People’s Park must stay

Regarding “People’s Park tale turns toward housing again” (March 11): People’s Park has been a place of both historic and sentimental value to many students of UC Berkeley. Recently, incoming Chancellor Carol Christ recommended that People’s Park be demolished to set up dormitories in response to the housing issue students are facing.

This solution is not a sound one. By demolishing People’s Park, a whole community is displaced. UC Berkeley has pushed many residents out of Berkeley and now, even those with no homes are being sent away. Housing for UC Berkeley students is an issue, but the solution should not be this.

People’s Park has been a place for freedom of speech and activism to flourish. If Christ claims she is adamant of keeping social justice in mind, why is building on People’s Park an option? Build somewhere else.

Christ says the solution for the homeless would be to bring in a social worker and try to allocate them homes. I agree with this is a starting point. Long-term solutions need to be implemented to battle homelessness, but even if homes are found for this population, People’s Park needs to stay. Sarah Villa, Oakland

Nuclear danger increasing

Regarding “Cache of rare footage recalls nuclear terror” (March 16): I admire Greg Spriggs, the weapons physicist at Livermore Lab, for his work to restore and share films taken of atmospheric blasts during the 1940s and 1950s. Among victims of these tests was the population of the Marshall Islands.

Recently, I attended a hearing before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for a case brought by the Marshall Islands alleging that the U.S. failed to uphold its legal obligation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law to begin negotiations “in good faith” for an end to the nuclear arms race “at an early date” and for nuclear disarmament.

Now, with a more volatile administration in the White House, the nuclear danger is greater than ever. Spriggs says that if we actually think of dropping nukes, we are in trouble and that he hopes nobody ever has to use them again. This misses the point. We never have to use them again. The U.S. is the only country that has used them, and we must choose not to. If not, it’s “game over” for us all.

Phyllis Olin, Berkeley

Teachers need greater pay

Regarding “A better approach for housing S.F. teachers” (March 17): The looming teacher shortage in California’s most expensive city is not going to be remedied by simply “building teacher housing on school district property.” The San Francisco Unified School District continues to lag significantly behind over 500 others across the state in teacher compensation.

It will never attract enough educators to fill its anticipated openings without remedying this salary issue, in addition to offering educators more affordable housing.

Lillian Hermann, San Francisco

Oakland’s bad pot measure

Regarding “Brooks’ handling of pot permits has a bad smell” (March 17): I want to commend Otis Taylor Jr. for his coverage of the Oakland permitting of marijuana business. Once again, Oakland City Council is squandering an opportunity to support growth across the city with a convoluted system that sounds good, but will not deliver results. Rather than hampering business growth and thus job opportunities, we should be encouraging all business to open and then to hire local residents who have been disproportionally impacted by drug enforcement.

The equity permit targets individuals for benefit who may not be in the best position to open and run a business without any experience, or the means to do so. Instead, let’s welcome new businesses to Oakland, provide a benefit for hiring locally, and allow the industry to support individual growth naturally.

This is a strange, artificial benefit system that will be counterproductive and only serve to drive business away, ultimately helping no one. Once again, the City Council has been bullied by a single member, and rather than representing the best interest of the entire city long-term, they respond to a poorly designed measure that makes them feel self-righteous.

Maggie Harmon, Oakland

Remedy property tax policy

Regarding “In search of money if federal taxes drop” (March 15): The simplest and most fair way to fund public services in our great state would be to reform property taxes for commercial properties.

Californians pay the highest income and sales taxes in the country and were still forced to pass new revenue measures year after year to make up for budget shortfalls. It is time for commercial properties to shoulder their fair share. Other states regularly reassess commercial properties to generate stable tax revenues for education and social services. Nearly 40 years after Proposition 13 gutted the social safety net and our schools, it is time to remedy that failing public policy. Laila Ibrahim, Berkeley

Writer’s work badly needed

Regarding “Emerging plan: 300 caterpillars’ big move” (March 14) and “Davis reacts placidly to basketball success” (March 15): Thank you so much for providing us with the prescription needed in this time of political trauma: laughter. Steve Rubenstein is a savior, and this week, two days in a row, you rewarded readers with his articles.

His stories about moving caterpillars to the Presidio and UC Davis’ shocking invite to the NCAA Tournament provided real information but in a way that makes us laugh out loud. Please, for our mental well-being, keep him busy. His writing is desperately needed.

Holly Hadlock, Mill Valley

Single-payer health care plan

Regarding “Single-payer bill is back in Sacramento” (Open Forum, March 16): Sincere thanks to Tom Gallagher for his persuasive comments. Now that the Republican health care proposal is leaking at every seam and President Trump’s administration remains committed to repealing the Affordable Care Act, without having any realistic program to replace it, we are looking at an indefinite period of chaos and instability for U.S. health care.

Here in California, however, we have a phenomenal opportunity to enact a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system! The newly proposed bill, SB562, would do that.

If approved, it would cover everyone, streamline our current fragmented system, save billions for government and business and control costs over the long run. Just as important, it would place our state on record as formally supporting the principle that health care is a basic human right. California can do this. Let’s get to work! Suzanne Cowan, San Francisco

Columnist’s exquisite writing

Regarding “Signs of spring in San Francisco” (March 15): Thank you for adding Kevin Fisher-Paulson to your roster of columnists.

This quote in the column will stay with me a long time: “Fog returns like the whisper of those we have loved.” Exquisite.

Robin Allen, San Francisco