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Guarantee housing
before closing camps
The homeless population in the Bay Area is third-highest in the United States. Yet officials are pushing for the closure of encampments without ensuring housing options are available to the individuals being displaced. The article “After Gov. Newsom chimes in, judge allows closure of East Bay homeless camp” (Page B1, April 7) showed that it was being closed for more reasons than just the “hazardous conditions” the encampment was causing. Gov. Newsom signed a $12 billion funding package for housing and homelessness in June 2021; the impact has yet to be seen.
The encampments are not the problem, the lack of housing in the Bay Area is. To combat the displacement of individuals before an encampment can be closed there should be a guarantee of replacement housing. Gov. Newsom needs to focus less on “litter abatement and local beautification projects” and more on creating homes for our homeless neighbors.
Sammifay Hunter
San Jose
Vote for Knox for DA
to restore law, order
Re. “Diana Becton is best choice for Contra Costa prosecutor,” Page A6, April 6:
I don’t know about you but when I’m not happy with the current state of my environment I vote for a change in the way things are getting done, or in this case, not getting done.
Your endorsement of Diana Becton tells me that you don’t mind the smash and grab hoodlums getting off with a slap on the wrist or no punishment at all because in Becton’s world personal need for stealing supersedes law and order. Additionally, the low morale in the policing world has everything to do with what happens to the wrongdoers, and nothing of merit is happening. Why keep the revolving door revolving? All this poor prosecution is leading up to the broken-window effect.
The pendulum is swinging back to the need for law and order. Vote for Mary Knox for district attorney.
Michael D Scott
Walnut Creek
Real help for violence
too costly to happen
How much does it cost to pass gun-control laws? Nothing. Sam Paredes in the April 4 article headlined “State already has some of the toughest restrictions on arms in U.S.” (Page A1) nails it. Paredes, who runs the Sacramento-area organization Gun Owners of California, said lawmakers are gliding over the real issues that drive gun violence. “Here in California, we have done everything we could possibly do to control guns. Everything short of banning (guns) and they know they can’t do that. Is it mental? Economic? Medical? What is it? They won’t go there. Their knee-jerk reaction is to go after guns”.
How much would it cost to have tens of thousands more mental health counselors, and city, county, state and federal law enforcement officers? Probably billions of dollars. They won’t go there.
Rick Luciano
Danville
PG&E CEO’s pay
is a public rip-off
Re. “PG&E top boss’s pay package tops $50M,” Page B1, April 8:
PG&E is a monopoly all of us are forced to use. There is no competition, and thereby no need for corporate leadership genius to survive.
PG&E periodically fails spectacularly, being responsible for wildfires and other disasters that the public is forced to pay for. Monthly PG&E bills are soaring, requiring many customers to minimize their service to bare-bones levels. Your story has a photo with the glowing smile of the CEO. Her $51,200,000 2021 compensation is reported to be more than three times the $15.5 million CEO average of S&P 500 companies.
These are largely private corporations with massive competition. That utility CEOs make this level of compensation is sickening. It’s dead wrong.
Bruce Watson
Walnut Creek
Cartoon recycles
pathetic Palin joke
It certainly took very little time for the haters to come out once Sarah Palin announced her candidacy for a seat in Congress.
Everybody in the news media knows that she never said she could see Russia from her house. But that didn’t prevent the East Bay Times from publishing a cartoon (Page 6, April 7) implying that she did. Pathetic.
Bill McGregor
Berkeley
Source: www.mercurynews.com