DeBell is great, but so are services

As a person who golfed regularly at DeBell Golf Club before having kids, I appreciate the City Council’s efforts to keep Burbank’s beautiful municipal golf course alive.

However, I get queasy when I read that the city is “reducing around-the-clock firefighter staffing, putting off library improvements and cutting the city youth job program roughly in half” (“Council OKs rescue of DeBell,” June 11).

Apparently, the golf course was doing OK before they built the new clubhouse. Maybe we couldn’t afford a new clubhouse. Now that we have one, I wonder what efforts are underway to reverse the decline in golfers and return the golf course to profitability.

The City Council should be very careful about what this says about our city’s values.

Scott Herbertson

Burbank

Join the fight for women’s rights

Even as young women graduate in record numbers from U.S. high schools and colleges this month, they still face many barriers.

Currently, the United States is one of only seven UN-member countries to not sign the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, the convention is considered an international bill of rights for women and defines what constitutes discrimination against women.

The United States is in the company of countries such as Iran, Sudan and Somalia in not signing on to help ensure that women are adequately protected against various forms of discrimination.

Since women won the right to vote 91 years ago, great strides have been made to close the inequality gap between the genders. But, work still needs to be done to ensure that no woman is treated unfairly simply because of her gender.

Young women in America deserve to live in a country that values their contributions to society and is willing to support them in their times of need.

Members of the League of Women Voters of Glendale/Burbank urge you to stand together with us in support of women’s rights. Contact Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein today and tell them to vote to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women.

Joan Hardie

Glendale

Editor’s note: Hardie is president of the League of Women Voters Glendale/Burbank.