Opposing Trump’s evil, Keeping rents affordable and other Herald letters | Opinion

Rental owners aim to simplify law

The local Rental Owners’ Association (BROA) is a nonprofit organization with hundreds of Tri-City landlords. Most of our members own just a few rental units and many of them work on a very small profit margin, or a small loss with future benefits in mind.

During COVID, laws changed forcing several landlords to sell. New landlords bought some of the properties at the higher market rate. This forced rents to skyrocket suddenly and many tenants saw increases of $100-$500 a month. Some rents doubled.

Rents have stabilized, but they remain high. This forced some into homelessness but by creating more rental units we can ease the problem.

As landlords, we are trying to help by providing housing at prices we can afford to offer. More simplified landlord-tenant laws would encourage new landlords to enter the business and help lower prices.

New landlords can learn about this business by joining BROA where the needed forms and advice are readily available. BROA meets monthly September-June in Richland. Check us out at broawa.org.

Steve Gohee, Richland

Good people can counter Trump

It angers me that the Republican party fully supports Donald Trump’s incivilities, intimidations, and threats of violence. It worries me that Trump can rely on Trumpers to carry out violence at his direction.

It shocks me that Trumpers mindlessly parrot every deceit spewing from this fountainhead of lies. It saddens me that Trumpers prefer a Trump Putin/Xi dictatorship to American Democracy.

It angers me that Trumpers aim to undermine the integrity of the most important institutions in our country. It infuriates me that Trump encourages his people to disregard law and order as it suits him.

It’s disappointing that so many Trumpers are white racists and anti-semites. It’s unsurprising that billionaire Trump takes advantage of his gullible followers to extract money from them for his legal expenses.

It angers me that Trump vilifies honest and caring government workers who provide necessary services to us all. It saddens me that echo-chamber Trumpers have lost the mental capacity to distinguish truth from fiction.

It amazes me Trumpers don’t care that Trump betrayed his oath to the Constitution and committed multiple serious felonies. It’s insane that Trumpers contrive excuses for his every bad deed. Nevertheless, Trump’s evil cannot triumph when good people oppose it.

Edward Rykiel, Richland

Newhouse votes concern this reader

The climate crisis is becoming harder to ignore. The planet experienced the hottest day on record this week. The Canadian wildfires burn 20 million acres and blankets the Northeast and Midwest in smoke, raising health concerns. Allstate is no longer offering new (homeowner) policies in California citing a worsening climate.

Gas-powered vehicles produce 24% of the nation’s greenhouse gases. Transformation to a green economy with vehicles powered by advanced batteries reduces the heat-trapping gases driving climate change.

Federal investment in damming the Columbia River created Moses Lake and an agriculture economy. Beginning in 1990, manufacturing was pursued to bring in high-paying jobs. Federal funding to curtail emissions of vehicles opened the door to Sila Nanotechnologies and Group14 Technologies building new plants for the production of advanced batteries in Moses Lake.

The political response to this existential crisis is cause for concern. Rep. Dan Newhouse voted against providing funding for the battery plants in Moses Lake. He voted against 2021 legislation, and in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act, then voted to claw back much of the climate funding in a bill on the debt ceiling.

Mickey Beary, Richland

Editor’s note: We reached out to Newhouse’s aides on the issue. In part, they said:“Although Rep. Newhouse voted against the legislation …, it’s false to say he specifically voted against funding the battery plants in Moses Lake. The Congressman voted against those ... because they were massive spending bills that have proved to put our country in more debt. Not one ... specifically detailed that the funding would go to Moses Lake — it went to the DOE, (to disburse) the money how they saw fit.”