Today's e-Edition
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
Today's e-Edition
Trending:
Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Restrict supply to
water rule-breakers
Re. “Sports stars latest to be on drought shame list,” Page B1, Nov. 25:
I am infuriated to keep reading about entitled, privileged residents who use up to 7,673 gallons of water daily during this drought.
Fines do nothing to control these rich jerks. It’s possible to retrofit their pipes so a limited amount of water comes through. Please do so now. I’m sick to death of 1-percenters.
Louise Gray
Danville
With reference to Louis Freedberg’s Nov. 25 article about the state of California underfunding the University of California system (“UC graduate student strike highlights state’s underfunding,” Page A7), I think some related actions would be beneficial.
First of all, a comprehensive cost-benefit study by an independent forensic consulting firm could provide data showing how the public benefits from the existence of the system. It could also point out how the system could achieve even better cost-effectiveness. As part of that overall analysis, a separate study could be done for each existing campus. Such studies could address organizational structures, staffing levels, compensations, patent revenues, number of graduates, which types of educational programs justify receiving state funding, industrial partnerships, community services provided, public health benefits, etc.
Right now, I suspect that the public does not really understand how much California benefits from having the UC system. Politicians would respond to more pressure from better-educated voters.
Burt Milburn
Antioch
I am a California registered civil engineer and a 20-year resident of Walnut Creek.
Ygnacio Valley Road (YVR) is a major arterial road through Walnut Creek and the only way to access John Muir Medical Center, the only trauma center in Contra Costa County.
Ygnacio Valley Road is currently six lanes and is at full capacity and unable to be widened.
If the Seven Hills Ranch project is approved, the four years of construction will bring tens of thousands of additional construction vehicles through Walnut Creek. Once operating, the facility will require at least 500 more vehicles each day on YVR. Put simply, the road doesn’t have the capacity to handle a project of that size and location.
If the Seven Hills Ranch project gets approved, traffic through Walnut Creek and access to John Muir Medical Center will be badly impacted.
Scott Buckley
Walnut Creek
Re. “Cash for calamities but no new emissions cuts,” Page A4, Nov. 21:
I appreciate the loss and damage agreement at COP27 to help poor nations mitigate the consequences of climate change. Hopefully, this will lead to introspection and strengthen our resolve to help poor communities in the United States. Like poor nations, poor communities suffer the most from climate disasters but contribute the least to the crisis.
While no new agreement was reached at COP27 on cutting emissions or phasing out fossil fuels, we should continue doing everything possible in these vital areas. I’m thankful to Gov. Gavin Newsom for demanding ambitious climate goals, and I’m grateful for Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, and all the Bay Area representatives who voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act and who continue to work on federal legislation on climate. Contact our political leaders and thank them for the work they are doing and ask them to continue leading on averting the climate crisis.
Sandra Liu
Berkeley
A recent letter to the editor asked that we negotiate and “work toward peace in Ukraine, not nuclear war.” (“We should be talking peace in Ukraine,” Page A6, Nov. 18) Fine, but what exactly is there to negotiate?
If a criminal breaks into your home, kills your family, steals your possessions, burns down your house, then says, “Let’s negotiate,” that’s akin to what Russia has done to Ukraine. The writer also laughably touts former President Trump as a possible peace negotiator. I’m sure President Putin would love Trump as a negotiator for Ukraine. After all, Trump is the one who stood next to Putin in Helsinki and threw the American intelligence agencies under the bus, while accepting Putin’s propaganda at face value.
If anyone thinks appeasing the dictator Putin will lead to peace, they’re sadly mistaken. An unchecked Putin will only set his eyes on his next target.
Steven Gorman
Alameda
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
Copyright © 2022 MediaNews Group