Letters to the Editor: Low-wage workers want out of California. That’s a huge problem

To the editor: Columnist Michael Hiltzik notes with approval that in recent years the state has gained many new young residents with college degrees. He quotes demographer Hans Johnson of the Public Policy Institute of California as saying it is “especially advantageous” to recruit new college graduates. (“California isn’t ‘hemorrhaging’ people, but there are reasons for concern,” column, Dec. 24)

I’m hardly anti-college, since teaching at one is how I earn my living. But we don’t need an unbalanced workforce.

Someone has to build the houses, sell the groceries, drive the buses and do all the other countless jobs that keep our state running smoothly. The fact that those people are leaving the state because they can’t afford to live here is a recipe for future disaster.

Geoff Kuenning, Claremont

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To the editor: The California contradictions never end.

We’re over-developed and over-populated, our natural resources are stretched too thin, our air quality is diminishing, and the poor Colorado River is expected to keep water flowing to millions upon millions of people. And then there are the fires, increasing in frequency and intensity due to all of the above.

In spite of this, California politicians love to tout their cutting-edge stewardship of the environment and to claim the state as an environmental model for the rest of the world to follow.

Earth to California: Mother Nature did not intend this state to have 40 million people. Having so many people is simply unsustainable, no matter the attempts to manipulate natural resources and create a conserving population.

We need to stop believing that the solution to our problems is more development and growth.

Mary Kay Gordon, Santa Monica