Heavy Metals and The Wacky Utopian Left

August 13, 2003

Dear Editor,

Lookout letter writer, Abby Arnold ("LETTERS: Equating Homeless with Toxic Waste," August 9, 2003) seems to be confused when she complained that an August 4, 2003 Lookout letter from Maria L. Loya, Mothers for Justice, about environmental justice equated homeless people
with toxic waste.

There was absolutely no reference to toxic waste in Loya's letter.

As an aside, the property at 1751 Cloverfield under consideration by OPCC for a drop-in center and homeless shelter was a former toxic waste dump and the presence of heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other carcinogenic materials might make it unsuitable for human habitation unless the site can be cleaned up.

Therefore, It appears that the only reference to a slur equating the homeless with toxic waste is in the mind of future city council candidate, Abby Arnold.

Bill Bauer

July 13, 2003

Thanks f or the good ideas by Mr. Gruber and a very well crafted piece. ("WHAT I SAY: Lies, Damned Prevarications, and More Damned Distortions," August 11. 2003)

But Gruber fails to remind his readers that along with his feared "right-wing nihilists" who won't spend a dime on the homeless, the ACLU and other "progressives" did their part in putting the homeless on the streets.

It was the left-wing nihilists who sued to expand the "civil rights" of the mentally ill and got them out of hospitals where, it turns out, many belonged. The wacky utopian left is always there to make things worse in the name of progressive politics.