Too risky to send students back to school
Regarding “Fear keeps schools closed, in spite of low virus rates” ( Front Page, Dec. 9): With a surge of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and COVID19 deaths being reported in California and across the U. S., it’s truly disappointing to read a front page article calling for the reopening of public schools. There might be some wealthy local districts or private schools with small class sizes that have the financial means to ensure the safety and health of their staff and students.
However, the majority of our public schools have aging infrastructure, insufficient ventilation, class sizes of 30 or more children and lack of testing and tracing protocols to adequately protect teachers.
It’s certainly true that ongoing remote learning has not been advantageous for all students, but please consider the risks involved with sending them back into crowded classrooms with limited space at a time when this pandemic is infecting so many citizens.
Gail Kinney, San Francisco
Encourage the landlords
Regarding “Wave of evictions a looming crisis” ( Editorial, Dec. 9): Protecting tenants against eviction during COVID19 is certainly a worthy goal, but creating a civil debt liability for the tenant is bound to fail. This sounds like a variation on student debt that many will have no hope of paying off. What we know is that the rental market is depressed, so you might think those who seek reduced rent or want to move to a place with a lower rent would have many options.
However, one of the obstacles to opening up the rental market is rent control. In today’s market, landlords might be conducive to drastic temporary reductions in rent, if they knew that they would not be saddled with the lower rate indefinitely as the market rebounds.
A temporary suspension of rent control for landlords making substantial reductions in rent would go a long way to bringing vacant units to the market. Landlords always prefer to have occupied units, and this would encourage them to compete for tenants.
Roger Drosd, San Francisco
A divided America
America is at war: At war with itself. It is red versus blue.
The red leader stated that the virus was temporary, that it was fading away, and that vaccine availability would not be a problem ( but now we know that many will have to wait until July). This divides America based on who believes him, and who knows the truth. The red tax law widened the economic divide into a chasm by favoring the wealthy. Failure to address the pandemic divided those who could stay at home, and minorities who had to work despite the risk of becoming sick. Congress has been divided for years, and the last election just made it worse.
A divide exists between those who are punished for breaking the law, and those who are pardoned. War doesn’t have to use guns to kill. More than a thousand Americans are dying every day.
And yet the red leader will not nationalize production of a vaccine, protection equipment, or even provide encouragement for overworked medical personnel. Both sides are losing. Unless the Georgia elections deliver a blue Senate in January, this war will be far from over.
Richard Bailey, Novato
Commit to end poverty
Regarding “A lost soul dies: Why couldn’t S. F. save her?” ( Front Page, Dec. 8): Heather Knight has written a compelling article. Her reporting about the recent death of Mary Elaine Botts demands that we respond to the prevalent misery of so many people who suffer such painful lives in both poverty and intense mental depression — often made worse by drug addiction and alcohol abuse.
A formerly homeless person myself, I meet many people every day who are homeless and barely able to survive. Their suffering does seem preventable, yet our government at all levels is not committed to ending homelessness and offering adequate counseling for those living in constant emotional pain.
I wonder how we as a nation can fail to see that our government’s efforts to remain the world’s dominant superpower are in direct contradiction to making the happiness and fulfillment of all of our people the only real priority of all of its spending and political motivation.
We must see that either our nation continues to focus its strength and economic power on competing against China, Russia, Iran, etc., for the empty pride of being the world’s most “exceptional” nation, or we unite as one nation and one world to end human suffering.
Rama Kumar, Fairfax
Treat with compassion
Conservatorship means putting people into forced treatment in the hope that will have good results. Maybe, but people do far, far better when they are voluntarily using services.
Matching the right worker with a person in distress is key. In my walks around the city there have been touching occasions where people with psychotic symptoms seek me out, even after having just refused to talk with outreach workers. They feel a connection. One man got tears in his eyes because for that minute with me, he felt safe.
Another time, I walked up to a man who was loudly ranting. His eyes met mine and focused and he engaged in a normal conversation. Experiences like these make me happy while they are
happening, but then make me sad because I have to leave. We need welltrained, compassionate mental health teams who can do this, but don’t have to leave.
Vivian Imperiale, San Francisco
Wiener’s a good choice
After reading your article “Top Dems in play for attorney general post” ( Front Page, Dec. 8), one key name seems left off the list for state Attorney General: our local state Sen. Scott Wiener. Wiener has plenty of qualifications for the job.
He has spent over 20 years practicing law, including a stint as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office and in the state Senate, he has worked tirelessly for his constituents, authoring over 40 bills signed into law.
Wiener is a leader in the Senate in the push for more affordable housing and is a strong proponent of LGBTQ rights. He has also repeatedly fought for a reduction in emissions and other necessary measures to fight climate change. Wiener has the experience, qualifications and record to be a great next Attorney General; Gov. Gavin Newsom should seriously consider him for the job.
Eli Fastiff, San Francisco
Don’t be punitive
Regarding “Share the burden” ( Letters, Dec. 7): The writer suggests government workers have their pay cut 40% because other people are in financial distress. How does adding thousands more families to the rolls of the financially distressed help make anything better?
The real solution is for the government to act as they have in the past and offer aid and assistance to those who are in financial distress, not some illadvised, punitive plan to spread the misery among more people.
Michael Eady, Sacramento
Smoke free state
According to “State no longer golden for Musk” ( Business, Dec. 9), Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk has relocated to Texas after repeatedly criticizing California’s regulatory environment for businesses?
Well Musk, who has been known to smoke marijuana, will be sadly disappointed to learn that the recreational use of weed, while legal in the Golden State, is still illegal in the Lone Star State.
Sam Lockwood, Richmond