Here is another roundup of some of the most thought-provoking reader comments of the week. Comments are selected by our editors and subject to editing for grammar, spelling, clarity and length.
Click on each topic’s headline to see the article in question.
Bike to Death
Couldn’t agree more that on-street bike lanes, expecially on main thoroughfares such as Main Street and Broadway in Santa Ana, are unavoidably dangerous for the bike rider.
The Santa Ana City Council will soon be considering whether to complete the ¼-mile gap in the Santiago Creek Bike Trail by putting it on Main and Broadway or taking the safe route along the creek between the Interstate 5 underpass and Fisher Park. It will be interesting to see if the City Council does the right thing and completes this trail using the safe and sane route along the creek.
— Shirley Grindle

Bike lanes would help, but I don’t feel any safer riding in them. The problem is indeed visibility. Bike riders are hard to see. Too many people don’t even look for them.
So I take the sidewalks whenever possible. You may hit a tree root or broken cement and lay down the bike. (I did that twice.) But it beats getting smacked by a car going 50 mph.
— Mike Reilly

State Prisoners in Local Jails
The biggest barrier to rehabilitation is the permanent, life-destroyng felony charge on their records. There must be instituted a manner in which persons can have those felonies expunged from their records in a time frame of within one year after their sentences are served.
One cannot get a job in a good economy with a felony record, let alone in this economy. Allow persons to gain the restoration of their reputation and standing in public by having a manner in which they can satisfy the harm done to society’s customs and norms for a victimless crime mostly due to drugs.
— Paul Lucas

Part of the law allows local judges to split an offender’s sentence between jail time and supervised release. Unfortunately, the courts and district attorney are opting for straight custody time in about 75% of the cases. That is driving the buildup in the local jails, as many are getting multiple years in custody.
Everyone really needs to stop crying about more money and look for smarter ways to deal with the problem. Not every offender needs to be locked up.
The state learned that the hard way. Why is Orange County repeating the mistakes?
— Smith2

Budget Forum
There are so many things wrong with what this blog post says about this “budget forum” that it’s hard to know where to start.
The youth in this city have little or no concept of how to provide public safety for a city of nearly 400,000 people. There’s an increased level of complexity from a multigenerational gang social structure and a high level of low-income residents, as well as a large transient population.
The city has an incredible amount of crime and issues but is able to keep a lot of it hidden.
At that age, young adults are not yet true stakeholders in the community having jobs, paying taxes, buying homes, raising children etc. They don’t understand economic development or what makes a neighborhood or community strong.
They also probably don’t understand that a city’s first and foremost job is to provide services: infrastructure like streets, water and sewers as well as public safety. The city works with other outside agencies to provide education and social services.
The jail was an important component of cleaning up the city and changing the crime statistics over the years. It still serves a vital role in helping house criminals and could probably have operations increased and maximized to manage costs better. The answer is not to take a step back, however, and disrupt valuable public safety resources.
There isn’t much info in this post about what else was discussed as part of the budget presentation. Branding? Clean up the city and solve some of the negative issues and the reputation will change. Youth returning? Really? The truth is most youth never even leave the city.
It’s OK for the youngsters to have an opinion, but what does it say about a city council who takes their message and decides to act on it? Let’s have some real discussion about the budget and real priorities instead of propping up “youth” for rehashing the Latino Health Access and Orange County Employees Association agendas.
— SA Resident

This article is a textbook example of what will happen when the Koch brothers buy the Los Angeles Times: biased, poor reporting.
This article is nothing more than a puff piece for the concerned parties. I have yet to read an article at the Voice of OC that was remotely fair. That’s doubly true with the city of Santa Ana — and exponentially true with the commenters. Supporters of the current City Council get away with personal attacks, avoid responsibility and never address issues, while posters who, however distasteful, are banned, kicked off, ridiculed and according to one, threatened with a lawsuit by a council member’s lawyer husband.
Note to the Voice of OC: At least try to appear fair. Neil Young was wrong when he said, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.” Rather, “It’s better to be right than be liked.”
— Greg Jenkins

Heroin Therapy
You want to know a better way to fight heroin addiction? Did you know that 87% of the world’s illicit raw opium supply comes from Afghanistan? Look it up if you don’t believe me.
Since the U.S. is an occupying force in Afghanistan and has been since 2002, have you ever wondered why opium (poppy) production and illicit sales from Afghanistan have never been better? hmmm? Oh, and you thought we had a “war on drugs”?
Ever wonder why we don’t take the “war on drugs” as seriously as the “war on terrorism”? The Taliban and al-Qaida in that part of the world generate their revenue in large part through opiate (poppy) production and sales.
Maybe if we started dropping herbicides on the poppy fields instead of just dropping drone bombs on villages in Afghanistan, we could drastically cut the supply of heroin across the globe and reduce the number of heroin addicts by half or more.
— Beelzebub

Anaheim Council Districts
I have monitored Anaheim campaigns for the past 15 years or so, and each election the amount of money spent on and by candidates running for City Council has dramatically increased.
I strongly advise Anaheim to form into at least five districts and elect its council members by district. This would go a long way in reducing the amount of money required to run for a council seat, and it would also provide representation from all parts of the city.
I also believe the mayor’s seat should not be an elective position but should be rotated amongst the council members.
— Shirley Grindle