Letters: Chief Hohenberg, homeless homes price, COVID bill and more | March 7
Hohenberg has been invaluable
Congratulations to Ken Hohenberg on his planned retirement. As Kennewick Chief of Police he has performed a difficult and challenging job while maintaining the respect and admiration of both the public he served and local, state and national law enforcement community. To do that over 40 years with changing attitudes on policing, race and rights is quite an achievement.
On top of that, however, Ken has been a valued leader in community organizations and causes, always trying to help improve the Tri-Cities. While he will be impossible to replace, it is good to know he will continue to be an invaluable contributor to the well being of our community.
Thanks, Ken, for all you have done to make this such a good place to live.
Mike Lawrence, West Richland
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Voter suppression hurts democracy
Republicans such as our (Rep.) Dan Newhouse are corrupting democracy and diminishing the lives of most Americans. Over half a million have died due to Republican malfeasance.
They are defeating democracy step by step as they relentlessly pursue voter suppression. Hundreds of more suppression measures are on the dockets already this year. #BlackLivesMatter
No Republican presidential candidate has won the trust of most American voters in 32 years.
Democrats have worked to make government more accountable, to better serve all Americans. Republicans ran up the national debt by gifting uber-wealthy campaign donors with trillions of dollars per year in tax breaks. They are not paying their fair share.
Republicans, including Newhouse, voted to support the Big Lie that led to insurrection with foreseeable deadly violence.
A Pew Research Center poll showed that more than half of white voters sided with a Republican Party motivated by racism and using methods of fascism.
Nothing good nor durable can be built on top of lies that subvert democracy.
Republicans as a group oppose life-saving mask use. Biden is asking you to wear masks to save the lives around you.
Support the John Lewis Voting Right Advancement Act and wear a mask for your family.
E. Ivar Husa, Richland
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Homeless homes don’t pencil out
The $3,800,000 for 16 homes for homeless in Kennewick works out to $237,000 (average) per home. But, these homes range in size from 300 - 600 square feet. Rounding off that is nearly $800 per square foot for the smallest home and almost $400 per square foot for the largest house. This is way more than the cost of building most residential homes.
My guess is that if there were not so much “free money” for this project, these homes could have been built for a lot less money, including the cost of the land and its development. Was there competitive bidding? Just wondering about the numbers.
Nancy Parker, Walla Walla
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COVID bill full of Dem pet projects
The legislators (in Congress) are in the process of trying to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. They are calling it a “COVID relief bill” to appease the general population.
However, once you start looking deeper into where this money is dedicated to go for, it is a joke. Only $825 billion going for COVID relief, and the balance ($1 trillion +) is going for “pet” Democratic projects – things that have nothing to due with the COVID situation.
I feel the media is being negligent in pointing this out in greater detail to the general population. If the average citizen knew how little was going actually for COVID relief, they would be upset.
Everyone needs to contact their legislators and let them know that you want all monies in this relief bill to only go for COVID-related issues — no pet projects.
Phil Clouse, Burbank
This story was originally published March 7, 2021 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Chief Hohenberg, homeless homes price, COVID bill and more | March 7."