SUPES BROKE THE LAW, IGNORED THEIR OWN STAFF AND LAWYERS, DISRESPECTED THE PEOPLE, ETC.

 The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula believes the Board of Supervisors erred by not placing the Community General Plan Initiative (CGPI) on the June ballot. The Board ignored the recommendations of the County Elections Department and County Counsel. By refusing to put the CGPI before the voters, they also ignored the will of the large number of the citizens of Monterey County who signed the Initiative.

The League was an active participant in the General Plan Update process for the last several years and has endorsed the CGPI. We respect those who oppose it. However, our support for placing the CGPI on the June ballot is based on the right of citizens to participate in the planning process and to vote on a legally qualified initiative.

We urge the supervisors to reverse their decision and place the CGPI on the June ballot. —Marilyn Maxner | Monterey | The writer is president of the League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula.

CONTROVERSY? WHAT CONTROVERSY?

I noticed that in Squid’s report on my speech at the San Jose Business Journal’s Monterey/Salinas Forecast, you didn’t bother to mention my two main conclusions [SquidFry, March 2-8]. You did your readers a disservice by spreading squidlike ink on what is really a pretty straightforward subject.

My first conclusion, which is not at all controversial among economists, is that restrictions on supply as envisioned in the Community General Plan Initiative will drive up the price of housing even further, putting it more out of reach of young families. My second conclusion, which is also not controversial among economists, is that price controls on houses (euphemistically called “affordable housing”), with a few lucky people getting the houses at below-market prices, will discourage construction.  

Is it just possible that some of your readers would find that interesting and relevant to their economic lives? —David R. Henderson | Pacific Grove

COME AND GET ME

As it turns out, most of the prisoners at Gitmo turn out to be nothing more than poor chicken farmers caught in the post-9-11 hysterical dragnet. This is supposedly the “worst of the worst”? Still—no hearing, no lawyer, no appeal.

In typical big-government incompetence, it is better to imprison a thousand innocents than to let one guilty person go free. What have we come to, when we have allowed fascist thinking to implode our democracy? It is an American gulag that shames us all.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was right. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. More than shame, if we allow G-bay to stand, it represents a threat. Not from the prisoners within, but from the flight from the rule of law and the constitutional protections at the core of our fragile democracy.  

Remember the old saw that said: “When they came for the Jew, I said nothing. When they came for me…” Americans should not trade their freedom so cheaply to the fearmongers.

Count me as one who will stand up.  If I get on some government watch list, so be it. As so many patriotic bumper stickers say, freedom isn’t free. —Bill Hambaro | Monterey

PROTECT FLORUS WILLIAMS’ LEGACY

I have lived in Pacific Grove since 1932 and I have a lifetime of fond memories serving on civic committees helping to make this town a very special place. My late husband, Florus Williams served five terms as Pacific Grove’s mayor as well as six years on City Council. He was elected president of the League of California Cities for Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties.

He loved this town, and realized one of its most precious treasures is our magnificent coastline, the Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Fish Refuge.

Florus encouraged Sen. Fred Farr when the refuge was established in 1963. He worked closely with Sen. Henry Mello in 1984 to expand the boundaries to match Pacific Grove’s shoreline. Even David Packard came to Mayor Williams for help when the Aquarium leased some city land, and Florus was asked to dedicate the aquarium when it opened.

If Florus were Mayor now, he would be absolutely outraged and furious that the Department of Fish and Game has already renamed our refuge. Now there are plans afoot to cut it up into smaller pieces. Who said they could do this?

This is our town, our Refuge granted to us by the State in 1931. No one has the right to take it away from us. —Frances Williams | Pacific Grove