Mailbag: How do we simultaneously save water and add housing?

The governor has asked us to cut water consumption by 15%. As a number of experts have pointed out, we are already saving.

Since the “conclusion” of the last drought, most of us have continued to minimize our water usage, meaning there’s not a lot of room for cutbacks. At the same time, we face a state mandate to produce hundreds of thousands of new dwelling units.

At the very least the residents of these new units will bathe and flush toilets, increasing the amount of water used, and yet there was not a word of this in the governor’s announcement.

If there is this wonderful budget surplus, the state should be focused on creating more groundwater replenishment and other recapture programs to insure an adequate water supply rather than creating more demands on a system that is once again in trouble.

Nancy Gardner
Corona del Mar

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Let voters replace Ortiz at the polls

Rather than hold laborious interviews with perspective council members to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Councilman Tito Ortiz, why not wait until the next election cycle rolls around in 2022 and let the city’s voters choose?

Yes, Huntington Beach will be left with six council members, an even and easily deadlocked group of elected municipal politicians. The upside is twofold, however: this even numbered group of public servants may be more motivated to authentically negotiate and genuinely communicate.

Our local government will be better served by this demonstration of democratic ethos and people’s choice.

Ben Miles
Huntington Beach

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