Letters for March 11: Newport News concert is a ‘doomed investment’

Reckless spending
Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones and the City Council are planning on spending $3 million on a doomed investment to host a music festival. It’s an attempt to turn our city into a tourist destination for music.
The Hampton Coliseum, an established, high-quality concert destination, is a short drive from Newport News. This is a simple and common commute for both residents and visitors. There is no way that our city, with that little money, could overshadow the coliseum as a spot for tourists.
That $3 million could fill more than 5,000 potholes in our roads, add several hundred thousand square feet of sidewalks to our city, or even build more housing or create a new homeless shelter. Our city’s population is constantly growing, and our infrastructure and housing needs far outweigh any half-baked plan to create a copy of something we already have access to. This is simply a waste of funds that could be used to do real good and build a legacy for all the members of this council.
William C. Brinton, Virginia Organizing, Newport News
Affordable housing
Re “Toward a solution” (Our Views, March 4): About 25 years ago, one of the hottest issues was affordable housing. Today, editorial writers and politicians still struggle with it. They struggle because none of the proposed solutions will make a bit of difference to the housing crisis.
You can’t build your way out of this problem. It’s mathematically impossible.
In Virginia Beach, increasing the housing stock 1% would require building an additional 2,000 units, a fraction of what is needed without enough land to even do that.
The General Assembly promotes non-solutions that won’t move the needle significantly. Government mindlessly throwing money toward housing doesn’t make home prices drop.
The Virginia Housing Trust Fund failed at lowering costs, so it gets more money to continue not lowering costs. Couple that with bills to force local governments to permit high-density housing and perhaps designate that tenants must be government employees. You know the General Assembly is failing when it resorts to force.
Would it be a good thing if the approval process for development was quicker? Of course. Who could oppose that?
But let’s be honest. The length of the housing approval process isn’t causing the housing crisis, and it won’t solve it. And it won’t make developers suddenly philanthropic enough to lower prices. Markets set prices, not developers.
Flatly, cities have housing shortages because an ever-increasing number of people want to live there. Until that changes, and few cities want it to, there will be housing shortages and high home prices while politicians promise what they can’t deliver.
Brian Kirwin, Virginia Beach
Power and control
Re “Same rules” (Your Views, Feb. 25): I’m not knowledgeable enough to comment on the redistricting plan itself, but found the writer’s letter a refreshing response to Rep. Jen Kiggans’ description of Virginia’s plan as “shameful.” Refreshing because the writer, clearly a supporter of the plan, did not try to defend it as something other than an attempt by one political party to gain or maintain public office.
I do think the writer is mistaken when referring to these tactics as the Republican rule book. Both Republicans and Democrats use the same “rule book.” The only difference is Democrats read left to right while Republicans read right to left. The final chapter is always the same, maintaining power and control, with concern for constituents an afterthought.
Pat Yockey, Norfolk
Peace president?
President Donald Trump was snubbed by the Nobel Committee, so he decided to show us all what he could do as a war president. He tried with Greenland, Venezuela, then Iran — any one would do.
So now we have a war without plans for a postwar reality. I don’t think, with our track record, that it’s unreasonable to say my 5-year-old grandson might have to go to war in the Middle East started due to this president’s twisted ego.
Dana Hlusko, Virginia Beach