LETTERS: Gavin Newsom’s misplaced priorities

In sociology, there is a model known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which states you have to satisfy basic requirements — such as food, water and shelter — before you can apply your efforts to more abstract ideas. Last week, 1,700 residents of Pajaro, California, were rendered temporarily homeless when the levee on the Pajaro River burst, flooding the town. This levee has breached in 1995, with flooding in 1997 and 1998, and more problems in 2017. But instead of spending the money to effectively fix the levee, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced the state will build 1,200 small homes to combat homelessness.

With 170,000 living on the streets in California, this will address less than 1 percent of the problem and is a hollow gesture to make progressives feel better about themselves.

I don’t think the residents of Pajaro are too concerned about climate change and green technology right now. But I bet they would appreciate some of the $22.3 billion being spent on the homeless so they wouldn’t have to counted among them, even temporarily.