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Writing For Change Deadlines Draft: Sept

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Writing For Change Deadlines Draft: Sept. 20 Final with Reflection: Sept. 27 Introduction Research a civic issue that is of concern to a specific community of non-experts to identify multiple perspectives from which this issue is viewed. Use this information to create a persuasive text (written and/or visual) that uses ethical persuasive strategies to advance social change or action. This project should be presented in a genre that would be commonly used to communicate with members of this community. Prompt In this project students will 1) make a strong argument 2) for a specific audience 3) for a clear rhetorical purpose 4) in a particular setting 5) and in a certain genre. Write a letter in which you urge your readers to act on a civic issue. You decide on the issue. (Civic issues can include such topics as voting rights, healthcare access, urban planning and development, public safety, ballot initiatives, proposed legislation, university policy (i.e. Covid rules), restaurants available at the student union, etc.) Use metadiscourse to explain your letter’s goals from start to finish in a mission statement. Make it clear who your audience is (editor of a newspaper, state senator, city council member, school board official, etc.) and the specific setting (via the mail, the press, etc.) in which you are delivering your argument. Provide context by discussing the issue that you are concerned about and by synthesizing the different perspectives on this issue that you have researched by reading sources or by talking to others who are also concerned (Consult at least two sources, which can be formal written texts or interviews.) Using a blend of appropriate rhetorical appeals (ethos for credibility and characters, pathos for emotions, logos for logic) and strategies (tone, diction, organization of argument, etc.), make an argument (a main claim with three points/sub-claims) that urges your audience to act on the issue. This may be written as an “open letter,” as with the example of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Conclude by warning your readers to so something as soon as possible. Include your name with credentials to reinforce your credibility. How to Structure This Project Greet your specific readers (Dear ___,) Introduction: Use metadiscourse to explain your project’s goals from start to finish in a mission statement paragraph. Establish your credibility at the onset of your letter so that readers will listen to you and trust that you know your subject and have done your research. Provide a paragraph or two of context by discussing this issue that you are concerned about and by synthesizing the different perspectives on this issue that you have researched. Make an argument with three points, in three paragraphs, using a blend of appropriate rhetorical appeals and strategies to influence your particular readers. Urge your audience to take action on this issue. Use the info you researched in sources to reinforce your position. If you consider an opposing viewpoint, acknowledge it briefly, but then refute it and maintain your own position. Conclusion: Convince your readers to so something as soon as possible. Close your letter with an adverb (sincerely, respectfully, etc.) and your name with your credentials (job title, years of experience, years at your residence, etc.). Criteria for Evaluation Successful writers will 1. Answer all parts of the prompt. 2. Write a cohesive and well edited letter. 3. Upload their rough draft and final draft to Turn It In before the deadline. 4. Complete 3-5 pages (single spaced with extra spaces after the greeting, between the paragraphs, and before the closing). Samantha Santa RWS 305 September 20 2021 To whom it may concern, I ask why you are still choosing to kill hundreds of dogs and cats in cruel carbon monoxide chambers? That is so inhumane. Most animal shelters around the country are now practicing humane euthanisa by injection of approved drugs, so why still make these animals suffer? Death by gas chamber was first around by the Nazis in World War ?, and that is not around anymore today because it was one of the most traumatic ways to die, correct? When you choose to kill these animals in gas chambers, it could take as long as forty five minutes to die, and during these last minutes of their lives, they are gasping for air, trying to escape, clawing and calling for a way out. The animals are so frightened and stressed out, they start to fight each other until their last breath. Many times injuries occur and when the workers have to take the dead bodies out of the gas chamber, they see broken bones, and wounds all over the animals.The conditions of these gas chambers are horrible, with the stench of the animal’s urine, feces, blood who died in there before the next group of animals. These animals sometimes won’t even die the first forty five minutes of torture, so they have to be in the gas chamber repeatedly, until they have passed. This inhuman practice needs to come to an end. Have you ever had to put your pet to sleep? If so, you know it is a heartbreaking experience. You only want what is best for your pet. You want them to be at peace. So a peaceful quiet room, with a trained technician is ideal for a painless ending. With the help of the humane euthansia injection, your pet can lose consciousness in as little as three to five seconds. Pet euthaniasia is the medical procedure of ending an animal's life with medication. “The benefit of pet euthansia is to prevent suffering from getting worse” says Dani McVety, DVM, and founder of Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice, an organization that provides in-home euthanisa. There are two injections that the veterinarian is going to give your pet. One injection is a sedative and the second injection is the euthansia solution. The first injection goes into your pet’s skin/veins. Right away, your pet will slowly drift off into sleep in the next couple of minutes. The veterinarian will give the second injection right after and this one is a seizure medication that will turn off the respiratory center of the brain. Your pet will then stop breathing and the heart will stop beating. Now, comparing euthanisia by injection to being scared and freaked out for forty five minutes or more in a gas chamber. The good news, little by little, gas chambers are being banned throughout the country. The sad reality is that there are only 27 states with full bans in place. Even though the American Veterinary Medical Association has declared that euthanisia by injection is the most humane method, gas chambers are still being used in 23 states throughout the country. My question is, why would you want to kill these animals in such a harsh way? Didn’t you join this career, because you have so much love for animals. You would think people are entering shelter work because they care about animals, and they don’t want to see them suffer. When animals are put into these gas chambers, they struggle to escape until their very last minute. When they inhale carbon monoxide, they suffer convulsions, vomiting, angina, and muscular spasms. I’m sure watching this process isn’t a pretty site. These animals deserve so much more peace. We need to ban the use of carbon monoxide to kill dogs and cats in all states, throughout the country. No pet's life should ever end in a gas chamber again. To die in a gas chamber is again, inhumane, cruel, and just straight brutual torture. The Humane Society of The United States will continue to help ban all existing gas chambers. Studies have shown that gas chambers are actually more expensive than to purchase euthansia drugs. The Humane Society of The United States is ready to provide the necessary training, financial support, and other assistance to any shelter committed to converring from the use of gas chambers to euthanasia by injection. So it is possible to consider banning the use of gas chambers because there are people who want to help with the costs, if you are thinking it is “too expensive” to make the switch. These poor animals should be humanely euthanized, definitely not cruelly. Because of these states that gas chambers are not banned in, there are many petitions out there for people to continue to sign, to help bring this to an end. Instead of supporting animal shelters that still use brutal gas chambers, please try and find the shelters that have made the switch and are practicing humane euthansia by injection. The Humane Society of The United States is there to help and support anyone when the time comes to saying goodbye to their cherished pet. They know that a time like that can be emotional and overwhelming, because it definitely is. Killing by gas chamber is an outdated and cruel practice and the public needs to do something to change this as soon as possible. With this being said, murdering animals in gas chambers needs to be brought to an end. It is going to be a win for the animals, the shelters, and the community when every gas chamber gets shut off and closed. The Human Society of The United States’ goal is to pass a legal ban for gas chamber euthanasia of cats and dogs in every state, so once chambers are in the past, they’ll stay in the past. Respectfully, Samantha Santa Dear California Residents, As a fellow resident of California, specifically the city of San Diego, I am writing this letter to inform you about Senate Bills 9 and 10 which were passed into law on September 16, 2021. As a resident of California, these two Bills will directly affect you and the neighborhoods you live in. As such, my goal is to inform you about the consequences of these two Bills and why it is important for us to seek change. In my letter I will address the nature of Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10 based on my extensive research, supporting arguments for the bills and the initial intention of the bills, and why I believe these two bills may cause more harm than good. Before I discuss the details of the senate bills, I want to briefly explain the concept of zoning and how it is related to these two bills. Zoning is the process of dividing pieces of land into areas for specific use (A Practical Guide to Understanding Zoning Laws (propertymetrics.com)). Laws regarding zoning work to control what the land can be used for, what structures can be built on it, and how they must be built. Zoning laws are put in place to protect the health, welfare, and safety of the people. Residential zoning ensures that there is adequate infrastructure in a neighborhood to accommodate the number of people living in the area. Adequate infrastructure includes things such as proper roads, parking, water, sewers, fire and safety regulations and more. Senate Bills 9 and 10 are set to impact areas currently zoned for single-family homes; the zoning in these areas were designed to accommodate for one house per lot of land for single family use (What just happened with single-family zoning in California? - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)). Now that you have a basic understanding of the concept of zoning, I will use the knowledge that I have gained through extensive research to describe the local effects of Senate Bill 9 and Senate Bill 10. Senate Bill 9 (SB9) indicates that “a proposed housing development containing no more than two residential units within a single-family residential zone shall be considered ministerially, without discretionary review or hearing, if the proposed housing development meets all of the following requirements:” (*20210SB9_94.pdf). Additionally, “a local agency shall not be required to permit an accessory dwelling unit or a junior accessory dwelling unit on the parcels” (*20210SB9_94.pdf). Finally, “a local agency shall ministerially approve, as set forth in this section, a parcel map for an urban lot split”( *20210SB9_94.pdf). In summary, SB9 will allow up to two housing units or a duplex on a lot of land plus an additional accessory dwelling unit (ADU) of 1,200-square-feet, or a 500-square-foot junior accessory dwelling unit (JADU). This bill will also allow splitting a lot into two separate properties with each property containing up to two units plus an ADU. Thus, this would essentially allow up to six units per lot. Some of the exceptions to SB9 include the following: 1) It only applies to urban areas or urban clusters, 2) low income housing or units that have been rented within the last 3 years cannot be altered or demolished, 3) local governments cannot require more than one off-street parking spot per unit, or any off street parking if the unit is within half-a mile of public transit or a car share vehicle within one block, 4) units built must be rented for at least 30 days at a time, 5) subdivision of a lot requires the owner to commit to living on the premises for at least three years, and 6) subdivided lots must be at least 1,200-square-feet each, however, “a local agency may by ordinance adopt a smaller minimum lot size”, 7) no setback is required for structures in the same location, and a maximum of 4-foot setbacks may be required between the rear and side lots (*20210SB9_94.pdf). Now that I have given you a brief overview of the details of SB9, I will describe the implications of Senate Bill 10 (SB10). SB10 will “authorize a local government to adopt an ordinance to zone any parcel for up to 10 units of residential density per parcel, at a height specified in the ordinance, if the parcel is located in a transit-rich area or an urban infill site, as those terms are defined” (*20210SB10_89.pdf). Additionally, the bill states that “the creation of up to two accessory dwelling units and two junior accessory dwelling units per parcel […] shall not count towards the total number of units […]”. In summary, SB10 allows for a single-family lot, in a transit-rich or an urban infill site, to include up to 10 units plus up to 2 ADUs and 2 JADUs. Supporters have claimed that Senate Bills 9 and 10 will be beneficial because it will “boost California’s housing supply and fight the housing crisis” (Governor Newsom Signs Historic Legislation to Boost California’s Housing Supply and Fight the Housing Crisis | California Governor). The purpose of these two bills is to help fight the issue of homelessness, make housing more affordable, and make it easier for cities to zone for multi-unit housing. On paper, those sound-like great outcomes! However, I, along with other California residents, have a few concerns about the two bills that may ultimately make them more harmful than beneficial to our communities. While there are aspects of the bills that I find beneficial, there are four main areas of concern that I believe these bills fail to recognize: lack of infrastructure improvements/upgrades for proper sanitation, parking and transportation, the destruction of the single-family neighborhood, and a lack of guarantee that housing prices will indeed decrease long-term due to these changes. In the next few paragraphs, I will address these issues in more depth. First, SB 9 and SB10 fail to include any requirements for infrastructure upgrades or improvements. One might argue that these bills will help boost the housing supply so that more people are able to move to California. While I agree that boosting the housing supply will be beneficial in some ways, I am concerned that the lack of infrastructure for these newly highly dense areas will be unethical. We may begin to see issues with sanitation as sewage and water systems are not currently set up to accommodate this influx of people in a single-family neighborhood. For example, in most single-family homes, all the sewage from the home drains into one sewer lateral pipe that goes to the street. The addition of multiple units means more sewage being drained into the single pipe which can easily lead to plugged sewer lines and backed up sewage. There are also sanitation issues that go along with multiple units being stacked close together and a higher density of people as trash and waste increases. Additionally, disease spreads easier in higher-density areas. In addition to sanitation issues, there will also be issues with parking and traffic. SB9 says that there may be requirements for up to one parking space per unit and it also states that no additional parking is required if the unit is within half-mile of transit systems. However, this assumes that people living in these areas will be taking the bus. This fails to address the fact that a majority of people in California rely on a car to get them to their destination. Statistics show that only approximately 5% of the population in California relies on public transportation (Highest Public Transit Usage Cities in California - HomeArea.com). My husband and I currently live in a duplex-dominated neighborhood. Parking is already difficult, and we often struggle to find a place to park at the end of the day due to the number of people who need a place to park. I can only imagine what it would look like if the number of people and cars doubled! Now imagine a town like La Jolla- If you’ve ever driven through La Jolla, then you’ve experienced the issues with traffic and parking that are already present. Imagine trying to drive into or out of La Jolla to go to work when the density of people living there doubles or even triples! Inga, a La Jolla resident, writes about her concerns about transportation with the new Bills. In her article, These bills have way too high a cost for single-family neighborhoods, traffic and parking, she writes that she and her husband were disappointed in the public transit systems after moving here from Sweden, saying “When we returned to the United States, my husband originally tried to take the No. 30 bus to work but finally gave up when, most days, he had to walk back home and drive when the bus was so late there was no hope of him getting to work on time” (Let Inga Tell You: These bills have way too high a cost for single-family neighborhoods, traffic and parking - La Jolla Light). Third, these bills would eventually lead to the abolishing of single-family neighborhoods. Zoning is in place to keep compatible structures together and to protect property values. While this bill does allow homeowners to decide what they would like to do with their own property, their decision will also have an impact on the value of the homes surrounding it. Finally, politicians claim that SB9 and SB10 will lead to more affordable housing. While this might be the case in some situations, the bills ultimately do not control what the homes will cost. California is a sought-after place to live, and as a result there is a high demand of people who would like to live here. Naturally, a high demand is going to lead to higher property values in the area, especially in neighborhoods near the coast such as San Diego. Additionally, while the bill states that the homeowner must agree to live on the property for at least three years in order to create additional units, there is a big question mark after that. What happens to these multi-unit homes after the three years? What if a homeowner decides to sell? Will big corporations then be able to get involved? These are a few important questions that I wish these two bills addressed. So, what now? I believe we need to call for changes to be made to SB9 an SB10 in order to address the issues that I just discussed. If we do not address these issues now, they may lead to problems in the future. Go to Bill Text - SB-9 Housing development: approvals. (ca.gov) to read more about Senate bill 9 and Bill Text - SB-10 Planning and zoning: housing development: density. (ca.gov) to read about Senate bill 10 and get informed about the changes that will take place in your neighborhoods. Then, reach out to our state representatives to let them know your concerns and opinions. Sincerely, Sarah Johanso...