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High taxes are a myth
for well-off residents
Re. “No on Alameda $2,000 a year school tax total,” Page A6, May 11:
Sadly, the editors of the East Bay Times and Bay Area News Group continue to pander to the myth that California taxes are too high.
Yes, they are high for those working and new homebuyers. But those who have lived in the same home for decades or transferred their tax base to a new home have been receiving services they have not been paying for for years.
Shame on those whose parents understood the shared costs of schools, police, firefighters, roads, municipal buildings, etc. Their self-serving “I’m just doing what everyone else is doing” is a disgrace. A former colleague with two school-aged children bragged about paying $1,500 in property taxes. Proposition 13 has tied the hands of cities and towns with unrealistic revenue limits.
Self-interest and fear are the problems, not taxes.
Dave Ruede
Oakland
We must pay to keep
schools running high
Re. “No on Alameda $2,000 a year school tax total,” Page A6, May 11:
Yesterday’s BANG editorial screamed at voters of the city of Alameda to reject upcoming ballot measures calling for increased taxes.
No mention was made of why funding of education has been so problematic in California since voters passed Proposition13 in 1978. Prop. 13 infamously gave home and commercial property owners the lowest property taxes in the United States, and later among the worst schools in the country – instead of what had been among the best.
Thanks to principled, hardworking elected officials, good government advocates and savvy (and well-off) parents, students attending better schools like Alameda’s have lucked out over the years. Alameda residents should want to keep it that way … hopefully.
Ruby MacDonald
El Cerrito
Kumagai has the skills
to tame housing crisis
The insanely high cost of housing is my No. 1 priority issue, and when I cast my vote, I need to know my vote will elect an experienced leader who already has a proven record of instituting effective housing solutions.
As the only candidate in the Assembly who has ever held elected office, Shawn Kumagai is that leader and is endorsed by the Housing Action Coalition and California Sen. Scott Weiner. While Dublin’s vice mayor and city councilmember, he worked to deliver several large, affordable housing projects, including 300 units located right at BART, and he continues to support smart housing development such as transit-oriented projects in order to make our community greener and more affordable.
I’m voting for Shawn because he truly understands we just can’t afford to simply sit back and watch our families and neighbors get shut out of having a secure place to call home.
Carla Mill
Castro Valley
Let’s not emulate
dictators on speech
Re. “Diverse opinion different than pure propaganda,” Page A6, April 12:
Again, liberal readers of this newspaper believe they, and their favorite news sources, have a monopoly on “reality.” They state that “Free speech allows them (conservative news) to undermine their supporters’ reality.”
OK. Believe me, we conservatives hear the liberal views every day. It’s inescapable.
We are also instructed by liberals that enacting the Fairness Doctrine will make all news, opinion and reporting palatable for all, forgetting that the Fairness Doctrine would be adjudicated by humans – with agendas. And never mind that the Fairness Doctrine has been routinely used by administrations on both sides as a hammer to squash opposing views and doesn’t encourage discussions of controversial opinions.
If Fox News is such a lying news pariah, you would think that after 25 years as the leader in cable news, they would be dead and buried. Let the marketplace decide. Let’s not emulate Russia and China.
Steve Mahler
Livermore
It’s time Congress codify
women’s right to choose
Re. “Politicians urge fight for right to abortion,” Page A1, May 7:
On this Mother’s Day, I reflected on the freedoms that provided me with the choice to become a mother of three children.
First, the ability to choose contraception prior to marriage and experiment with love relationships. Next, the ability to choose an interracial and interfaith marriage, and then the choice to have children after receiving my graduate degree and getting my career off the ground to solidify my own security. Later, the ability to choose to exit a marriage and remain a single mother until I found the right partner to help me raise my three children.
I fear that my daughter who is 21 won’t have these choices when it is her time to become a mother. We need to codify these words through laws so that these freedoms become rights just as in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident.
Andrea Bloom
Pleasanton
Source: www.mercurynews.com