Rest of country bailing out Florida climate deniers

If you see a person standing at the edge of a cliff and there are barriers and warning signs saying “dangerous cliff,” “keep away” and “stay away from the edge,” and you tell the person, “Please stay away, or you’ll get hurt.” He replies, “it’s not that dangerous at all, these signs are ridiculous.” The next day, you read that the person fell off the cliff and had to be rescued. Do you feel it’s your responsibility to partially pay for his rescue costs? Shouldn’t he have to pay for his stupid behavior?

On March 7, 2024, the Florida legislature passed a bill to eliminate climate change references from most existing state laws. The bill deletes the phrase “climate change” in several bills and amends entire passages in others. The Florida governor and Congress members said that state energy policy must be “driven by affordability” and reliability and not a “climate ideology.” The Floridians voted these climate change deniers into office. Now, when disasters hit, they want the rest of the country to bail them out.

— Sam Burkhardt, Santa Cruz

Fire protection already in place in city garages

An Oct. 9 letter writer raised the issue of lithium car battery fires in garages. Any car can catch on fire. There have been building code requirements for fire protection sprinklers and alarms in garage spaces in Santa Cruz for over 30 years. If he had directed his query to the fire department (or any general contractor or developer), I am sure he would have found that out.

— Cliff Bixler, Bonny Doon

EVs in reality are ‘well suited for parking garages’

A recent letter expressed concern for electric vehicles in ground-floor parking garages. The author believes there is a risk to residents on the floors above from potential fires if electric vehicles spontaneously combust. It is true that because they are new, electric vehicles receive more press attention when they catch fire. However, the National Highway Safety Board says that EVs are involved in 25 fires for every 100,000 sold. In contrast, 1,530 internal combustion (gas) cars are involved in fires for every 100,000 sold.

Given these facts and the added benefits that EVs have to tailpipe emissions, don’t leak oil, are 61 times less likely to catch fire, and are quieter than gas cars, they should be well suited for ground-floor parking garages.

— Brion Sprinsock, Santa Cruz

SC pushing through Workbench project

I am writing in opposition to the Mission Street 1811, 1815 and 1819 proposed project that could potentially house from 136 to 204 people (assuming 2-3 people averaged over 68 residential units) on a site now occupied by three single-story residential homes. The proposed project involves a 71.5-foot high structure, violating existing requirements by almost 60%. In contrast to the proposed total of 14 parking spaces, parking limitations now require 97 spaces for residents, 17 spaces for businesses. No setbacks are specified. This monstrous building will abut single family homes.

The real question is how such an absurd proposal was allowed to go this far. Apparently, the Planning Commission feels that it is its duty to push through as many housing projects as possible. Rather than actually planning (obtaining land, formulating plans for development companies to bid on), the commission now relies exclusively on private contractors — in this case Workbench — to make proposals. The Planning Commission should be renamed facilitators for Big Money.

— Craig Medlen, Santa Cruz

Just how can SC County ‘swing more to the left’?

Liberals, ya gotta’ love em. The Oct. 2 Sentinel featured the organization “Swing Left Santa Cruz 2024” mailing out thousands of flyers to local voters. Only a liberal would come up with a name like that and then indicate that “all our letters are nonpartisan and encourage voting, not changing opinion.”

Really? I don’t see how Santa Cruz County could swing much more to the left. Hopefully, at some point liberals that constantly insist on degrading Trump and his followers will eventually accept the fact that we on the right despise their current candidate and her choice for VP just as much as they do ours.

One thing I’m sure we can all agree on is that after the election is over 50% of the voters in this country are going to feel screwed, regardless of who wins.

— Elwin Haddix, Ben Lomond