Mailbag: Solar panels ruin natural landscapes

Thank you for your coverage regarding the solar panels. I am appalled that these panels were approved and are allowed to stay. While I understand the laws that are cited, I find it more than difficult to believe that such laws permit the destruction of the entire hillside. Didn’t the developer on Carnation just have his project rejected due to its perceived negative impact on the hillside?

As a measurement of the sanity of this project, imagine if every homeowner along Dolphin Terrace installed a similar solar panel project. We would have, in essence, ruined one of the few natural areas still viewable from the Bay and the surrounding area. This certainly couldn’t have been the intention of the legislation.

I am also extremely disappointed in the attitude of the Dolphin Terrace homeowner. Even if such solar panel installations are permissible, he should be respectful of his neighbors and fellow citizens who are largely in opposition to the solar panels. I believe he is inaccurate in his belief that even a small percentage of people think the panels are a good idea and should remain. Just picture the entire hillside covered in such panels, and who could be in support of such an installation.

Robert J. Stemler

Corona del Mar

So where are the jobs?

Too many Californians are without jobs and have been for much too long. According to U.S. Labor Department’s June estimates, 2.24 million Californians are out of work, an increase of 27,600 jobless Californians compared to May. At 12.3%, the unemployment rate in California is the third worst in the country.

Sen. Barbara Boxer’s answer to the unemployment crisis was to support a massive federal bill to borrow and spend $862 billion. The bill was forecast to cause national unemployment to peak at 8%; obviously, it failed miserably to live up to that forecast.

In stark contrast, Boxer’s Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, has met payroll, using money provided by willing investors and people who voluntarily exchanged their money for products and/or services provided by organizations and companies she ran.

Boxer claims she “was a strong supporter of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” and “helped craft key provisions — to help save and create jobs in the state…”

I simply ask, “Where are those jobs, Barbara?”

Thomas R. Damiani

Newport Beach