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Let Livermore schools
parcel tax expire
I have decided to vote no on Measure A, the renewal of the Livermore school parcel tax. Three reasons:
I question the need. The district superintendent’s compensation exceeds $435,000, more than President Joe Biden’s. The next three assistants total over $800,000 more. The district seems awash in money.
I question the district’s judgment in rebuilding high school pools to an obsolete 1950s size rather than the modern 25-yard standard length found at other area high schools.
I question the administration’s wording in the ballot measure that “… any parcel owned and occupied by a person 65 years of age and older shall be exempt from the education parcel tax,” but I found one must apply for the exemption.
The prior tax is expiring. Leave it that way.
Russ Greenlaw
Livermore
Fairly compensate
our disabled veterans
Our disabled veterans are grossly undercompensated and have been for generations. This is most especially true for our totally and permanently disabled veterans.
In 2022, a totally disabled veteran with no dependents is compensated at the ridiculous rate of $39,984.72 dollars annually. The National Average Wage Index (NAWI) for 2020 was $55,628.60 dollars per annum and the median income for 2020 was $67,521.00. The per capita GDP in 2020 was $63,416.00 dollars, among the highest in the world.
Compensate them at least at the level of the NAWI for all types of totally and permanently disabled veterans.
Once our youth understand that serving in the armed forces and getting injured seriously enough to require disability retirement will condemn them to a life of near poverty the armed forces will collapse.
Gretchen Hansen
Davis
Allocate more funds
for Alzheimer’s research
April is National Minority Health Month, and I am reminded of the ongoing need to raise awareness about the disproportionate affliction of Alzheimer’s and other dementias on people of African descent.
Black people are about two times more likely than Whites to have Alzheimer’s and other dementias, but far less likely than Whites to get a timely diagnosis. This is inexcusable. This is not a Black public health problem, this is a human public health problem that affects everyone.
I am an African American Alzheimer’s caregiver, and I say we can do better, America. We must do better. I strongly appeal to Congress to increase the commitment to Alzheimer’s research (including research into the cause of Black disparities and ways to improve early diagnosis and detection) by $226 million for fiscal year 2023, as requested by the NIH in their FY23 Professional Judgement Budget for Alzheimer’s.
April Bolin
Pleasant Hill
Benefits of COVID
vaccine outweigh risk
I liked your opinion piece about anti-vaxxers (“Anti-vaxxers and their scary, increasingly violent threats,” (Page A6, April 12). I feel that both sides have become extreme.
Of course, doctors should not be compared to Nazi doctors and experiments in concentration camps. On the other hand, people were frustrated about social distancing and masks after seeing those in power (on both sides of the aisle) not following mandates. Also, people were not told what essential businesses are. I cannot understand why movie sets stayed open while restaurants outside those sets had to close.
Also, I feel sorry for people with severe side-effects from vaccines. They should get some kind of compensation. However, people should balance the worth of the vaccine versus getting the virus. I should know. I was born blind because of a contaminated vaccine my mom got during pregnancy. However, I still prefer the vaccine over COVID-19.
Marianne Haas
Berkeley
Source: www.mercurynews.com