Letters to the editor: Masculinity, budget priorities, raking forests, climate change

Masculinity

My fellow Americans, as an undergraduate group of students in a Boise State University Foundations 200 course, we are writing to express our concern of toxic masculinity within our societal culture. After careful consideration of current and ongoing trends in America we feel that there is a clear link between a narrow view of masculinity and the epidemic of mass shootings. In a society that values equality it is important that we represent that in our homes when raising our children. Teaching our sons that being a man isn’t defined by whether you drive a Chevy or Ford, whether or not you cried during Marley and Me. Being a man in America should include being respectful to others, especially those weaker than you. It means being able to deal with emotions in a healthy way. If you want to be the best you must work for it, nothing is free. It means taking responsibility for things that you can and helping those in need to stand on their own. Being a respectful, responsible man requires character. We need to teach our sons how to use masculinity for the good of everyone and not just themselves.

Budget priorities

Boise has emphasized data-informed decision making and priority-based budgeting to improve how it plans, prioritizes, executes and measures success. Does the data support $650,000 to relocate a piece of history, via the mega-library project, while the data shows areas of the City lack equal tax-supported municipal services?

The 2018 Citizen Survey data scored nine government functions from 0-20.

▪  Community Services, includes libraries, scored seventh at 8.82.

▪  Safe & Secure City scored highest at 17.37.

Priority-based budgeting is used for capital improvements, with projects prioritized using specific criteria, the first being Health/Safety. A mega-library and The Cabin have nothing to do with health/safety.

The 2019 budget includes safety as the first of eight targeted goals for defining livability. Public monies have not been invested in the additional facilities needed to expand capacity to serve increased demand from annexations and developments in the Northwest Planning Area. The fire station approved in 2010 for Pierce Park Lane, to provide quick response into the fire-prone Wildland Urban Interface, needs to be built now, as wildfire risk escalates.

Safety is clearly supported by the citizens. The City needs to put its words into action by dedicating capital improvement funds to equal protection versus entertainment.

Raking the forests

President Trump was ridiculed recently following the tragic fires in California when he suggested that the solution to the increasingly severe fires would be raking the forests. This is probably the most significant idea Donald has ever had.

Just think of the jobs that would be created. Raking millions of acres of forest will create millions of new jobs. Some jobs may be seasonal, especially in Alaska and the Rockies, those would be ideal summer work opportunities. These would be permanent jobs as the forests will need to be raked every year. Think of the new manufacturing necessary to provide millions of rakes and specialty trailers necessary to haul the needles. Think of the new infrastructure necessary to secure roads to haul all of the needles. This may not be the infrastructure we want, but the tax cuts weren’t what we wanted either. The needles could be transported to our vulnerable southern border to construct a wall that would surely be several hundred feet high and be visible from space much like the Great Wall of China.

Let’s “Rake America Great Again.”

Climate change

Our representatives should support a unique bill before Congress which has rare bipartisan support to address climate change. Unlike many other proposed solutions, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is a non-regulatory bill based on both good economics and science. It aims to decrease carbon dioxide emissions 40 percent in 12 years without EPA restrictions. A fee is levied on fossil fuels at the point of ground extraction or importation into the country and this fee is returned to the American people as a dividend, making the process revenue neutral.

There are several additional benefits to this act which include a projected improvement in air quality, leading to fewer hospitalizations and deaths, and an increase of jobs in the renewable energy industry. Solar and wind are booming industries which already employ more people than coal and have a far more certain future than the boom/bust cycles oil and coal workers find themselves in.

Scientists are sounding the alarm more strongly than ever. We have less than a decade to try to reverse climate change before we end up with irreversible damage to our planet. We may not have another chance. Fortunately, this bill provides a clear solution.