Letters for Jan. 25, 2024
Don’t ditch the switch
Gov. Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1196 of 2019 to make daylight saving time permanent with legislative and popular support. The Washington law was a gesture, joining other states’ appeal to Congress for a federal work-around of the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
In 2021, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., co-sponsored the Sunshine Protection Act, which the Senate passed handily. The House Energy and Commerce Committee refused to hear the companion bill, HR69. In 2023, the Sunshine Protection Act was amended to allow exempted areas to stay on standard time. It died with a sputter instead of being supported as the necessary priority before the issue goes to the states.
There is no one-size-fits-all, as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine would have us believe. Winter-pattern seasonal affective disorder is higher in northern states like Washington. More natural light increases road safety considerably – pedestrian fatalities drop by 13%. Most of Washington’s year, eight months, is on daylight saving time.
SB 5795 applies completely reductive logic by addressing solely the few days out of the year that the one-hour acclimation occurs, no different than traveling one time zone away. Even more egregious is that SB 5795 would make a permanent condition of reducing natural light, not just for the current four months of the year, but all 12. Don’t make it worse.
Suzan Marshall
Spokane
Solving homelessness isn’t done locally
Mr. Vandermeer’s Jan. 17 letter “Vision for Spokane’s housing problem” proposes solutions that are nonsensical in solving either one of the respective issues mentioned, homelessness or the housing shortage. Stating that money is available and that vision based on his plan of “semipermanent housing built on mobile home platforms” actually solves any of his stated problems is laughable.
Homelessness and housing shortages are separate issues and need to be approached as such. Homelessness is an issued based in addiction (Union Gospel Mission says 60% to 70% of the homeless population is impacted by the disease) and is unsolvable by providing low-barrier housing. The more public beds provided will only grow the problem larger. Housing shortages are more a result of local zoning laws, growth management policies and market conditions.
Reducing homelessness will not be realized locally. It must first be addressed at the highest levels of the political food chain with policies that attack and destroy the drug cartels, manufacturing facilities, pipelines and distribution networks. Until that happens, local spending is nothing more than virtue signaling and feel-good efforts that waste taxpayer funds.
Ed Walther
Spokane
Vote ‘yes’ for school experiences
As a former teacher and parent of three children who attended public schools, I urge everyone to support Spokane Public Schools by voting “yes” on February’s bond and levy measures.
My kids attended aging schools with leaking roofs, broken heating and cooling systems and sections of the building that were blocked off due to unsafe conditions. Extracurricular activities were reduced because the state government didn’t provide enough money to meet basic needs of the district.
I taught in schools where kids sometimes fainted because their classrooms were not cooled on summer days, where basements flooded when it rained, and teachers used their prep and lunch hours to provide extra activities for kids whose parents couldn’t pay for after school programs.
The bond will help upgrade school buildings to meet modern health and safety standards. The levy will pay for counselors, librarians, custodians and nurses, along with music and AP classes.
My kids are long out of school, but I’m happy to vote for improvements for my city’s schools. I can’t think of a better place to put my tax dollars.
Claudine Zender
Spokane
Deer Park shows welcoming spirit
On a recent Friday, I found myself camping out in the commons of the high school for a long duration of time.
My daughter was in a play. The Deer Park-Riverside basketball teams were in the gym and the Home Link cheerleaders were performing at halftime.
What I saw provided me with so much pride in our community. Kids were playing basketball, tag, charades and whatever else they could think of all around me. Arcadia families were buying raffle tickets to support one of their staff member’s fight with cancer. Families were catching up with one another about their daily lives. Concession stand food was being consumed at an alarming rate. The crowds in the gym were deafening as they cheered for their teams. Families were braving the bitter cold to support their drama student or cheerleader.
The city is now telling us that we need to share this special place with others. As new homes are being built and new families are choosing to make Deer Park their home.
Let us welcome them with the same welcoming spirit that I witnessed at Deer Park High School this past Friday.
The school district is trying to make a place for these new families by passing a bond and levy. Please join me in voting yes in the Feb. 13 election so that we can continue to provide opportunities and places for our community to come together and support, celebrate and enjoy each other.
Shani Hunsaker
Deer Park