Letters to the Editor: Reinstated federal support would help all Californians, including minorities

To the editor: While I do agree with contributing writer Joel Kotkin’s point about the lack of affordable housing in his op-ed about Latinos and other minorities supposedly doing worse in California than in other states, everything else he cites is a red herring (“How California is failing its Latino population,” Dec. 9).

California can do better for everyone if we receive our tax money back from the federal government and programs that fund public radio, rural libraries, healthcare, housing and child care are reinstated. It’s ironic that a study funded by a university in Texas would fault our energy prices — does anyone remember Enron? At least here, our officials are trying to keep the minorities referenced from being unjustly deported.

Robert Davis, Tarzana

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To the editor: Kotkin seems to imply that the high cost of electricity in California is due to the climate change-driven policies of the current state government.

According to a recent study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the major cause behind the dramatic rise in the price of electricity (other than inflation) is a consequence of wildfires and the aging electrical infrastructure. A major cause of the increased ferocity of our wildfires is climate change, the very issue Kotkin seems to think we should not address at the rate California is. Several states with the highest percent of renewables also have the lowest prices for electricity.

Maybe Gov. Gavin Newsom cares about the climate rather than seeing it as a “wedge issue.” Fossil fuels cause enormous health issues that are borne disproportionately by poorer populations, the very people Kotkin purports to be concerned about.

Karl Reitz, San Clemente