With sinceri-tea In regard to “Outstanding volunteers, dedicated women and fine wines,” (Nov. 11 edition, page 10), I wanted to thank you for the wonderful article you wrote about the Salvation Army Women of Dedication Presentation Tea. The article truly captured the event and honored these special ladies!  Thank you so much!  Nancie Geller La Jolla Carl DeMaio’s economic chaos The citizens of America’s finest city should be uncomfortable and embarrassed with Councilman Carl DeMaio’s proposed budget gimmicks. He seeks to balance the budget by impoverishing the families of hard-working public employees. Seven of his eight proposals punish city workers for the recent sales-tax increase defeat, rather than the politicians and the investment lobbyists who created this budgetary mess in the first place. For years, the prevailing notions of neo-liberalism and its market-based control of government, from privatization to paying non-livable wages, was tied to the casino-like gambling of Wall Street. Those who would dismantle community government sell the commons to the highest bidder and send most workers into destitution never talk about how over reliance on the stock market really got us in this economic chaos. Just this year alone, the pension fund has lost tens of millions of dollars on investments. As a community, we need to look at ending corporate welfare, like the Centre City Development Corporation and our subsidies to ballparks, hotels and other “private” ventures; the mayor’s office and the City Council should look at cutting six-figure consultants and lobbyists on the public dole; and we should look toward revising our pitiful services fees for wealthy developers and well-heeled speculators, rather than raiding the paychecks of the honest people who toil day-in and day-out to make this such a fine city. DeMaio and others have made the gardener who tends wonderful Balboa Park, the gal who picks up our trash, the superb receptionist who answers our inquiries, the enemy — the bad person — the scapegoat for this city dependence over dependence on the market economy for its economic security. DeMaio’s plan for restructuring the city’s pension fund only treats the symptom not the ailment. Rocky Neptun Director, San Diego Renters Union Are three councilmembers better than one? Your letters column (“Where do you draw the line?” Nov. 18 edition, page 6) illustrates the importance of how we draw political district boundaries. The editor and one reader review a major consideration in the redistricting process — whether La Jolla should be in one district or two. It’s presently in two. There are advantages to both situations. By choice, City Heights straddles three districts and might want to continue that. In contrast, many members of the lesbian gay bisexual transgender (LGBT) communities were put together into one district (District 3) in the 2001 process. You might not be aware of that or the reasoning for it. The Village News might want to study and consider the two approaches to district boundaries. The LGBT communities wanted to control the choice of at least one councilmember, so preferred having their strength massed into a single district. They chose Toni Atkins in the 2002 election and Todd Gloria in 2010. They thought such an arrangement would better advance them and their causes. I was not then and still am not convinced, but they seemed to know what they wanted and my neighbors in City Heights supported them. I myself strongly supported them too, and I’ll support them again to reach their political goals. City Heights had a different view of the political landscape. Poor and ill-educated, it looks at politics much more pragmatically. In 2001, it realized that five council votes make a majority. It reckoned that getting to five votes would be easier if it started with three than if it started with only one. Upon that reasoning, it lobbied for boundaries that gave it access to three councilmembers.  It is now partly in districts 3, 4 and 7, with constituency status and strong neighborhood spokespeople in all three districts. On the whole, that was a good tactic for us. The editor’s note to the letter “City needs to advertise redistricting position,” (Page 6, Nov. 18) and reader Gillian Ackland’s letter introduce what I discussed just above: two approaches to redistricting. The Village News might want to review the two and discuss them within its staff and with its readers before it takes an editorial position. We acknowledge that many of our neighbors in City Heights are poor or poorly informed. Others are ill-educated or speak an exotic language, but we aren’t stupid. We understand politics. We know what’s good for us, we’re well organized and we’re pretty successful at getting our way. Our good friends in La Jolla, whom we admire, whose well-being and political choices we support, might take a lesson from us. Jim Varnadore City Heights