Education improvement
Many school districts, particularly in large cities, are absolutely failing their students, as illustrated by the abysmal test scores. Why does Dr. Jill Biden, the renowned educator, not use the bully pulpit, or better yet, use her husband and the power of the federal government, to do whatever it takes to force these failing school districts to improve. Whatever it takes, replacing the school boards and/or the school administrators, alter curriculums, improve discipline, and ban recalcitrant students.
What is happening is an avoidable disaster. It is a known fact that the best way for anyone to take advantage of the opportunities offered by this country is to have a good education. Why are we allowing this to happen in this country? This is exactly why charter and private schools are so popular. If public schools educate the majority of their students high levels, there would not be the flight to other alternatives.
Loyal M. Johnson Jr.
Oro Valley
Saving Democracy
If only Donald Trump had been exiled to Belarus after his coup attempt against the United States.
Glenda Wood
Northwest side
Republican temper tantrums
As an educator, I know a little about infantile behavior among students, but I cannot stomach the same among adults, especially when they act like bullies. Unfortunately, Republicans like Kari Lake and now Abe Hamadeh — never to forget former President Donald Trump, the biggest kid in that cesspool — stubbornly fight against reality and demand ever-new attention by the courts because they lost in the election. Granted, Hamadeh lost by a tiny number of votes, but the results are what they are and cannot be changed by yet another recount.
As far as I remember, we all get one ballot, so when these kids scream and holler that they really won counter to all evidence, should we then not question similarly the wins by Republican candidates in other races as well? All this boils down to utter hypocrisy and childish behavior However, since the lawyers make big bucks in all this braggadocio, politics will continue to be infantilized, and this is at a time when adult issues have to be addressed.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Santa Cruz is wrong on housing
Re: the June 28 article “It’s YIMBY vs. NIMBY in Ward 1.”
In Tim Steller’s column, Lane Santa Cruz made an error in her description of why there is not enough housing in Tucson.
Basically, the housing price increases before the 2008 crash and the increases of today have the same source in that interest rates were lowered by the Federal Reserve to absurdly low historic levels.
The last twenty years have seen a mostly very low fed rate, which has squeezed savers and boosted asset inequality in the world. It’s class warfare at its worse. All the new housing in the world won’t offset this squeeze. Cities can only try to mitigate the chronic fiscal damage done by the Federal Reserve.
Santa Cruz is helping the bigwigs in the community make money at the expense of taxpayers. If she doesn’t know better, or as the $500 donation for Keri Silvyn shows, she does know better, and she doesn’t deserve the vote of the community.
Matt Somers
Midtown
Former President Donald Trump speaks Tuesday at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women Lilac Luncheon in Concord, N.H.
So now here we are
World average temperatures are rising; average rainfall is declining; glaciers are melting; ocean levels are rising and warming; increasing wildfires; heat domes; etc. Currently, the consensus of most scientists is that it is all due to climate change brought on by human activity since the industrial revolution.
This was predicted decades ago when we might have averted the crisis we are in now. Did we listen to Al Gore telling us the Inconvenient Truth? No. Most of the world opted to believe the lies told to us by the entities that stood to economically benefit from continuing to rely on fossil fuels. And who is suffering? Not the Exxon Mobil executives. Those that are suffering the most (impoverished people, innocent animals) are the ones that had the least responsibility for this mess. Perhaps, one day, AI will be better stewards of this planet than humans are.
Cindy Soffrin
Northeast side
Punish violators?
The Constitution of the state of Arizona was written during a very progressive era and is much more specific on the issue than the federal Constitution, to wit:
Constitution of the State of Arizona, Article 2, Section 12 liberty of conscience, appropriations for religious purposes prohibited; religious freedom … ”No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment.”
In these times, when fewer and fewer people identify as “believers,” it’s probably wrong to suggest that legislators who violated the state constitution by installing books of religious instruction in a public property building should be arrested or otherwise punished.
However, it would not be wrong to demand that they immediately remove the offending books. After all, they’ve all sworn an oath to defend the Constitution.
John Kromko, Former Long term, State Representative
Downtown
Let’s say goodbye to fireworks
Every year around the Fourth of July, our neighborhoods sound like war zones because of the individual use of fireworks.
The terrified animals, traumatized veterans and others with PTSD, injuries, fires, and air quality alerts that follow these pyrotechnic events should be reason enough to ban this selfish and dangerous activity, and hopefully, we will succeed in making them illegal in the near future.
The act of setting off these incendiary devices does not make someone a patriot, and quite frankly, with all its well-known negative effects, this activity is the complete opposite of patriotism.
There are still some public displays on the Fourth of July overseen by safety officials, so if you absolutely can’t live without fireworks, just go to one of these events.
Let’s celebrate this holiday with the sense of community and respect for the well-being of others that truly unites us as Americans.
Deb Thompson
East side
Leaf blowers and air quality
We’ve all seen them — landscapers using their blowers to blow debris off of private property onto city and county streets. Maybe like me you had bad timing, just went through the car wash and then suddenly there is the human dust devil, blowing dust and debris out onto the roadway. If your windows are down, the debris ends up inside of your car, yourself and your lungs. I have an electric leaf blower; I blow the debris up onto my driveway and then sweep it up from there. Air quality is important, gas-powered blowers emit in an hour about as much tailpipe emissions as a new car driving 350 miles! Using a gas blower puts both exhaust fumes and particulate matter into the air placing people with health issues at greater risk. While one doesn’t need a permit to use a blower, we all still fall under the rules associated with Pima County’s Title 17 lets take reasonable precautions to protect our air and health.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
