Green economy good for business
Use ‘bait cars’ instead
Regarding “Trump revokes safety rules for oil, gas drilling” (Nation, Dec. 30): It’s disappointing to see this administration continue its efforts to prop up oil and gas interests in this country at the expense of both our health and climate. Rather than finding new ways to support the oil and gas industry, the U.S. should work to put a price on carbon to have fossil fuels bear their full price in the marketplace.
California has already shown that betting big on the green economy is good for business, and it’s time the rest of the country understood that as well.
Jonathan Maltz, San Francisco
Unattractive building
Regarding “A show-off ugly Salesforce Tower” (Last Word, Dec. 30): Marshall Kilduff wrote of the dominating and unattractive stature of the Salesforce Tower in our San Francisco skyline. As a native of the city, I agree with his comments. The only thing that could make this “look-at-me” narcissistically designed building worse would be if it had TRUMP letters dripping down the front.
Diane Galliani, Daly City
Preaching to the choir
I am a liberal Democrat, and this past year under President Trump’s rule has been both discouraging and disturbing. I tend to avoid reading any news articles with Trump’s name in the headline for fear of just getting angrier and angrier. I am always drawn to read Robert Reich’s editorials, however.
Not only are they insightful, he’s usually right. My only fear is he’s preaching to the choir, and only liberal Democrats like me will read his comments and take them to heart. He certainly has a way of starting the conversation. My only wish is that he would have a louder voice.
Melissa Lawton, Hercules
Hatch’s kindred spirit
Regarding “Trump, in less than a year, has degraded our core values” (Robert Reich, Insight, Dec. 31): Why should columnist Robert Reich be surprised that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, thinks that Donald Trump could be our greatest president ever? Hatch is one of the nation’s longest-serving Republican senators, having been in office for 40 years. In that time, he has been a staunch opponent of abortion rights, has sponsored an anti-terrorism bill that restricted habeas corpus rights in capital cases, defended a bank that admitted to laundering drug money, and had a lead role in the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas, supporting a controversial nominee accused of sexual harassment. Given Hatch’s track record, is it any wonder that he’d be praising a president who has attacked our basic freedoms and has himself been accused by multiple women of unwanted sexual behavior?
Luisa Westbrook, San Francisco
Regarding “Police try new approach as car break-ins skyrocket” (Page One, Dec. 31): Instead of just foot patrols, why don’t the police use “bait cars” to catch people who are breaking into cars every day? Surely they would catch some in the act if they simply set up surveillance and waited for someone to break into a tempting-looking car that has a few bags or electronics visible in the front or back seat. Instead, the police “foot patrols” seem to be nowhere in sight on block after block of the city where rivers of shattered auto glass line the gutters and broadcast just how pervasive and out of control this problem has become. San Francisco now has the highest property crime rate in the nation. Unacceptable!
Nick Yale, Oakland
Leave Brisbane alone
Emotions run high on this topic, because we all need a safe place to live. It used to be that even in the most expensive cities, low- and middle-income singles and families could still find decent places to live, but that day passed long ago, and it has nothing to do with small towns like Brisbane refusing to build and grow. First, the fault is one- to four-unit and low-density zoning laws in the bigger and biggest cities. Second is tax law that punishes a city for building homes while rewarding it for creating jobs. And, lastly, it’s the long and needlessly expensive permit process, which is totally indefensible and just drives construction costs higher.
There is one other factor that is equally important to recognize — greed. Profit is good, because it rewards supply meeting demand, but greed takes unfair advantage while adding no additional benefits. The people who built San Francisco in the early 1900s and after the 1906 earthquake were benefactors — they built smart, well-designed, small to medium-size apartments that were so efficient, they are still sustainable today. I say take a hint and leave Brisbane alone.
Tony Verreos, Brisbane