Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I'm sure you guys are aware, but it might be a good time to remind the public about the lack of any mask regulations at polling stations. I did my early voting at Jarrell this morning, and of the six or seven volunteers in the small room one had a face shield but no mask, and one was completely maskless and seemed to not be practicing any distancing at all.

Dear Editor,
    Another dishonest mailer today, touting Proposition A.
    The pro-increase tax project has a disconnect photo of a jam of traffic on I-35. How much of the $400 per year extra you would pay each year would help end that? Answer? Zero. None of that money would go to I-35. I-35 is an interstate highway, and it's the state deals with it.
    Proposed Prop “A” is awful. I know it's close to Halloween, but good grief, couldn't they find something better to fill one side of their flyer than a photo completely irrelevant to how the money they want to get each year, for many years, would be spent? It would do nothing to change that picture. I know Halloween's around, and lots of orange is scary, but this stalled on I-35 photo is nothing about this bond issue.
    You wouldn't buy into Trump's dishonesty. Don't buy into this dishonesty, either. Vote "No" on Prop. A, after you vote "Yes" for Biden.
    I already did.

Dear Editor,
    This is in response to your article published on October 9th, 2020, about teachers returning to school [“Big Mess on Campus,” News]. There is no reason why teachers should return to their classrooms if school is going to proceed online. Why should they have to wake up, make the drive, and risk their health just to babysit some students? They aren’t going to be teaching them any differently than if it was online. I, as a student, have difficulty learning in settings which aren’t classrooms but I’m not willing to risk another person’s life just so I can figure out trigonometric expressions which will not be applied in my life. The government and AISD should be doing better! They should consider human life rather than be money hungry vultures. We’ve seen the conditions of our schools prior to COVID-19; how can we trust AISD to make the learning environment safe? There is too much at risk and eventually all the teachers will quit, then what will happen? If we’re going to mandatorily require teachers to return we’re going to have to crack down on COVID-19 regulations.

Dear Editor,
    Driving north on I-35 I saw the billboard - Light Rail to the Airport! Exciting because that is a trip I make almost every day, by that I mean 6, maybe 8 times a year. So worth $1.3 billion. Once I get my luggage Downtown, I can drag it to a train stop, then drag it off the train to the waiting shuttle bus that will zip me (eventually) to the terminal. I can trust Metro planning, because the current airport Metrobus makes only one stop, at the farthest end of the terminal, a convenient 100 yard dash (plus an escalator) from the TSA entrance. Does the city PAY someone to think up these ads? I could do it better, cheaper, and without making the city look like it's run by idiots. I mean really? Don't skirt the city to get to the airport - instead you should go straight through the middle of it, dragging your suitcase and carry-on to an enormous metal contraption that lurches along the streets, as long as nothing gets in its way. If that happens pray an Uber shows up to whisk you (and the other 5 people on the train) on their way.

Dear Editor,
    Representation matters.
    Austin is 181 years old, but has had only one Latina Austin City Council member, Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza, who was elected into office just six years ago. In a city that is 35% Latino, why do we struggle to have women of color elected to office? Until 2014, Austin had a city council without individual districts, purposefully created to control the power of communities of color on Austin City Council.
    Single member districts have brought Austin new opportunities to elect candidates of color, but Latinas have not always had that same opportunity. The truth is that Hispanic women have fewer resources and more barriers when running for office. Financially, Latinas still earn just 54 cents to every dollar a white man makes and often find themselves as the breadwinner of the household.
    The lack of diversity in our city is felt to this day. During this 2020 local election cycle, only one Latina out of a field of 20 candidates has stepped up to run for Austin City Council. We need Latinas on Austin City Council to ensure that when important decisions are made about our community and our lives, we have someone who is there who understands our unique viewpoint. That is why we support Vanessa Fuentes for Austin City Council, District 2.
    Vanessa comes from a working-class immigrant background. She knows what it is like to struggle financially. Growing up, her family lived on the jagged edges of the working class, sometimes needing the assistance of food banks to put dinner on the table. In return, she has given back and she has spent her adult-life working to empower Latinas in our community.
    Vanessa is a first generation college graduate who has been serving in various leadership capacities in the community. From volunteering with Con Mi MADRE to the Food In Tummies program in Del Valle and distributing personal protective equipment (PPE), our community has benefited from Vanessa’s work ethic and dedication to the community. She knows what it is like to fight for equity in every workplace and organization that she has been a part of. She is a true servant leader. Latinas, like Vanessa, have the traits most important in someone who is running for office: a deep passion and commitment to their families and communities.
    Study after study has shown that diversity makes groups more creative, improves decision-making, and increases the quality of the work. When it comes to the future of this wonderful city we all love, we need Vanessa at the table.

Dear Editor,
    The two-party system is broken. Bernie got thrown out by the DNC, again. Corporations already own the government. Why even vote? Read the f----ing platforms.
    Republicans will enforce fundamentalist Christianity for “the sanctity of innocent human life, created in the image of God … from fertilization to natural death.” Goodbye Roe v. Wade. Fundamentalists will control education, quash gay and trans rights, and install their version of “family values” at every turn. U.S. foreign policy will be dictated by interpretations of the Bible (and underlying corporate motivations). Their policy toward Israel “is inspired by God's Biblical promise.”
    There is nothing more dangerous than a bunch of folks who think they know what God wants—especially when they gain power over everyone else.
    Republicans say climate change is just “a political agenda promoted to control every aspect of our lives.” They pledge to support “the defunding of 'climate justice' initiatives, the abolition of the Environmental Protection Agency, and repeal of the Endangered Species Act.”
    The Democrats' platform is vastly more compassionate and inclusive. They pledge to “overhaul the criminal justice system from top to bottom” and end the use of private prisons and private detention centers. Dems address the injustices creating the need for Black Lives Matter. They support sex education and reproductive rights, including safe, legal abortion. They want to end the costly, life-destroying War on Drugs and address immigration humanely rather than cruelly. Democrats pledge to protect natural resources and recognize climate change as a global emergency. I don't agree with them on everything and I detest Biden, but the Democratic platform gets my vote.