San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Overdue victory on lead paint
Deceptive book won’t rehabilitate Paul Ryan’s reputation
It’s taken too long — nearly 20 years — but lead paint manufacturers will finally pay up for selling a dangerous product rolled onto the walls of thousands of California homes. The drawnout saga is testimony to a determined campaign against a flawed product in the face of corporate political tricks and legal footdragging.
The scourge of lead paint, which can harm child development when dusty particles seep into the blood, has been known for decades. But manufacturers have denied their responsibility for the lingering harm from flaking paint in older homes by saying it was all on property owners to fix.
That argument has trailed through the courts since 2000 until now. An initial judgment totaling $1.15 billion was appealed by three major makers — SherwinWilliams, ConAgra and NL Industries — who managed to whittle it down through appeals. This week a settlement of $305 million was announced in Santa Clara Superior Court.
That’s hardly the full story. To evade responsibility, the paint makers thought up an additional idea: a ballot measure to clean up the mess and hand the bill totaling billions to the state. They eventually dropped that phony ploy when the state Legislature threatened additional penalties.
The final payout should mitigate an
So, former House Speaker Paul Ryan claims in Tim Alberta’s new book, “American Carnage,” that he helped stop President Trump from making bad decisions and retired from Congress in 2018 as an escape hatch from having to work with Trump? This sounds like revisionist history for two reasons.
First, Ryan helped Trump get a massive tax cut that benefited only our country’s wealthiest citizens and corporations.
Second, when Ryan announced his intention not to run for reelection, he claimed the reason was so he could spend more time with his family. Ryan, who wanted to cut social safety net programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, will not rehabilitate his reputation with this book.
Get rid of Prop. M
Regarding “Office space limits sought” (Page One, Business, July 18): A ballot measure to restrict the construction of muchneeded office space in San Francisco is the height of folly. The people at Todco live a fool’s paradise if they think that such a measure will reduce the cost of housing in our city. San Francisco needs more, not less, office space.
The restriction of office space will only make it more expensive than it is now and price nontech firms out of the city.
The proposal will make affordable housing in San Francisco even scarcer, obvious problem. Nothing sticks like paint, including the lead additive that since the 1950s has been a known health hazard. Everyday wear and tear creates the dust picked up by youngsters, who are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can cause brain damage and learning disabilities. In the settlement, 10 of California’s biggest cities and counties will share the money to be divvied using estimates of each community’s tainted homes. The cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego filed the original suit along thus shutting out lowerincome people from the city. If any new measure regarding the construction of office space needs to be approved, it would be the repeal of Proposition M. This illconceived measure, passed many years ago, restricts the construction of office space to 875,000 square feet per year and thus restricts the construction of affordable housing by officebuilding developers.
Get rid of Prop. M and we will see an increase of affordable housing in San Francisco.
Lacking grasp on issues
Regarding “Democrats must stay on message for upcoming election” (Letters, July 14): The author is right about one thing, that Democrats need to stay on message. Unfortunately, the only message they have is: I hate President Trump, so vote for me and everything is free.
Of the 20 or so candidates for the nomination, there is not one who has a firm grasp of the issues, i.e.: the economy that they have cleverly avoided due to how well it’s doing, or how they would handle North Korea, China, Iran, etc. All these problems the Trump administration has addressed successfully.
The president is doing exactly what he promised he would do when he campaigned for the office. Do you really think the Democrats have any viable solutions? with the counties of Santa Clara, Alameda, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Mateo, Solano and Ventura.
The sum is far less than these jurisdictions originally wanted. Inspecting contaminated locations and doing the removal work will be costly, limiting the reach of the funds. Still, James Williams, Santa Clara County Counsel, expects the “settlement will allow thousands of homes to be remediated.”
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera was likewise optimistic, noting local governments can spend the
A graceful departure
Regarding “Parting Shots” (Insight, July 14): I don’t think Rep. Eric Swalwell had a bad week at all. Yes, he dropped out of the presidential race, but he did so having raised his national visibility and name recognition a notch, which was all he was ever going to accomplish by being in the contest.
And he did so without wasting any more time or money on it, and without having committed any major gaffes. That he is viewed as having left humbly and gracefully just confirms that he accomplished his mission and can move on to whatever is next.
Glad for bail denial
I’m glad to learn that a federal judge has denied bail for Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing sextrafficking charges involving underage girls in New York. Why should Epstein be able to use his wealth to hire private security guards and stay under house arrest in his Manhattan mansion? There is evidence that he would be a flight risk and a threat to former victims, as well as his having bribed potential witnesses. This vulture should not be allowed to live in a gilded cage while awaiting trial.
Preserve rest of mural
There seems to be agreement about the mural at George Washington High School that there are offensive images. There is disagreement as to whether money in their own way to tamp down the hazard. Earlier court rulings limited removal work to just the inside of dwellings and not outside peeling paint or contaminated soil.
The case stands out nationally. Across the country, paint makers have dodged similar legal claims in seven states based on socalled public nuisance doctrines that allow states to go after a harmful condition on private property. The manufacturers also argued they stopped selling lead paint when the public harm became known in the 1950s. Leadbased paint was eventually banned nationally in 1978.
In 2017 a San Jose appeals court ruled that the companies knew of the dangers of lead paint and still manufactured and promoted the coating. The companies “were well aware in the early part of the 20th century that lead paint was poisonous,” the appeals judges ruled. Further legal appeals to the state and U.S. Supreme Courts were turned down. Those outcomes set in motion the negotiations that led to this week’s long overdue settlement. Now comes a new assignment. Public officials must squeeze the maximum value out of the payout in cleaning up each city and county where old homes remain covered with poisonous paint. With paint makers finally forced to pay up, it’s time for health inspectors to do their job. the images should be erased or used as teaching opportunities. What surprises me is that, if the offensive images must be removed, why does the entire mural need to be covered or painted over? And since it will be tied up in litigation for years, why not just cover the offensive images until the final decision is made?
It will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover or paint over. A few strategically placed plywood panels could be done for a few hundred dollars, and perhaps the rest of this historic mural could be preserved.
Rick Lewis, Berkeley
Trump’s words matter
The writer of “Missing the point” (Letters, July 19) defends the president as not caring about the ethnicity or color of the four congresswomen, but is merely upset that they only see America for its faults.
He seems to have forgotten that President Trump ran an entire campaign on America’s socalled faults, and spent a good portion of the previous eight years complaining about how bad the U.S. was under our (nonwhite) president. As his bullying regularly takes the form of words and actions that ridicule and judge people for their race, ethnicity, and gender, I’m not sure how anyone can sincerely believe he’s not a bigot. He’s the guy in power, and his words matter. Let’s not pretend that they don’t. That’s just naive and cowardly.