Automated traffic enforcement in Tigard.

Not sure I buy the arguments that (1) “the tickets and fines they generate fall disproportionately on marginalized and low-income residents”… or that (2) a warning period is required. Don’t we already have unbiased instruction on the rules of the road relative to this topic? Speed limit signs are clear even if ignored and a red light means stop (in fact in Oregon it’s illegal to enter an intersection on a yellow if there is time and distance to stop). The Parkway speed limit seems to be taken as a joke and routinely has vehicles going more than 15 miles per hour over it.

— Michael Merrifield, Bend

The answer from our elected officials is always the same. Throw money at the problem. Who’s money? Ours. And, of course, as money is thrown at the problem, the size of government grows expediently. Every day, we read about the failures of this burgeoning bureaucracy. Where is the accountability? Why aren’t there more terminations for poor performance? Could it be that contributions from public unions might be imperilled if aggressive accountability were to be deployed on its miscreant members?

The city of Bend has spent untold millions of dollars on the homeless problem. Are there any among us who believe the problem has improved? Has our improvidently spent dollars simply become a magnet to attract more homeless from other areas?

It is time to pause, think, and then move cautiously forward. We need to examine whether the development fees charged for residential construction need to be paused? We need to ask, as a state, whether it is time to eliminate the property tax, to make housing more affordable We need to ask if the estate tax is making transfer to children of the family home more difficult. Bottom line we need to ask if government rules, regulations, and tax policies are one of the roots of the problems

— Thomas Triplett, Bend

Ina recent editorial, the statement is made: “We don’t know whose job it is to sell the successes,” regarding the good things that are happening for our houseless neighbors in Central Oregon. I would like to suggest it is the media’s job to celebrate these successes. What is The Bulletin doing?

— Elizabeth Weeks, Sisters

Do we need any more proof that Trump puts himself ahead of country than the fact that he has directed the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to defeat the best chance of confronting the border crisis legislatively that we’ve seen in 40 years, or that we may see for many more years? And do we need any more proof that House Republicans have put their own ambitions for power ahead of country than the fact that they have fallen obsequiously in line with Trump’s bidding?

As Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham himself said, this bill has the best chance of achieving solutions to the border crisis that Republicans have long been calling for. Their opposition to it, for the sake of giving Trump a campaign issue, marks a new low in what seems to be a bottomless pit of cynicism and hypocrisy. Defeating the bill will only succeed in assuring that the current border crisis will continue unabated for another year.

Trump and MAGA Republicans must be called out. The hypocrisy, the excuses, the lies, must be called out. An 80-year-old woman, E. Jean Carroll, has done so. May she be an inspiration to all of us.

— Clyde Thompson, Bend

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