BUS-TED
— I’m sorry but I totally disagree with the new spending for buses in Santa Cruz County. I have monitored the buses driving around Santa Cruz and the large passenger buses only have 1 to 3 people in them at any given time and day. The other day at the corner of 41st Ave, I saw 3 different buses pass me with NO ONE inside. This has to be a waste of resources. If you are going to get new buses, please get smaller buses that accommodate the current riders. One half of what we have would be sufficient. Someone in the agency should ride the buses at different times and count the riders. Is there somewhere where we can see the income from actual riders and the expenses to operate these buses. It gives me heartbreak to see such waste in our little town.
Rita Law
MORE BUSSES, MORE DRIVERS
— Wonderful news growing public transit. Now all you gotta do is GET DRIVERS and stop dropping routes.
Peter Soupstock
FIX THE COURT
— The Supreme Court is running amok, and it’s past time we got it under control.
In the year since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, abortion has been effectively banned (with extremely limited exceptions) in fourteen states. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have lost access to abortion care.
This year, the Court overturned access to clean water, affirmative action in college admissions and student debt relief for millions of middle and low income borrowers. They’ve set the precedent of overturning policies simply because they were enacted by a Democratic president.
On top of that, the ethical crises keep piling up. We’ve seen Republican mega donors footing the bill for Clarence Thomas’ vacations, mortgage payments and family tuition; Samuel Alito taking dinners with conservative anti-abortion activists, accepting a lavish vacation from someone with business before the Court and allegedly leaking reproductive health decisions; and Neil Gorsuch selling property to an executive that has business before the Court just days after his lifetime appointment was finalized.
Such blatant corruption is both unacceptable and unconscionable. Congress must pass an ethics code that applies to Supreme Court justices, which would allow impeachment of those justices who break ethical standards. Currently, it is clear that Justice Clarence Thomas needs to step down due to years of corrupt violations.
We can’t allow such corruption to continue. Congress must stop the out-of-control, right-wing majority on the Supreme Court. One way to do that is to restore ideological balance to the Court by adding four more seats as well as impeachment.
I’m urging our legislators to stand up as a governmental body and rein in this illegitimate Court by passing the Judiciary Act.
Sincerely,
Ellen Kane
MORE COURT FRUSTRATION
— Supreme Court decisions impact every facet of American life. Unfortunately, those decisions don’t reflect the will of the people.
Mitch McConnell’s right-wing majority Court gutted voting rights, opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate money in our elections, struck down gun safety laws, overturned student debt relief for millions of Americans and limited the government’s ability to protect our air and water. Since they overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion has been effectively banned (with extremely limited exceptions) in fourteen states. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have lost access to abortion care.
This can’t go on. We need to move away from these types of extremely partisan rulings and restore the legitimacy of the Court by passing the Judiciary Act to expand and rebalance the bench.
Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times already in our nation’s history—and they must do it again to ensure that the justices protect our freedoms, not advance their own radical political agendas. It’s time for Congress to pass the Judiciary Act.
Sincerely, Haley Peters
