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The city of Oakley is
dishonoring its history
On May 9 in the East Bay Times Local News (page B1) two divergent articles appeared, both addressing the use of historic buildings. One is Mountain View’s Hangar One at Moffett Field (“Google sets a deadline for Hangar One finish“), circa the 1930s, and the other is the Oakley Elementary School (“City takes first step in building library“), circa the 1920s.
Planetary Ventures is currently restoring the dirigible aircraft hanger in Mountain View wherein Google and others will be housed. The second is the old Oakley Elementary School which is slated to be torn down. Both of these sites are part of their local histories.
I urge the city of Oakley to rethink this project. Using this property as a library is commendable and totally in keeping with its cultural character. Making this historical building sustainable is equally important to preserving local history. There are grants available to assist in this kind of community endeavor. Oakley has the opportunity to showcase this building, safeguarding this local treasure that is irreplaceable.
Susan Busby
Concord
Political leaders must
focus on constituents
Any successful elected leaders know their priority should always be meeting the goals and needs of their constituents. Achieving this comes from listening closely and acting accordingly, swiftly bringing appropriate solutions to our communities.
This theory applies at every level of governance, from city councils to county supervisors to Congress. And yet sometimes all the competing interests and priorities in Congress have left some legislators directing their time and attention to the wrong issues, like antitrust reform of tech.
In the Bay Area, our constituents make and support tech applications that we use daily. Their livelihoods are on the line if antitrust legislation has unintended consequences.
It’s only with attention to our true priorities that elected officials can do the right thing for their communities and stay true to why they were elected — to serve the needs of the people.
Karen Mitchoff
Contra Costa County supervisor
Concord
Increase federal funding
to treat kidney disease
When will there be more kidney treatment innovations? As a kidney transplant recipient, I wonder why dialysis and transplant have been the only options for kidney disease for the last 50 years. I fear the answer is funding.
I’m grateful to Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, for supporting the FY22 federal budget increasing funding for kidney disease detection and research.
Medicare spends over $49 billion annually treating patients with chronic kidney disease. Studies estimate over 1 million patients will be in kidney failure by 2030. We can’t continue focusing tax dollars on treating kidney failure with 50-year-old treatment options.
Federal lawmakers need to prioritize funding addressing kidney health in the coming fiscal year. The science and ability are there, we just need the will and financial support to do it!
Doris Lew
Oakland
Violence on the right
dwarfs high court leak
To better inform readers on the subject of Cathy Ledbetter’s May 19 letter (“Supreme Court leak is unprecedented betrayal,” Page A6, May 19), between 1977 and 2016 there were eight murders of doctors and staff at clinics offering abortion services, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 186 arsons, and thousands of cases of harassment of patients exercising their constitutional rights.
Violence is never acceptable, and these perpetrators were generally associated with the extreme right of the Republican Party. The recent protests in response to the leaked Roe v. Wade draft decision include concerned women and men in the Republican and Democratic parties, and political independents.
With about 65% of Americans supporting Roe, if politicians were properly representing constituents’ views, Roe would not be under attack by extreme rightwing justices who intentionally misled the Senate on their extreme views during confirmation.
Paula Predmore
Danville
Hanson’s column
fails to offer reason
I’m writing to express my frustration with the opinion columns of Victor Davis Hanson, including this latest one published May 13 (“We are forced to imagine what was unimaginable,” Page A7).
It reads as one continuous rant, without reasoned opinions that might explain his positions. Is this the best representation we can get of the conservative point of view? If so, wow — we’re in a world of hurt. How can democracy function with discourse like this? It is all emotion and no thought.
Please do what you can to provide us with a writer who can articulate conservative positions in a way that is at least coherent.
William Hoke
Albany
Note to readers:
Election letters cutoff
Because of the production time for letters to the editor, the final day for submissions regarding the June 7 election will be Friday May 27. Letters of up to 150 words should be submitted online at www.eastbaytimes.com/letters-to-the-editor.
Source: www.mercurynews.com