

I implore you to:

• Express your support for the democratically elected government of Ethiopia and denounce the Tigray People’s Liberation Front’s actions to destabilize Ethiopia;
• Call on the Biden administration to recognize Ethiopia’s inalienable right to defend itself from internal and external destabilizing forces;
• Call on the administration to reinstate Ethiopia as a beneficiary of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

Yared Beyene, Olympia