‘There he goes again’: Trump’s latest lies

In the words of Ronald Reagan, for those of us old enough to remember: “There you go again.” It is hard to keep up with correcting Trump’s lies since they come non-stop, most recently about the emergency response to Hurricane Helene.

For example, he claimed the $750 victims received from FEMA was their total payout, when in reality it was only the initial emergency allocation for supplies.

He also said the current administration had taken FEMA money and given it to migrants, which is also false. But maybe he is thinking back to when he did that as president, taking tens of millions from FEMA and putting it toward migrant programs.

How was Trump’s response to California’s wildfires? He initially held up mandated FEMA funds because we were a blue state. Or his response when Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria? He initially told staff he didn’t want a single dollar going there. And let’s not forget his bungling of COVID.

To get the facts, go to any source not called Fox News.

— Phil Hormel, Scotts Valley

New Leaf first with selling sustainable seafood

In Sunday’s edition, in its “Community” section, the Sentinel published an article about the growing movement in grocery stores to sell seafood defined by strict standards as “sustainable.” It’s unfortunate that the Sentinel chose to feature Amazon-owned Whole Foods as an example, as they adopted this program in 2010, almost 10 years after Santa Cruz’ own New Leaf Community Markets did.

As a matter of fact, New Leaf partnered with people associated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to bring the very first in our nation sustainable seafood program offered in a grocery store to the public. New Leaf was the first grocery store to adopt the “traffic-light” approach described in the article, and within a year of adopting it, stopped selling any seafood designated as red, as not sustainable. In the future, the Sentinel might choose to look closer to home to find the treasures like New Leaf Community Markets who have led the way in making our world a better place.

— Scott Roseman Santa Cruz, founder of New Leaf Community Markets

County policy could lead to biodegradable filters

Santa Cruz County is proposing a ban on sale of cigarettes with filters. This is great as those filters never degrade. But they should add a caveat for cigarettes with biodegradable filters. Not that I know of any but it would also be great to force the tobacco companies to make them. Not that I smoke or care for the habit but one needs to think outside the box.

— Chelsea Wagner, Soquel

County should propose solutions on fixing roads

The Sept. 21 Guest Commentary by Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios regarding challenges fixing the roads mostly repeats the excuses that Public Works and supervisors have been telling us for years — lack of funding and storm damages. Instead of excuses, why not propose solutions, such as hiring a full-time grant writer, who would better know the many sources of state and federal funding that are available, and who could spend most of their time following up on fund requests. Then maybe a road maintenance budget and plan could be developed and followed, and when storms occur, that budget is not appropriated for repairs that other grants will pay for.

— Paul Peterson, Aptos

SC needs to take seriously lithium battery fires

We are building parking garages under housing in Santa Cruz including at the library soon to begin construction. Electric vehicles with lithium batteries have been known to explode into flames and can pose life-threatening circumstances for residents living above and serious challenges for first responders.

Last December I tried to alert the Santa Cruz City Council and other city officials on safety issues related to lithium battery fires in electric vehicles and how those issues relate to the new parking garage/housing/library that will soon displace our downtown farmers market. I asked each city official to give me feedback on my report and on actions they are taking to address the issues raised. Nobody responded. My original report to the city and a brief report on recent electric vehicle fires can be found at https://tinyurl.com/LiFires.

— Richard Stover, Santa Cruz