Everyone knows Monterey County needs more affordable housing. Now, $2.1 billion of new funding will be available statewide to make more affordable housing available, thanks to the voters'' approval of Proposition 46, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act.

These funds can provide tremendous benefit to Monterey County''s low-income families, including our critical agriculture and service workers, our senior citizens, and residents in need of emergency shelter services.

Monterey County''s voters helped to make this Housing Trust Fund available statewide. Now, our local elected officials must ensure that our cities and county are first in line for these funds by supporting local affordable housing developments.

Government leaders have a variety of tools at their disposal to encourage affordable housing development. Inclusionary housing ordinances, density bonus laws, and redevelopment districts are a few of these tools.

Most important is a willingness by local political leaders to take a creative, cooperative approach with housing developers and social service providers to facilitate housing development in our region.

Cities and counties throughout the state are now positioning themselves to access the Housing Trust Fund. Let''s go to work here in Monterey County and ensure that we get our share of these resources.

Alfred Diaz-Infante/President, CHISPA/ Salinas

Florida

If Moco residents aren''t happy with Nov. 5 county referendum results, they might like to know that they could have been different. It seems the ballot measures did not appear on all Monterey County ballots-mine included.

The registrar of voters office apologized, encouraging me to contact my representatives.

If you''re not aware of this, its a serious issue to be addressed before the next election. Otherwise, I''m wondering if "No taxation without representation" is just something taught to school kids these days?

If it''s true that a group of constituents were excluded from the vote, then the referendum results lack validity.

Richard Hartford/Aromas

Bush

The Bush Administration is living proof that you can fool some of the people all the time. If Kuwait''s major export had been soy beans, there would have been no Gulf War. Likewise, the U.S. has no other economic interest in the Middle East but petroleum. Iraq has the world''s second largest proven petroleum reserves after Saudi Arabia.

If the U.S. follows Bush''s fervid wish for a near-future unilateral confrontation with Iraq, when the dust settles, the U.S. will have primary say-so on that country''s petroleum future, despite what the experts predict. This colossal windfall will bring a cornucopia outside of OPEC''s guidance and control.

What more could the petroleum buddies of the White House wish for?

How many human lives and military dollars will Bush be willing to sacrifice to achieve this result? As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, if we find ourselves headed for an Iraqi conflict, the president should show evidence of his strong support for our efforts by personally leading our forces to battlefield victory. After all, he got stuck in the National Guard and missed out completely on Viet Nam.

Bill Cox/Marina