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Freeze BART funding
until there are reforms
Re: “BART will boost foot patrols,” Page A1, Feb. 23:
The BART board knows that over 80% of crimes committed on BART are by nonticketed offenders. For years, polls and media coverage reveal crime, filth, rider dissatisfaction and fear. Yet the board refuses to secure the system to ensure only ticketed passengers are using it for its real purpose. And the board and employees thwart oversight by the state-appointed BART auditor.
My BART representative — Debora Allen — has fought to change this. For that, her fellow Board members and the BART employees union gang up on her every election. Now, the board expects its intentionally underfunded BART police to restore public confidence in the system. And BART board apologists say low ridership is due to fewer people going to work.
Meanwhile, our freeways are busier than ever and struggling working people seek any transportation but BART. Please oppose any new funding for BART until the board acts responsibly.
Donald Waters
Pleasant Hill
Book ban talk fosters
fear and ignorance
Re: “Emotions run high over book policies,” Page A1, Feb. 23.
Have we all not learned anything from the past about book banning and book burning? In a well-educated society book banning is unexpected and lacks integrity. It has taken years for students of all backgrounds and identities to see themselves portrayed in literature — a far cry from the days of Dick and Jane. Now some want the San Ramon Valley school district to censor books that include LGBTQ+ issues and/or address sexual orientation for fear of what?
Knowledge is power. Kudos to Daniel Gross, a Monte Vista High School junior, who spoke to the school board stating, “They’re trying to put an end to something. … The books are for students who are interested in them and those students only.” In other words, if you aren’t interested or curious, just don’t choose to read them.
Apparently, knowledge isn’t as powerful in affluent schools, nor is understanding and fostering a more humanitarian society. What is there to fear, a better-educated new generation?
Susan Busby
Concord
HSR is a plan
without a future
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Our organization, the Train Riders Association of California, comprises rail advocates and high-speed rail supporters who have opposed California’s HSR project from the very beginning. We can confirm that your editorial “State should cut its losses on high-speed rail” (Page A6, Feb. 23) is dead-on accurate: This is a project with no future.
Offering politicians a way to accomplish HSR at a reasonable cost has been a very lonely and fruitless task up to now. Our allies spent the last 15 years trying to stop the project in the courts, without success. Your voice could make it possible to finally stop this badly conceived project.
David Schonbrunn
President, Train Riders Association of California
San Rafael
Columnist gets it wrong
on business, economy
Re. “What Ron DeSantis got right, wrong on Ukraine,” Page A7, Feb. 24:
OK, so I am a conservative, and I read about this journalist all the time. Marc Thiessen needs to stick to writing, not business.
In this latest article, he says Joe Biden’s policies drove inflation. This is categorically untrue. For something to happen today, it was caused years ago. Biden’s policies weren’t all in place.
One wonders what happened to journalists who support all of America not just half.
William Brown
Fremont
Keep shining light on
Fox News, Big Lie
Thank you, East Bay Times, for publishing the Associated Press article which reported the two-faced behavior from Fox News (“Off camera, Fox hosts doubted the 2020 election fraud claims,” Page A5, Feb. 18). Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and others knew there was no 2020 election fraud, yet continued the charade for months, leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection. The reason they did so was greed — supporting the Big Lie kept up their ratings. I wish this had been front-page news, as Fox has yet to speak or publish a word about it.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, the former Republican attorney general, Mark Brnovich, failed to release a report (well before the 2020 election) in which findings showed there was no election fraud in Arizona, let alone any wrongdoing in Maricopa County. Thankfully, the Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes released it.
More reporting about this from your reporters and/or an editorial from your editorial board would be most welcome. Many lives were damaged because of The Big Lie.
Lisa Rigge
Pleasanton
Source: www.mercurynews.com