About the editor: I read with interest your article about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ comments about Californians moving to his state, as I was one of the Californians who moved to Florida five years ago.

We ended up moving back to California because DeSantis and his minions run the state. Sure, there’s no state income tax, but everything else is almost as expensive as food in California, utilities, eating out and all.

Add to that the Trump supporters driving around with Confederate flags on their trucks, along with ugly anti-Semitic or anti-gay stickers on the windows, and it was enough to say it was time to go back to California. We are very glad we did because now we feel safe.

Florida offers nothing but the occasional polluted beach and three months of fine weather.

Joe Kaiser, Santa Rosa

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About the editor: Together with many friends we move from Florida to California because freedom under DeSantis is in danger.

Under his Florida Freedom Guard, nearly 87,000 of us have been able to die from COVID-19, which he strangely announces as a victory. The protectionist corporate policies will result in astronomical increases in insurance rates, which could cause coastal residents exposed to sea level rise to lose their homes.

His anti-Awakened rhetoric has created a chilling climate for companies that want the freedom to be honorable and honest. Once the rallying cry of the Don’t Tread Me class, local control is a freedom you can embrace with DeSantis at the helm.

And does no one find it ironic that the man overseeing a book ban makes money off his personal book tour? And just as Proposition 13 devastated higher education in California, DeSantis’s wrecking ball is aimed at academic freedom.

Yes, going back to California has never looked so good. Time to say goodbye, man from Florida.

Val Marmillion, Alachua, Fla…

About the editor: My son, who lived and loved in San Francisco, moved to Richmond, Virginia, four years ago with his new wife. There they bought a 4,000 square foot house in a really nice area for about $500,000.

And what does he do for a living? He is the director of the Virginia Coalition for Progressive Values.

No, he didn’t leave California because of his “awakening.” He left because he couldn’t afford California, but he took his alertness with him.

Erica Hahn, Monrovia