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Downtown Livermore
needs a ‘living room’
Recently we signed up for a walking tour in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The tour was with City Guides, a wonderful program through the S.F. Public Library.
Our tour began at Portsmouth Square, an amazing park in the heart of Chinatown that was new to us. It’s a multi-generational meeting place that was packed that day with children and adults — one of the most vibrant scenes imaginable.
As the guide showed us around the park, she pointed out the surrounding SROs (Single Room Occupancies) necessary in this densely populated part of the city. She said Portsmouth Square is called the “Living Room” of Chinatown — a place where the locals can get out of their close quarters into the fresh air and sunshine to enjoy socializing and cultural events.
“Exactly,” we said. Exactly why Livermore needs to preserve space for a large park. Exactly why the dense housing downtown needs a “Living Room.”
Linda Milanese and Carla Hanson
Livermore
Past time to spend
water bond money
Re. “Pull the plug on state water ballot measure,” Page A6, Nov. 19:
Fifty-six years ago, I was a student engineer on Gov. Pat Brown’s state water project. I worked on the transmission line bringing water to Fremont. That project has little changed since then, despite years of drought and population growth. The recent editorial about the proposed ballot measure pits agriculture’s interests against environmental interests, a prescription for more arguing than finding solutions.
And as we continue to argue, we have learned that the recent “atmospheric river” was an anomaly and La Nina could result in another year of less-than-normal rainfall. The environmental community typically opposes surface storage. But that means more water that can be used for all purposes.
We need more surface water storage, replenished groundwater aquifers, better conservation, desalinization plants and leaders that can plan and compromise. Proposition 1 in 2014 provided $7.45 billion for water supply infrastructure. It is time to spend the rest of that money.
Robert Douglass
Fremont
Water ballot measure
makes up for leaders
Since California legislators have not come up with a plan to increase our water supply even though there is excess money in their budget, the people need to support the 2022 ballot measure to fast track water projects.
The editorial in the East Bay Times (“Pull the plug on state water ballot measure,” Page A6, Nov. 19) opposes the proposed water ballot measure because it spends tax dollars that favor Big Ag which uses four times as much water as the urban population.
In my opinion, there are millions of tax dollars spent on projects that are less important than increasing our water supply. What could be more important than the California farmer who grows food that is shipped all over the world? Furthermore, the Central Valley farmer is a large part of California’s economy.
James Rasker
Moraga
GOP threatens nation’s,
Democrats’ progress
When Joe Louis was criticized for enlisting in the segregated U.S. Army in 1942, he replied, “Lots of things wrong with America, but Hitler ain’t going to fix them.”
I would say to voters who are dissatisfied with Joe Biden and the Democrats: there may be things wrong with America, but Republicans aren’t going to fix them. For example, inflation is worldwide and, short of causing another recession, Republicans aren’t going to stop it any sooner. But Republicans will stop progress on climate change; cause further abortion restrictions and voter suppression; coddle White supremacists and abuse immigrants; cut taxes for corporations and the rich;repeal financial, environmental and safety regulations; and continue to parrot the Big Lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election and ignore the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Overall, progress this year has been very good. Don’t risk it by putting Republicans back in power.
Merlin Dorfman
Livermore
Column promotes
confusion and divison
Re. “How Comey’s FBI became the Bureau of Dirty Tricks,” Page A7, Nov. 19:
What a perfect title for a completely false column. Naturally, the writer latches onto confusing facts so he can alter your perception, and begins with the dog whistle “dirty tricks.”
Let’s put the FBI in order: Ever since J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI has been a solidly political arm of the government. You need look no further than the FBI’s treatment of non-White Americans, anti-war Americans and, in the noxious Nixon era, the proliferation of dirty tricks. Yeah, Bret Stephens, people do remember that the FBI was involved.
“Cleaning out” the FBI does not mean replacing unaffiliated agents with Republican ones, as is implied. As a country, we are a long way from unity, and Stephens does not help.
R Cote
Castro Valley
Nuclear energy risks
outweigh any benefits
As some people continue to advocate for the use of nuclear power to meet clean energy goals (“Keep nuclear power plant to meet clean energy goals,” Letters to the Editor, Page A6, Oct. 7), newly released information calls that into question.
A leaked version of the UN Panel on Climate Change Part III written by Working Group III on Mitigation (Monthly Review, October 2021), indicates nuclear energy poses too many obstacles and potentially dangerous consequences and hazards to be an important part of the solution. “The scale of the fusion and global spread of carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy and carbon renewal technologies” are questionable and cannot play the primary role in climate change mitigation.
Betty Brown
Kensington
Source: www.mercurynews.com