The June 3 article, “Hirers to fund housing projects,” states that new apartment units made possible by a $10 million fund backed by eight Upper Valley employers will be primarily in 30-unit to 50-unit structures.
If the Upper Valley will require at least 10,000 more housing units by 2030 to keep up with population growth, that implies that there will be 200 new 50-unit structures that could be built “at different locations in the Upper Valley.” Given recently reported hostility to multiunit housing proposals in our larger communities, just the permitting argues against such an assertion. And 50-unit structures in our smaller communities seem extremely unlikely given their building restrictions.
Based on population growth data from recent years, I have to question whether the 10,000-unit projection is overinflated. And the article states that 1,000 units are in some state of permitting, which maybe implies less of a crisis.
A possible conclusion of the above analysis is that the article is crying wolf when perhaps the problem is a chihuahua.
A $10 million pledge seems like a notable event; however, when viewing it relative to Dartmouth Health’s and Dartmouth College’s recent earnings, it is not that much money.
Perhaps the growth plans for major communities in the area should be factored into these analyses.
Paul Tierney
Norwich
Since 2014, the Chinese government has violated human rights by abusing many ethnic races, especially Uyghurs. They have reportedly taken over a million Uyghurs into many different “re-education” camps. They have also sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison. This is similar to when the Khmer Rouge orchestrated the killing of almost 2 million people in what were also called “re-education” camps. These camps, however, are more than just for education; they allegedly have a policy to kill anyone who tries to leave. Women have been mass sterilized to prevent more Uyghurs from being born, and families have been separated. Many countries have accused them of genocide. They are saying that China is trying to get rid of the Uyghur group completely.
Even after all of that, it has been a year since the U.S. reported that 1 million Uyghurs have been taken, and we have still yet to do anything about it. This genocide isn’t going away and it will keep getting worse and worse until somebody steps in the way. Millions more will be captured and killed. We can’t be tricked by China’s slow-burning genocide. They are doing this very deliberately and carefully. The Australia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, says they are doing this to stay under the radar. “I think part of the reason this is under the radar is that people aren’t overtly being killed or raped or tortured.” We can’t be tricked by the Chinese government, and we need to realize that this is genocide, and thousands are dying.
During the Rwandan genocide, former President Clinton denied it and did nothing to stop it. But before becoming president, he said, “If the horrors of the Holocaust taught us anything, it is the high cost of remaining silent and paralyzed in the face of genocide. We must not permit that to happen again.” Is that not what we are doing now? We are staying silent and we are paralyzed in the face of genocide. We are doing what he said not to do again.
Reid Allegretti
Hartland
According to Gov. Sununu, New Hampshire gun laws are fine the way they are. If, however, the governor signs HB 1178 into law, towns and schools would be prohibited from enforcing any federal law or executive order regarding firearms and knives unless it is also in state law. The bill title is “prohibiting the state from enforcing any federal statute, regulation, or Presidential Executive Order that restricts or regulates the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” Clearly, supporters of the bill value the individual’s right to bear arms more than the safety of our children. Is this how we want to live in the Granite State? Would Second Amendment supporters feel the same if their child were mowed down at Sandy Hook, Parkland or Uvalde?
Please write Gov. Sununu (Office of the Governor, State House, 107 Main St., Concord, NH 03301) and urge him to veto HB 1178. We do not want to send a message that New Hampshire does not enforce federal gun laws.
Dena B. Romero
Hanover