Ending Pittsburgh’s homeless problem

The homeless problem in Pittsburgh can be almost completely eliminated by taking a page out of the Texas and Florida illegal immigrant playbooks.

A one-way Greyhound bus ticket from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles is approximately $200. If the city offered to buy their tickets, there would be a lot of happy people willing to leave cold, dirty old Pittsburgh to enjoy some fun in the sun. California already has over 170,000 homeless and they love to coddle them. They wouldn’t even notice a few hundred more.

California has spent billions of dollars on the problem. Homeless folks can receive cash and/or food stamps each month that they remain homeless. In fact, Los Angeles is preparing to open a plush new skyscraper devoted to housing homeless individuals, equipped with upscale amenities such as a gym, café and apartments featuring stunning views of the city skyline. Why bother flipping burgers for a lousy $20/hour?

Is there another way to solve Pittsburgh’s homeless problem for $200 per person? I doubt it. This would be a win-win for everyone. Pittsburgh’s so-called leaders need to step up and start buying those tickets.

E. Joseph Biss

Greensburg

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Pa. must invest in Alzheimer’s

In Pennsylvania, there are more than 280,000 people living with Alzheimer’s and another 465,000-plus people providing unpaid care for their loved ones, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. I am one of these individuals. I have been the primary care partner for more than 6 years for my wife, Sara, and I have firsthand experience of the disjointed, and frankly underfunded, government support services available to families like mine.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has proposed a $1.9 million appropriation to establish Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders infrastructure within the Department of Aging. Adequate funding and coordination between state offices is critical in ensuring Pennsylvania residents have access to comprehensive and coordinated services.

In Pennsylvania, the Medicaid cost of caring for people with dementia is $3.7 billion, a number expected to rise more than 10% by 2025. We need the passage of Senate Bill 840 and the $1.9 million proposed investment will do just that.

With fellow Alzheimer’s advocates, my wife and I urge our legislators to join bipartisan efforts to pass this bill with adequate funding. We cannot afford not to pass this bill while experiencing steep increases in Medicaid costs and the number of people in need.

Don Belt

Greensburg

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Farm Bill doesn’t go far enough

The House’s long-awaited Farm Bill is a doggone mess. On May 30, the House Agriculture Committee approved a Farm Bill that neglected to address the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) decades-long failure to fulfill its obligations under the Animal Welfare Act. This means the extreme suffering of dogs in puppy mills will continue to be ignored.

Rather than requiring USDA inspectors to remove animals found suffering at licensed facilities, the bill merely instructs inspectors to “consider” removal. But it doesn’t stop there. A provision in the bill also narrows the definition of “suffering,” which will lead to even fewer animals in distress receiving the urgent care they need.

On top of all of this, the bill allows the USDA to further shirk its enforcement responsibilities by passing off problems with licensees to local law enforcement agencies. We need a Farm Bill that protects dogs from inhumane treatment, not one that exacerbates their vulnerability. To this end, I urge Rep. Summer Lee to vote against any version of the Farm Bill that does not contain Goldie’s Act — lifesaving legislation that would address and correct the USDA’s enforcement failures. I encourage my fellow Pennsylvanians to call on their federal lawmakers to do the same.

Micah Wintner

Munhall

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Teachers should be respected

Perhaps if teachers were shown the respect they deserve from both parents and their children, more individuals would consider teaching as a career and, for sure, more teachers would not be leaving the profession.

Monica Yuhas

Smock

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Trump trial perspectives

I have often said, “you cannot win an argument with an idiot.” An idiot is unwilling to process factual information and adjust their opinion accordingly.

In the recently completed trial of former President Donald Trump, there are many idiots who celebrate the guilty verdict and crow the jury’s decision justifies their psychotic hatred of the man. If you see yourself in this description, you can stop reading now.

For anyone else, consider the following facts:

Trump announced his presidential run in November 2022. Over the next year, four prosecutors in Democrat strongholds had filed actions against him. Two states had made efforts to keep him off their ballots. One case involved a real estate valuation for purposes of receiving loans which were paid back, therefore, no victim. Judgment: $450 million. Another case involves the crime of keeping classified documents in Trump’s private residence, something that Joe Biden also did, except he possessed documents taken while he was a senator. Biden will not be charged.

In the recently completed trial for falsifying financial records, the judge was an activist Democrat who overwhelmingly ruled in favor of the prosecution’s requests while denying motions filed by the defense. Even many liberal legal experts believe the verdict is likely to be overturned on appeal.

Whether you’re MAGA or an anti-Trumper, it’s reasonable to question the validity of these proceedings. Are Democrats interested in winning an election or just making sure they stop their adversary by any means necessary? God help this nation if it’s the latter.

Richard Byers

Mt. Pleasant

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Pa. delegation should overturn EPA gas car ban

President Biden’s EPA recently finalized a regulation that will, in practice, ban most new gas cars and trucks by 2032. The end game is to force American drivers into electric vehicles by taking away most non-plug-in vehicle options. This policy is unlawful and un-American. It’s bad for consumers, our economy and national security.

We say this regulation is the same as a ban because that’s the effect it’s going to have on people’s lives. To comply, automakers will have to abandon the production of most traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in less than eight years, leaving consumers with vastly restricted access to new gas cars and trucks they can afford.

Sen. Bob Casey will have an opportunity to overturn this regulation and protect consumer freedoms in an upcoming Congressional Review Act vote. With 61% of Pennsylvania residents clearly opposed to gas car bans and EV mandates, the choice should be obvious.

Chet Thompson

Washington, D.C.

The writer is president and CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.

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Why should Pittsburgh Mills businesses get money back?

After reading the article “Deer Lakes to refund more than $700K to 3 Pittsburgh Mills properties after reassessments” (May 28, TribLive), I wonder why rich companies that have businesses in the Pittsburgh “Travel at Your Own Risk” Mills complex get to get money back for assessments. Who pays people for their damaged vehicles and worries when they use unsafe roads? If there is a safety issue on my property, I’m told in most cases that it’s my problem and I have to have it repaired or my township will fine me.

If the townships and school districts have to give back money, why not put it in a fund not to be used for anything but fixing the roads at the Pittsburgh Mills complex (if that is a gripe from the businesses)? Let them go to court with their high-paid lawyers and fight it. I’m sure they have a plan for that, too. Average people don’t have that luxury.

Also, it’s hard to believe the owners of the Mills properties can get away with not fixing the roads so they are safe to travel. When they had to stop a sheriff’s sale, they seemed to find the money to pay to stop it.

Mike Babincak

Springdale Township

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