MAILBAG:

Thank you, Leslie Daigle, Loretta Sanchez, Dianne Feinstein, Ed Royce, Barack Obama and the numerous California advocates who lobbied, petitioned, exerted and groveled for the much-needed funding for the vital shovel-ready dredging of the Upper Newport Bay.

As an Eastside resident, I observe the excavators remove, inch-by-inch, large scoops of contaminated mud from the sediment-choked bay daily. Every day, I observe a little more water current, a little less stagnation. Every day, I see an island used for endangered nesting once connected by sediment deposits now completely surrounded by deepened channels free from coyotes and bobcats. Every day, I imagine the birds and the fish smiling more and us humans too, for we share the sanctuary. The habitat’s virtual food supply feeds their bellies and our souls.

Trust me: When the grind of human life builds up, take a short hike or bike in the Upper Back Bay area and you will understand the healing benefits of a healthy environment.

Daigle, et al: Your work in a time of crisis has paid off. Kudos for restoring two areas of potential ruin: our natural habitat, and our faith in politicians’ ability to create practical positive outcome.

DAVID WORTHINGTON

Costa Mesa

Prop. 1E would harm mental health services

Mental health-care budgets are cut to the bone, barely able to service the clients they help.

A no vote on Proposition 1E would save millions of tax dollars by keeping mental-health clients out of being confined in a burgeoning private care program to receive $1,500 a day to confine clients, while giving them the barest of necessary services.

This does not apply to good hospitals like College Hospital in Costa Mesa, but rather to the county-run Royale Treatment Center in Santa Ana.

Proposition 1E would divert hundreds of millions of dollars into the general fund where there is no accountability of legislature to spend it wisely or without the restrictions already mandated and authenticated from Proposition 63. Proposition 63 is a good bill. Why change it to make private investors rich from these diverted funds?

Proposition 63 helped forestall the millions of dollars greedy privately run mental-health centers received ($150,000 a year) for each mentally ill client. That price jumped to $200,000 in recent years. Clients lived in poverty while the investors received millions.

Proposition 1E cuts the Proposition 63 programs currently serving 50,000 children and 150,000 adults. If Proposition 1E passes, many of these clients will lose their benefits, homes, and jobs.

It is greed of privately run mental-health centers that receive millions of dollars while providing only the barest of services. No is the only vote on Proposition 1E.

SARAH MOSS