Paying the price of climate change
Regarding “Lobbyist becomes PG&E’s nemesis” (May 14): I was happy to see the paper cover such a complicated issue in an even-handed way. More than anything else, the valid arguments presented by both sides underlined one sobering fact: There’s no escaping paying for climate change. Whether it is homeowners who have to pay for damages out of pocket, or utility companies who need to be held liable, and in turn pass those costs on to ratepayers, we can no longer pretend that we can avoid paying the price for emitting greenhouse gases that warm the planet. California has already started to take positive steps to help curb carbon-dioxide emissions, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the state’s actions alone are not enough.
We need our leaders in Washington to step up and start to work toward passing legislation that helps both grow the economy and cleans up our environment before all Americans start feeling the pain in their pocketbooks.
Jonathan Maltz, San Francisco
Angered with Israel
I write with sadness and anger as a Jewish American who watches the Israeli government, which falsely claims to speak for all Jews, kill unarmed Palestinian protesters in Gaza. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees who were forced from their homes when Israel was established. All they want is to be able to live in freedom and to return to the land their families were pushed out of. I would want the same for my family. Meanwhile, my government, the U.S. government, has moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, which is counter to international law and is a clear attempt by Israel and the U.S. to consolidate Israeli annexation of land.
I say to both governments: not in my name! Instead, the human rights and land rights of Palestinians must be acknowledged if there is to be a just and peaceful resolution.
Ellen Brotsky, Berkeley
Wrongheaded approach
Regarding “The $5M Google Tax (Business, May 6): A plan emerging in Mountain View to tax jobs is a simplistic and wrongheaded approach that badly misses the target of the Bay Area’s housing and transportation problems. While it might feel good for some to take a whack at big job creators, such taxes will only undermine our region’s long-term economic health and competitiveness. It creates a piecemeal system of anti-jobs taxation that pushes problems to other cities and discourages the kind of investment, innovation and entrepreneurialism that have given us record low unemployment. Meanwhile, it will do almost nothing to solve the problems of housing and traffic that extend far beyond any one city’s immediate borders.
And it will put us at an extreme disadvantage in weathering future, inevitable economic downturns. More constructive in solving our region’s big problems than punishing our job creators is addressing the systemic obstacles and resistance to new housing that existed long before companies like Google and Facebook rose to prominence. And breaking down the parochial barriers to creating and funding a truly connected transportation system that can provide the mobility our region needs.
Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, Pleasant Hill
Solar’s added value
Thank you for “Sunny side of new housing” (Editorial, May 15) concerning California’s new solar mandate. It is true that new housing in our energy efficient state would help to reduce national carbon emissions — as would a carbon price that returned all fees collected to individual households. Such a system would incentivize the construction of efficient housing and solar installations without onerous regulations and do so while providing individuals with the economic support necessary to transition to a clean energy economy.
Andrew Beahrs, Berkeley
Trump memorabilia
Regarding “Purchase a piece of rock ’n’ roll heaven” (Daily Briefing, Business, May 15): When I saw the business news item, which mentions that the guitars and other memorabilia of rock icons like Prince, Bob Dylan and George Harrison are being sold at auction, I thought: What if things like the pen used by President Trump to sign tax cut legislation that benefits the rich, prototypes for the border wall Trump promised Mexico would pay for, and the keyboard on which Trump types toxic tweets were put up for sale? The title of this prospective news item might be “Purchase a piece of political hell.”
Ferdi Bagdalian, Daly City