Regarding the June 22 article, “Architects, Planners Band Together to Fight Two Housing Projects on Santa Barbara Riviera,” while just about everyone I have talked to, both in and out of local government, is against these projects, our legislative representatives, state Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, and Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, have been silent.
Since Sacramento created this situation with the so-called “builder’s remedy” approval process, don’t you think Limón and Hart should lead the effort to fix it?
Where are they?
Art Thomas
Santa Barbara
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Regarding the June 23 article, “Henry Lenny, Santa Barbara Architecture Icon Known for Skill and Style, Dies at 77,” Henry Lenny also was the architect of record of the 1989 Presidio Comandancia reconstruction (donating his services) and served on the board of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation.
In the 1980s, a group of six of us, including architectural historian David Gebhard, did a weeklong tour with Lenny of Guadalajara, Mexico, where he was born and raised. In fact, he was born in a house very similar to Casa de la Guerra in Santa Barbara.
Lenny also did renderings of Casa de la Guerra and the Presidio that the Trust for Historic Preservation used in its promotional materials.
After the sale of El Paseo by the Trust, in 1989, he was hired as a consulting architect for the restoration of the property, on Gebhard’s recommendation.
My last contact with him was a meeting several years ago when we discussed the possibility of his designing the front gate of the Presidio.
My wife, Michele, and I also own a painting of Lenny’s of an imaginary Spanish Colonial building, and a sketch that he did of me giving a lecture in the Presidio chapel.
Henry Lenny was a unique talent who fit perfectly in the architectural world of Santa Barbara.
Jarrell Jackman
Santa Barbara
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When I read Dennis Mammana’s June 22 column, “Tracking 3 Bright Stars from Summer’s Most Famous Celestial Triangle,” it immediately brought back to my mind my Air Force celestial navigation training from more than 65 years ago.
I will never forget those three stars that were collectively called “The Navigators’ Triangle” because of their extensive utility for celestial navigation. They remain indelibly locked in my memory even to this day.
Thanks for the memories …
Addison Thompson
Santa Barbara
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Regarding the June 24 article, “Carpinteria Vice Mayor Abstains from Pledge of Allegiance for Second Meeting,” while some have condemned Vice Mayor Mónica Solórzano’s choice as disrespectful, I see in it a reaffirmation of a foundational American principle: the freedom to dissent.
I happen to disagree with Solórzano’s views on immigration policy and military conduct. But disagreement is not the point, liberty is.
Her right to remain seated is protected by the Constitution, and exercising that right in a measured, peaceful way is not only defensible, it is patriotic.
By abstaining, Solórzano did not dishonor the flag. She honored what it stands for.
The Republic to which we pledge allegiance is not made fragile by silence or protest; it is made strong by its ability to protect both.
The flag is not a command. It is a symbol of freedom, even the freedom to withhold a gesture, when conscience compels it.
Peter Sadowski
Santa Barbara
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During a public hearing to finalize and approve the next two-year Lompoc city budget, a large group of concerned citizens showed up to protest the proposed defunding of the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce contract.
Prior to the June 3 defunding vote, the chamber submitted its revisions to the next contract.
These edits deleted the economic development committee, consulting services for retail strategies, and the annual State of the City address. That sounds like a significant change of scope to me, thus reduced funding was justified.
The June 18 article, “After Public Outcry, Lompoc Council Restores Funding for Chamber of Commerce,” reported that “shortly before 11:30 p.m., the council voted unanimously to designate $108,000 for the chamber, but they called for the two sides to negotiate a different contract with new conditions.”
During the discussion, Mayor Jim Mosby said, “The last audit I have is from 2022. I have no ’23 or ’24 numbers. I don’t know if we can legally give them money until they have these financial statements.
In most businesses, he said, that would be a “breach of contract” and result in immediate termination.
The Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce needs to step up and meet its contract obligations before receiving another contract renewal.
Ron Fink
Lompoc
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Agree to disagree with Roy Belluz’s June 20 letter to the editor. I’m not sure there were 800,000 people at the U.S. Army parade in Washington, D.C.
The “No Kings” protests are so much more than protecting the status of immigrants. The protesters believe in due process. Masked, unidentified police grabbing people off the street is just wrong. Deploying the military in Los Angles is more than wrong.
Steve Pepe’s letter indicates he believes that “86 47” is calling for the assassination of President Donald Trump. When a person is 86ed from a bar or restaurant, that term is calling for that individual or group to leave the premises.
As for Clara Perry’s letter about voters in California, I can say that when voters die they do not get any voter mail. My personal experience is that somehow my husband’s name was removed from getting a ballot and all of the voter mail we all receive before an election.
I will disclose that when my husband requested an absentee ballot while in hospice, the ballot arrived days after his death. I returned the unopened ballot to my polling place on the day of the election that year.
That is the only voter mail in his name that has arrived in my mailbox in the years since.
We can agree to disagree because we all live in America!
Janice Ross
Lompoc
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I salute the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday. What I don’t salute is President Donald Trump making the celebration about himself.
He expanded what was supposed to be a much smaller celebration originally planned by the Army into a grotesque $45 million embarrassment.
Claims that 300,000 people were in attendance are very doubtful, but who cares?
Meanwhile, more than 5 million people protested on the “No Kings” day across the nation. And, no, we were not paid.
More than 10,000 citizens of Santa Barbara proudly waved American flags. Yes, we are patriots (you know, the ones who don’t beat police officers with flag poles) and we are clawing back the American flag from MAGA, which has co-opted it long enough.
Linda Wasil
Goleta
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I was stung by J.W.Burk’s June 20 letter to the editor responding to my June 13 letter in which I compared the resourcefulness of the homeless Santa Barbara bicycle repair guys to some of my family’s modes of survival during World War II.
Maybe it did sound “extreme,” but I was praising two kinds of resourcefulness, not comparing dangers.
I sense a lack of compassion for the plight of the homeless whom Burk claims fail to use available community resources, such as they are.
My only direct contact with homeless people, mostly men, is when my husband and I participate in Congregation B’nai B’rith’s homeless feeding project at Pershing Park. There are many who strike me as profoundly depressed, sleep-deprived, ill and hopeless as well as homeless. Some are addicts.
Burk’s notion that they are “free” to just pick up and move to a different locale is absurd, as if relocating to Lompoc or Ventura would offer them more help. Should they walk? Rent a car? Call Uber?
In the beginning, I wondered why they didn’t just go to the available shelters in town? Their reasons are myriad, principally because there is so much theft in the crowded quarters and that most of the shelters are full to capacity.
And why don’t they seek the mental health facilities? Long, long waiting lists and then the problems of transportation, etc. A social worker could add to this dismal list.
President Lyndon Johnson once called it “the war on poverty.” The metaphor was not a casual one. So, no, I’m not ashamed for the comparisons.
Josie Levy Martin
Montecito
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Regarding Clara Perry’s June 20 letter to the editor, research consistently shows that voter fraud is extremely rare and does not occur on a scale that would affect the outcome of national elections.
However, there are some verified cases of voter fraud that have impacted local elections within the last 10 years.
Research indicates that credible instances of voter fraud are minuscule, with incident rates between 0.0003% and 0.0025%.
For example, an Associated Press review of six battleground states in the 2020 election found fewer than 475 potentially fraudulent votes out of more than 25 million cast. This number was insignificant compared to the winning margin.
A 2014 study found only 31 credible cases of impersonation fraud out of more than 1 billion votes cast nationwide from 2000 to 2014.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, maintains a database of documented voter fraud cases. As of November 2023, it had recorded 1,465 proven cases over 44 years, averaging 33 cases per year.
Many reported incidents of voter fraud are often linked to clerical errors, bad data matching or unintended mistakes rather than intentional fraud.
In national elections, there is no verifiable documentation to suggest that widespread voter fraud has impacted the outcome of any U.S. national election in the last 10 years.
While rare, some isolated cases of voter fraud have been verified and have affected the outcome of local elections.
Kevin McDaniels
Santa Barbara
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