Letters: Homelessness shouldn’t be an identification for Oaklanders

Homelessness isnot an identification

Re: “Homeless issue puts Lee on hot seat” (Web page A1, July 9).

Oakland is overrun by encampments and their detritus — rats, syringes, feces, and so forth. Sidewalks are blocked, forcing pedestrians into the road.

Barbara Lee appears to overlook the purpose — however that’s additionally due to how the problem is framed. This isn’t about “homelessness.” That’s not what’s prohibited — not to mention criminalized — in San Francisco and San Jose. It’s in regards to the abuse of public house — about encampments and your entire encampment subculture.

If the inhabitants of those encampments have such “deep roots in the community,” why don’t their neighbors need them round? Respect and consideration are a two-way avenue. Homelessness is a predicament, not an identification.

Previously, I’ve been homeless and destitute. There’s at all times someplace else to go — one other option to method life. It’s a giant planet. Time to maneuver on.

Mitchell HalberstadtOakland

Tax credit are bestway to assist renters

Re: “City rejects new renter protections” (Web page B1, July 6).

Renters don’t obtain tax benefits equal to these obtainable to householders. Householders, in the event that they itemize, can deduct dwelling mortgage curiosity, and with the rise in state and native tax (SALT) deductions as much as $40,000, the benefit to householders is decidedly extra favorable.

To make it extra proportional, we might permit renters to deduct as much as $3,000 a month, $36,000 yearly, from their adjusted gross revenue.

My Gen Z granddaughter tells me that she shall be renting for the following 20 years regardless of incomes $80,000 a 12 months. The price of shopping for a house is simply too excessive in main cities. Let’s do one thing for renters as an alternative of development-stifling lease management.

James HammillWalnut Creek

BART should minimize spendingto get extra funding

BART is essential to the Bay Space, however neither the SB 63 proposed resident tax nor a tax on Silicon Valley companies is the reply to BART’s price range points. These are merely handouts with no incentives.

As an alternative, I recommend the state match further funding to BART for each greenback BART reduces from their present precise spending. (Eliminating unfilled worker positions or unspent funds aren’t precise spending and wouldn’t depend as reductions.)

If BART desires us to assist shut its price range hole, it must have “skin in the game” and present us it’s keen to make structural modifications, too. Sure, it will require making troublesome selections and likewise working with the unions to perform this, however that’s the duty of BART administration with the board’s assist. If BART desires our assist, they should first present us they’re keen to assist themselves.

Louis LucibelloAlamo

Let’s open our eyes toTrump’s energy seize

Resist prefer it’s 1938 Germany. It took the Nazis fewer than 60 days to dismantle a constitutional republic.

At present in our nation, individuals are being snatched off the road by masked, unidentified “agents” and thrown into unmarked autos. No ID, no warrants, no due course of, simply our very personal ICE Gestapo exhausting at work spreading worry, chaos and worse.

Make no mistake: These energy grabs that Donald Trump has achieved are flashing warning indicators of a police state. One asks why the nice Germans allowed the Third Reich to occur. Indifference? Concern? Racial hatred? With apologies to Pastor Martin Niemoller, first they got here for the Brown folks, and I didn’t communicate out as a result of I used to be not Brown. Then they got here for the homosexual folks, however I didn’t communicate as a result of I used to be not homosexual … and so forth. We should get up, folks.

Marilynn Grey-RaineDanville

Dwell landscaping canmitigate warmth islands

In a warming local weather and with shrinking water provides, water-wise landscaping affords a considerate response. However what about plant-free yards, the place greenery is changed with gravel, stone or synthetic turf? Ought to we undertake this method to save lots of water? Listed here are three factors to contemplate.

First, analysis from Virginia Tech exhibits that plant-free yards can decrease property worth by as much as about 13 % as a result of consumers admire dwelling landscaping.

Second, eliminating vegetation deprives birds, pollinators and small wildlife of habitat, lowering the biodiversity that brings our neighborhoods to life.

Third, exhausting surfaces don’t cool the air like vegetation, elevating native temperatures (and energy payments). This is named the city warmth island impact. The U.S. EPA recommends vegetation and timber as a easy option to scale back warmth islands.

I invite native leaders to replace landscaping pointers and encourage designs that preserve water, assist wildlife and assist cool our neighborhoods.

Yana BurakovskyPleasanton

Fossil gasoline remainsa crucial evil

Re: “Insurance companies should sue Big Oil for harm to climate” (Web page A6, July 9).

I spent my profession within the insurance coverage enterprise. I’m stunned that Rep. John Garamendi and state Sen. Jerry McNerney might be so naive. Till we give you a greater propulsion supply (and electrical energy and EVs aren’t the reply), oil firms are, for higher or worse, our crucial evil.

At present’s Wall Avenue Journal has a column that talks in regards to the Massive Stunning Invoice having eradicated many vitality subsidies. It incorporates a pertinent quote: “A new green elite now has a chance to arise and deal in adult fashion with the climate puzzle, not only its scientific uncertainties but its difficult yet bridgeable political intricacies.”

Ed GriffithsPleasant Hill