Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Remote work solves
several Bay Area issues
Re. “Employers should heed calls for remote work,” Page A7, April 14:
With masks coming off and employers requiring office workers return to their cubicles, get ready for the all-too-familiar line of cars snaking the Altamont, clogging the 680-24 interchange, idling on the San Mateo Bridge and crawling onto the Bay Bridge.
That was life in the Bay Area two years ago. In the next month, we will fall back into this scenario. Instead, let’s support a change. Government officials from all levels should offer companies incentives to encourage remote work. Not only is work-from-home 13% more productive, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions (by nearly 15% in the first two months of the pandemic). The work-from-home model works.
Instead of trying to temporarily lower gas prices, governments at all levels (county, metro area, state and federal) should help office workers and immediately make incentives available to companies to embrace a shared future in the health of our planet.
Bob Riley
Danville
Allen’s experience puts
her atop supervisor field
District 4 supervisorial candidate Debora Allen would bring to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors 25 years of experience in private business management as a CPA, tax manager and financial officer. She is also a small business owner.
For the last five years, she has worked tirelessly on the BART board to bring more taxpayer oversight and accountability and regularly deals with billions of dollars in budgets and contracts.
Debora’s experience in housing, construction management, job creation, homeless initiatives and regional transportation, and as a six-year member of the board of the Contra Costa County Employees’ Retirement Association will prove invaluable on the Board of Supervisors.
Few people ever come to the supervisor position with so much on-target experience and know-how. She will immediately invest her impressive skills into working for our county’s citizens and taxpayers.
Your vote in the June 7 election for Debora Allen will make that happen.
Lynne Leach
Walnut Creek
Provide residents more
help with recycling
SB 1383 requires every jurisdiction in California (city, county or special district) that provides solid waste collection services to provide organic waste collection to all residents and businesses.
We obtained a small collection can from Republic Services and use it every day to collect food waste.
However, in our townhouse community, gardening and green waste services are the responsibility of the homeowners association. Republic Services provided none of the homes in our development with small green waste containers into which to place the accumulated food waste. They first provided us with a huge 96-gallon container and then replaced it with a 65-gallon container. It is still much too large for our small space and needs.
There are many townhouse communities in the East Bay where residents are not individually responsible for green waste. We need small-sized green waste containers so we can do the right thing.
Daniel Safran
Pleasant Hill
BART’s bad leadership
exposed once again
Re. “What is BART trying to hide from auditor?” Page A12, April 17:
Once again, kudos to the East Bay Times for speaking up about arrogant mismanagement by the BART Board of Directors. Arrogant because, among other things, they brazenly oppose state Sen. Steve Glazer’s legislation to hold them accountable.
Recently, I attended an online forum hosted by state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier on traffic congestion. The expert speakers said nothing about BART’s low ridership and high fares compared to their peers nationally. Why? The majority of BART board members remain unwilling to secure their system to prevent crime, drug use and, in some cases, putrid filth by fare jumpers. If it were safe, clean and less costly, wouldn’t that improve traffic congestion?
I am pleased that my representative on the BART board, Debora Allen, continually fights the irresponsible behavior of the majority of BART directors. I wish someone else in public office would join Senator Glazer in doing the same.
Donald Waters
Pleasant Hill
GOP offers obstruction
but no new solutions
In 2021, President Biden successfully promoted, and congressional Democrats passed, the American Rescue Plan, which put cash money into nearly everyone’s bank account. While stores, offices and factories were shutting down due to COVID, Biden’s plan covered our lack of paychecks. Unfortunately, boosting consumer demand while production was down has caused inflation. But the alternative of people having no money for food and losing their homes would have been far worse.
Yes, the cost of gasoline is too high, thanks in part to price gouging by oil companies and Russia’s war in Ukraine, but Americans should stop whining about inflation and appreciate how Biden saved us from a COVID disaster that would have been far worse without his Rescue Plan.
Republicans continue to criticize without offering a positive alternative, while Democrats are working to solve our problems despite Republican obstruction.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont
Source: www.mercurynews.com