Officials in Washington and Housing Problems
Your paper has two articles incredibly back-to-back (June 6).
On the front page there is a story of the Democratic-run House voting to approve a Republican-sponsored proposal halting construction of virtually all new public housing for the poor: The House opted instead to use the money to upgrade existing, deteriorating units.
This at first sounds like a good idea, because nationwide there is a glut of public housing units that could be made habitable. However, it is then pointed out that in the big cities there is a desperate shortage of public housing for the poor, which cannot be solved by simply renovating, sometimes tearing down existing units. Nevertheless, the representatives chose to vote for renovation or construction instead of for the obvious solution of renovation and construction, using the same amount of money but in ways tailored to local conditions.
Oh well, this lack of creative, compassionate thinking is to be expected from “leaders” following a President who, according to the next news article, is having a hard time deciding whether or not to accept a luxury dog “White House,” professionally decorated with parquet flooring, Reagan-red curtains, and a silver jellybean bowl!
Our country seems to be going to the dogs, which ain’t all bad--they get better housing!
DOUGLAS EVAN DRENKOW
Arcadia
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