San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Homeowners will pay dearly for gas appliance ban
Regarding “‘The Bay Area needs to be first in line’: Why officials banned key gas appliances” (Bay Area, SFChronicle.com, March 15): The ban that’s been imposed on gas furnaces and water heaters by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is one more political statement in search of a reason.
If residential nitrogen oxide emissions only make up 6.1 percent of all local emissions, why is the district targeting residential emissions when industrial and commercial transportation sources are the biggest offenders? Wouldn’t it make more sense to target oil refineries or trucks? But those downstream costs would show up on our bills before you can say ecology.
The ban places an undue burden on homeowners with no payoff for the crushing costs. Upgrading electrical panels on older homes can cost more than $4,000, plus the $3,000 for a heat pump. Add nearly $1,000 more for an electric water heater. This isn’t chump change.
And what about PG&E’s failed electric grid? It can’t keep the lights on when it’s hotter than 95 or the wind blows. That’s if they don’t burn down your whole town.
For me the answer is simple. I’ll buy a new gas furnace and water heater before the rules take effect.
Lawrence Bothen, Pacifica
Preserve the Castro
Regarding “Exclusive: S.F.’s Castro Theatre operator raises curtain on new plans to win neighborhood support” (Heather Knight, SFChronicle.com, March 11): I appreciate Heather Knight as an important voice for observing ineptitude in San Francisco. That said, I am disappointed by her column in support of Another Planet Entertainment and the damage it wants to do to the Castro Theatre.
I disagree that there are no heroes and villains in this story.
If Another Planet wants to rip out orchestra seating and the sloped floor, so the best movie theater in the world to watch a movie is no longer a movie theater, it is indeed a villain.
Knight is disingenuous in quoting Peter Pastreich, the creator of the Castro Theatre Conservancy, in such a way as to make it seem like for the organization, the seats and floor are no big whoop. Look at the Castro Theatre Conservancy website. It supports orchestra seating and a sloped floor, as are many important filmmakers around the world, including our own George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.
The Castro Theatre is the best movie theater in the world but much more than that. It’s a sacred space that must not be desecrated.
David G. Fink, San Francisco
Life’s not a game
The University of Alabama’s men’s basketball program is another example of greed being more important than people’s lives.
We don’t know how many Alabama basketball players may have been present during a fatal shooting and who may have brought or known about the gun used in the killing. Were any of the players partially responsible? We do not know. Were any of the players traumatized by the shooting? We do not know.
We do know No.1 Alabama entered the NCAA Basketball Tournament with these players in its lineup, a true demonstration of March Madness.