Stories that tell what’s wrong in S.F. Cost of living
What is wrong with San Francisco and having Ed Lee as its mayor was exemplified by two articles on the front page of Friday’s Chronicle. One tells the story of rent increases at the Midtown Park Apartments (“Twist in rent flap: City’s the landlord”). The claim is that increases are needed to fix the building which is described as being is such bad disrepair that it could not be insured. The landlord is the city.
The second article boasts that tech companies are “giving big to Lee campaign.” This is a no-brainer because Lee has done so much for the tech world. They don’t pay their fair share to have their businesses located in our fair city. Instead we are paying them in the form of the many financial incentives they enjoy.
I grew up here thinking that city officials are elected to take care of their residents. Stories like this have become common, but this time the city is the landlord. Lee should dispense with the breaks he gives billionaires. The city would then have the money for repairs.
I wish Ed Lee had kept his promise never to run for mayor!
Kristine Lee, San Francisco
Keep Trump in
The American public isn’t dumb. We will keep Donald Trump at the top of the polls until at least the 2016 primaries. He’s our only hope for comedic relief in an otherwise hopelessly tedious presidential campaign season.
Marty Abell, Sea Ranch
It takes two
I am aggravated about the Aug. 14 headline “Union official charged with taking bribes.” It is incomplete. Assuming the official did take bribes, the words “from management” should have been added. The alleged bribes require two parties, the taker and the giver. Headline skimmers get the impression that the “union official” was the only party to the indiscretion. The reporter completely identified the union in the article and only referred to “people representing the employers of potential union members.” Who were the representatives and who were the employers? Slipshod reporting.
Bruce Colwell, Pittsburg
Simple question
In response to Richard Melichar of Blue Springs, Mo. (“What recovery?” Letters, Aug. 14): You seem to think that President Obama, presiding over the greatest recovery from recession this country has ever seen, is responsible for the homeless, whom you seem to think were once gainfully employed citizens of San Francisco.
Let me disabuse you of that notion.
Most of the homeless here are not from here; they immigrated. I ask you, Mr. Melichar: If you were homeless, would you rather be homeless in Blue Springs, Mo., or in San Francisco, where the people are tolerant, the weather is mild and the welfare benefits are extremely generous?
Tony Brown, San Rafael
We’ve been hearing some loose talk lately from billionaires like Warren Buffett, and even Charles Koch, warning that it might be time to do something about income inequality.
Koch went so far as to suggest (in a speech before shocked conservatives, including several Republican presidential hopefuls) that it might be time eliminate some tax subsidies for the wealthy. People say crazy things in an election cycle, as we know, and it’s easy for types like Koch and Buffett, sitting on their billions with a “b”. They’ve got theirs.
But what about the struggling Wall Street hedge-fund trader or venture capitalist with only a few hundred million in the bank? Start messing with his carried interest tax loophole and it’s going hurt big time. Sure, he might forgo that third yacht, or do an Airbnb on his place in the Caymans. But what about real necessities: What if, say, he wants to buy a new congressman? In today’s market, he’s going to really feel that. Buy a senator? Forget about it.
Talk is cheap when your sitting on a billion dollars. But just because it’s an election year, these billionaires shouldn’t forget the little guy.
James Heron, San Francisco
Defies belief
Mike Florio worked as an attorney for TURN, a consumer advocacy group, for 30 years and then tells us he didn’t understand that back-channel communications with a utility the California Public Utilities Commission, his current employer, is supposed to regulate, violated the rules (“Criticized CPUC figure given reform role,” Aug. 13)? He lays it on even thicker with the unintelligible gobbledygook that “we’re developing different sensitivities that may have been engrained from the prior period.”
This would all be mildly funny if the sort of corruption he engaged in did not directly endanger people’s lives and property. Self-serving clowns like Florio have no business serving on a commission charged with protecting the financial and physical public interest, and most certainly no business heading a committee formed to “toughen up the rules” against underhanded dealing.
Robert Stine, San Francisco
Deport criminals
Regarding “Release sought for 2 men facing deportation,” Aug. 13: Anyone who has immigrated to this country and committed a crime should be reported, except small theft and shoplifting. Daniel Maher and Chea Bou both committed felonies, and should have thought hard and long: Is it worth committing these hard crimes, facing possibility of jail time and deportation?
The fact that they came to U.S. at age 2 and 11 doesn’t make a difference. I’ve know people who’ve used stolen credit cards and having a small amount of pot, and both were deported, even though they’ve left their countries at ages 5 and 7. Everyone who emigrates to the U.S. should be given classes on these rules, sign that they understand the consequences and abide by the laws.
Josef Anisimov, Daly City
Good riddance
Regarding “Haag fought cannabis and corruption,” Aug. 14: The best thing about U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag leaving is that she is leaving. Her fanatical harassment of the medical marijuana dispensaries and her dubious prosecution of Barry Bonds cost the taxpayers millions while achieving very little. She will, undoubtedly, turn up as a GOP candidate for office someday soon, unfortunately.
Vernon Burton, San Leandro