Pandemic shows us new ways to function
Regarding “Transportation agency votes for 60% remotework mandate,” Sept. 24: I applaud this plan to change the obsolete paradigm that has let cities with major business centers like San Francisco reap the tax benefits of office development while burdening adjacent communities with the costs of housing, traffic, transportation and other infrastructure.
Many objections can easily be resolved. Reconfigure downtown office buildings as housing to support downtown businesses and ease the housing crunch. Reconfigure a transit system designed to ferry people to and from downtown offices into a grid facilitating travel throughout the region. Working remotely needn’t mean working from home. Develop neighborhood shared work spaces for those who prefer an office environment they can walk to.
Despite its devastating effects, the pandemic has shown us new ways for society to function. It will be tragic, indeed, if we ignore those lessons.
Charlie Fenton, Oakland
Landlords left behind
Proposition 21 is extreme rent control. The professional landlord groups talk, then the tenants talk — but no voice is heard of the singlebuilding resident landlord, the one who knows his or her tenants intimately. When he or she loses his or her building, he or she loses their home.
Terence Hurley, San Francisco
Fascism in America
I never thought our federal government would lean toward fascism.
Knowing the carnage it was responsible for in 1930 until the end of World War II, it greatly concerns me. Ironically, President Trump does a remarkable imitation of Benito Mussolini.
Arnold Rotbert, San Francisco
California dreamin’
As a petrochemical industry engineer here in the Bay Area, I will be the first to admit my own personal dependence on the fossil fuel industry. But let’s stop pretending that making California a carbonneutral state will make a dent in climate change globally.
California’s role in moving the world toward a more sustainable future will be in showing the possibility of having a strong economy while pushing environmental goals and mitigating climate change already here today.
But both the left and right are pointing to California as an example of failure; either as a cautionary tale of the woes of climate change or a failed dystopian state that can’t even manage its forests. These are oversimplifications to be sure, but it highlights that no one is looking to California for leadership right now until it can manage its challenges today.
With all due respect to Gov. Gavin Newsom, signing an executive order banning all affordable cars, literally on top of a car most Californians could only dream to own, just solidifies the absurdity of our state’s current approach.
Tom Mysz, Berkeley
Job opportunities
Predictably, conservatives decried Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order that all new cars sold in California by 2035 be zeroemission vehicles as a job killer. They apparently fail to realize that new jobs can be created: habitable planets, not so much.
William Raffetto , Moraga
Reckless rallies
By following the lead of their superspreader president, the Republican Party has revealed itself to be the ProDeath Party, proliferating all Americans’ right to die.
Anthony Bianco, San Francisco
Must be rigged
Why be suspicious of mailintype ballots? Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Demand a recount. The end is near.
Neil Davis, Sebastopol
Freedom fighter
I’m so proud of my son. I just received word that he has enlisted in the battle to defend America’s freedom. It’s sobering to learn that your only child is willing to risk his life to protect democracy here at home. That’s why I salute his decision. He won’t be flying overseas to shoot and kill strangers in a foreign country, however. He’s chosen to serve as a real freedom fighter right here in the USA. He’s signed up for duty as a poll worker in our November election.
Gar Smith, Berkeley