Minimum wage should vary by cost of living
Across our nation a “living wage” is highly variable because cost of living is highly variable. We embrace this when we set wages in business, and they are set locally.
People living in huge cities (and there are lots of them) can’t live on $15 per hour wages. Yet we leave these millions behind when we try to set a universal minimum.
It’s lazy thinking. Who said it can’t be based on localized cost of living? Why does one size have to fit all for the entire country?
Richard Eaton
West side
Send undocumented immigrants to DC
Local resources, whether federal, state or county, are being overwhelmed because of policy changes made by the Democrats in Washington, D.C. The local agencies should use some of their stimulus money to transport them to Washington, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.
People are also reading…
Let them deal with the mess they are creating … up close and personal.
William Long
Foothills
Depressing visit
to the border wall
My husband and I recently drove down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to view the big beautiful wall.
Incidentally, Mexico did not pay for it. What we viewed was an evil presence looming over our beautiful desert and its precious creatures. We returned to Tucson disgusted but mostly sad.
Sharon Beaman and David Enns
Northwest side
Arizona COVID deaths put in perspective
I’m a retired nurse, naturally curious and apt to fall down rabbit holes following information to see why people act the way they do. Sometimes, they don’t have enough facts, or they have been overwhelmed with facts and rumors and misdirection.
Fact: As reported in the Arizona Daily Star on March 15, 2021, 16,553 Arizonans have died of COVID-19.
Fact: With the above fatality total, the number of lives lost in Arizona is equivalent to Douglas, Arizona (population 16,307 according to Cubit) being gone.
Fact: Wear a mask.
Maureen Metcalfe
North side
Good for religious goose is good for secular gander
Re: the March 10 article “Bill seeks to make religious services exempt from emergency shutdowns.”
As public health students, we feel that allowing churches to operate in the midst of a pandemic poses a public health risk to individuals and families who regularly attend church gatherings.
Despite an increase in vaccinations, we should continue to take safety precautions to reduce public health risks. The spread of COVID-19 is still possible and could be dangerous for those unvaccinated/vulnerable.
In the event of a future shutdown, mandates to cancel in-person gatherings should apply to religious institutions and secular event venues alike, without exception, for the safety of the public.
Religious entities should not be singled out in future pandemic-type shutdowns. Capacity limits should be equal across all types of businesses and gathering types.
If restaurants and bars are allowed to operate at 50% capacity with 6 feet of social distancing and mask mandates, then religious institutions should also be allowed to operate within the same parameters.
Michelle, Katherine, Chanda, Jennelle, Tiffany Do, Herder, McRoberts, Mitchell, Wong MPH students at the UA Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
Midtown
The party of voter suppression
Re: the March 14 article “Several Arizona lawmakers are trying to limit a citizen’s right to vote.”
Kudos to Mark Kimble and Damien Meyer of the Arizona Clean Elections Commission for their direct and to the point op-ed regarding the imminent threat to free and fair elections, and hence, our democracy.
After reviewing a brief but concise history of why the 1998 Arizona Clean Elections Act came to be and clarifying their roles as commissioners, they are sounding the alarm: “The good faith practices of any political party to either find better candidates and/or develop better policies to appeal to more voters are being cast aside for a dispiriting, anti-democratic effort to pass laws that hinder — rather than promote — voter participation.”
Can you recognize that the authors left off an obvious key word? Every single bill cited in the article and pending in our state legislature has been authored by (you guessed it) Republicans.
Urgently, call your representatives; stop voter suppression before it’s too late.
Barbara Reuter
Southeast side
Perhaps a printed list of services?
Re: the March 15 article “Tucson police will no longer answer lower-priority calls.”
I agree with the decision to release the police department from non-emergency calls. However, I wish the paper had listed social service or governmental agencies citizens can reach for solutions to these other problems.
Jan Foiles
West side
Voter suppression bills
must be loudly resisted
The Arizona Legislature is now poised to pass a large set of voter suppression bills along party-line votes.
These bills would purge as many as 200,000 voters from the Permanent Early Voter List, reduce the number of voting days, impose tougher ID requirements and create new impediments to voter registration drives, while not addressing any meaningful issues of election security.
They are about suppressing democracy and consolidating power.
Please voice strong opposition to these voter suppression bills that have passed through committee and are approaching a floor vote.
Especially if you vote in Legislative Districts 11 and 14, your Republican senator and Representatives need to know that constituents are paying attention.
Please give them a call now: District 11 — Sen. Vince Leach 602-926-3106; Rep. Bret Roberts 602-926-3158; Rep. Mark Finchem 602-926-3122. District 14 — Sen. David Gowan 602-926-5154; Rep. Gail Griffin 602-926-5895; Becky Nutt 602-926-4852.
For email addresses, go here: azleg.gov/memberroster. We’re on a slippery slope. Let’s protect our Democracy
Elizabeth Lyons
Midtown
Sinema, have courage to be like your hero
Here is an open letter to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema:
I voted for you in 2018 because I believed you were a Democrat in the mold of John Lewis. You admired John Lewis so much that you voted for him for leader in the House many times and later declared he was your hero.
Now, when the Democrats have an opportunity to enact real voter protection with the For the People Act and update the 1965 Voting Rights Act with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, you are unwilling to discuss changing the filibuster rule.
Contrary to the defenders of the virtual filibuster, it is not a long-standing, historic Senate practice. It’s a relatively new development.
I implore you to act like John Lewis would have and side with the other Democrats to change the filibuster rules, so that the Republicans will not be allowed to obstruct all progress for the next four years.
Mitchell Oomens
West side
Zoo, park supporters can be better neighbors
The Reid Park Zoo has neighbors. It sits in an urban/suburban neighborhood. The zoo may think it did a good job of letting everyone know what their renovation and expansion entailed, but apparently that is not the case.
The zoo may feel self-righteous about its plans and how it was sold, but the neighbors disagree. Now is the time to rethink the plan.
Find another spot to expand into in order to give the tigers a good habitat. Bulldozing ahead is a mistake. It is toxic to live in a neighborhood that resents and dislikes you.
As for all the Barnum Hill supporters, they should band together to become protectors and advocates for the area. Sometimes employees of the city can’t do it all.
Adopt Barnum Hill like the Adopt-a-Highway program: Clean it up, don’t litter, pick up the trash and do something to improve the pond so turtles and wildlife have a place to rest.
Preserve it and make it better.
Kathy Donahue
Foothills
State legislation affecting voting rights
“This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people, people as individuals, control over their own destinies.”
These words were spoken by President Lyndon Johnson after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The bills now being considered and passed by the Republican-controlled Arizona State Legislature, as well as many other Republican-controlled state legislatures, are clearly more about voter suppression than preserving the integrity and security of elections.
Former President Donald Trump’s perpetuation of the false claim that the election was stolen is the only reason some people doubt the integrity of the recent general election.
A democratic republic should be doing everything in its power to make it easy and safe for all of its qualified citizens to vote. These laws, if passed, will make it more difficult for all voters, Democrats, independents and Republicans.
All voters should call or e-mail their state representatives and senators immediately to let them know this is wrong.
Brian Templet
East side
Racism must be
rooted out of GOP
As I see it, there are three types of racism: First, there are those who don’t know they are. They support police and ignore their unbalanced treatment of non-whites or tolerate housing, job and education race issues.
The second type are the outright practicing racists like the white supremacists and the Nazis.
But the most dangerous are the pragmatic racists, who for political power purposes, disenfranchise non-white voters by passing voter suppression laws and gerrymandering voting districts so their vote is less consequential.
The Republican Party is guilty of harboring many of the people in all three categories. These people must be rooted out of the Grand Old Party or it will cease to be a viable political force when whites could become a minority in 20 years or so.
At the present time, these racism practices seem both immoral and unconstitutional to many Democrats, independents and even Republicans.
John Kuisti
West side