Outside Looking Out

Thanks so much for featuring the “Outsiders” in News last week [independent.com/electionsoutsiders].

To clarify a couple of points, a new dormitory at the Pershing Park parking lot would preserve the parking now there and, in addition to relieving pressure on the housing market, also reduce traffic congestion. The goal would be to house some of the thousands of students who arrive at SBCC without a car. Also, my concept of rural co-housing in vacant military “compounds” sounds a little harsh but is based on my experience as an alcoholism counselor and the Stuart B. McKinney Act, a law that provides federal property for just this purpose. Hundreds of military installations have been closed and “mothballed” in the past decades and are ready to house the homeless. This would require intercity and intercounty cooperation.

Also, when it comes to leaf blowers, I’m not jokin’! – R. Lane Anderson