Invest in urban parks

Regarding “S.F. the nation’s leader for parks” (May 17): On behalf of the Student Conservation Association, congratulations to San Francisco for cherishing and investing in city parks. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and the city’s broader urban park community should be fiercely proud of this accomplishment. While the Recreation and Park Department has played the lead role in the mission of making parks accessible to everyone, partner organizations have played a key role in realizing this accomplishment.

The San Francisco Parks Alliance, the Trust for Public Land and a host of other organizations and community groups have helped make it so. The Student Conservation Association has played an important role as well by serving as the park department’s exclusive intern administrator.

In addition to providing young adult interns assistance in important education and stewardship activities, it’s exciting to expand our partnership to include a paid summer youth crew focused on community gardens and urban farming. The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department is a stellar agency and one we are proud to partner with.

Jay Watson, Oakland vice president, Student Conservation Association

Cleaner facilities overseas

Regarding “Pick up the trash” (Letters, May 19): I can only say that some Americans are real slobs and dirty. When it comes to personal hygiene, I loathe to have to use one of the restroom stalls at various department stores and malls in this area as there is no telling what one will encounter.

Maybe it is a macho-man thing, or too many homeless or nut jobs coming in, but I know that in my travels in France and Thailand, especially in the malls, that it is almost a pleasure to use one of the stalls in restrooms in the malls there. Also, there is an abundance of staff to clean up even the simplest of messes if needed.

Irving Waldorf, San Francisco

Dental coverage and Medi-Cal

One of the great divides between rich and poor is access to dental care. Poor dental health is linked to chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, yet California cut dental coverage for Medi-Cal years ago and hasn’t restored funding.

Routine dental care is expensive, and my primary care patients often defer it to make ends meet. By the time my patients see the dentist, treatment costs have ballooned well beyond what it would have cost to treat the problems earlier. Dental problems don’t just cause physical pain; they exact emotional and financial tolls too. Medi-Cal will pay for a person to have a tooth pulled, but it won’t pay for an implant or partial dentures. People with missing teeth have a harder time finding work and aren’t able to contribute as much to the community or the economy. We’ve done much better with health insurance than we have with dental insurance. Everyone should have access to screenings and routine care that many of us take for granted.

Sharad Jain, San Francisco

Thrown under the bus

Republicans will never support the impeachment of President Trump as long as there is a chance his lies can’t be proved. They are too busy living out their ultimate right wing dream: killing health care, cutting taxes for the rich, and deregulating all those pesky federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. Never have the planets been aligned so perfectly to deconstruct the federal government. They control the White House, the Senate and the House as well as the majority of state legislatures and governors’ seats. Worse, even if Trump is unseated, Vice President Mike Pence, an even more hard-core conservative, is waiting in the wings, and he has the self-discipline and comprehension of process that seemingly no one can drill into Trump’s thick skull.

The takeaway for supporters of democracy is that, like Russia, the Republican Party is no friend of America and no friend of democracy. If the tilt to Russia isn’t enough, consider Trump’s party apologists (yes, you, House Speaker Paul Ryan) who dismiss his lies, his conflicts and his sharing of state secrets with Russia. Make no mistake. Our country, our government and our democracy are being thrown under the bus. This is beyond party before country. This is treason.

Larry Bothen, Pacifica

No consequences for litterbug

Regarding “S.F. haven for grime and no punishment” (May, 19): The first line in the third paragraph of your story explains all of San Francisco’s problems in one sentence: “Bad behavior comes with no apparent repercussions.” As long as San Francisco is a no-consequence zone for bad behavior, this problem is only to going to get worse.

Frank Sullivan, San Francisco

Be careful what you wish for

Regarding impeachment, be careful what you wish for: Do you want an ineffective right-wing president or an effective one?

David Fairley, San Francisco

President’s warning on tapes

Regarding “All the president’s diversions” (Editorial, May 13): Thank you for the editorial against the doings of the president. However, as a doctoral student in speech communication (Indiana University), it seems to me that the president’s tweet referring to “tapes” is probably being widely misinterpreted. That is, given a clever person with the requisite “mens rea” who may well have heard of former President Richard Nixon getting skewered on his own tapes, isn’t it much more likely that the president is warning James Comey that he, Comey, had better not have secretly taped what the president said?

I would have thought that if the president actually said stuff he didn’t want anyone else to hear, he would want to rely on keeping things on a “it’s my word against his” basis.

James-Joseph Diliberto, El Cerrito

Online shopping wishes

Regarding “Walmart gets boost from online sales” (Business, May 19): I can now order from the department store via the Internet and collect my order at the store to take home. What I would like is almost the inverse: when I lived in Berlin (the big one in Germany), I could walk around a department store choosing things, leaving them with staff in each department.

At the end of my shopping, perhaps after a snack in the store restaurant, I would go to customer service to pay for the items and arrange for them to be delivered without extra charge to my home, before going there myself on the bus. That was a much more satisfactory experience than what Walmart is now offering.

John Wills, Oakland

Different kind of travel ban?

Based on recent events, I believe for the safety and security of the United States, President Trump should be banned from traveling to other countries as long as he remains our leader.

Janice Burton, San Jose