Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/community-opinion/)
Chapman University teachers Art Blaser and LouAnne Boyd suggest in their “An Uneven COVID-19 Toll in OC and Elsewhere” op-ed that before embracing claims that we will or won’t return to reality, we need to reflect on the many different conceptions of “we” and of “reality.”
While that pandemic rages on in our community, the decision to actually strengthen the public health safety net – and other essential municipal services – is being made right now in our nation’s capital and the biggest obstacle has turned out to be the U.S. Senate majority.
As COVID-19 cases soar amongst the Latino population of Orange County, it is time to take a critical look at the local racial injustices, past and present, that have contributed to those numbers. True health equity means prioritizing social interventions as much as medical treatment and testing
In July, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Board is holding a virtual permit adoption hearing for the proposed Poseidon desalination plant, which can be seen to a barrier to many wishing to give public comment. This format doesn’t follow the fundamental role of government – to represent the people.
Supervisor Don Wagner quibbles with typos and minor details, but fails to acknowledge the big picture about race relations and the Covid-19 crisis. Wagner refuses to address the fact the Board of Supervisors rejected the call to put a discussion of the renaming of John Wayne Airport, an avowed White Supremacist, on the agenda of its July 14 meeting or before voters. Just like Trump, Wagner fails to take responsibility for the County’s failed response to the Covid-19 crisis, which is why virus cases and deaths in Orange County have, since late May and early June, spiraled out of control. The County needs leadership, not political gamesmanship.
The Musick expansion will waste $180 million in state funds and more than $170 million in local dollars to expand a jail that has been vacant for close to a year, and will cost an additional $61 million annually to operate. Doing this in the middle of a pandemic is irresponsible and unethical.
Professors Mainero and Smoller get basic facts wrong in their effort to impugn county leadership.
Reopening our schools must be done in a manner that is going to ensure the safety of the students, teachers, and staff. However, the OCBOE’s 4-1 vote to approve recommendations for schools to reopen in the fall, without requiring the use of face masks or social distancing, is disappointing and irresponsible.
The Chapman professors—one conservative, one progressive—argue that Donald Trump is proudly taking the national and local GOP over a cliff. The president’s exploitation of America’s racial divide and rejection of science is being emulated by Orange County Republican electeds, to their political peril.
The continuous disinvestment in parks and open space in Central and North Orange County by the City of Garden Grove, the City of Santa Ana councilmembers and the OC Board of Supervisors is not accidental. It relies on council members’ complicity in this system where developers and corporations rule.