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Sunol school board
voted correctly on flag
Referring to the articles on the vote of Sunol school board members written on Sept. 14 (“Chaos in Sunol after flag ban,” Page A1) and Sept. 15 (“Guaging recall amid Pride flag ban vote,” Page B1), LGBTQ is a group of people who want to be recognized and accepted for who they are. No problem with that.
However flying a flag designating their preference has no place on public property as it is a special interest group, not a national- or state-affiliated symbol.
Christians or any other ethnic group are not allowed to fly their flag or put their symbols up. Why such outrage over one special group of people?
Yes, we are all people who want to be accepted. We all cannot fly special flags on school property to be acknowledged. The school board members of the Sunol school district voted correctly.
Joyce Dolan
Livermore
Alameda library will
preserve group’s past
I want to thank the Alameda Free Library — especially Alameda Collections Librarian Beth Sibley — for accepting Out On The Island’s records and newsletter collection into its organizations vertical file.
Out On The Island, aka OOTI, was Alameda’s most prominent LGBTQ political organization from 1994 through the early 2000s. OOTI formed in response to the political firestorm that erupted when Alameda’s then-mayor issued a Gay Pride Proclamation recognizing June as Gay Pride Month.
Since then, Alameda has issued many Gay Pride Proclamations, thanks in large part to OOTI’s efforts.
While not much remains of the organization’s general records, nearly all of its newsletters, the Out On The Island Breeze, remain, and they are interesting.
Many thanks are owed to so many wonderful people and organizations who participated in OOTI’s journey, and now I am so proud and happy to count the Alameda Free Library first among them.
Sherry Stoll
Alameda
Organized labor
holds too much sway
Re: “Organized labor big winner on bills that await Newsom’s OK” (Page A1, Sept. 16).
In the Sept. 16 paper, David Huerta, president of SEIU in California, stated, “The cornerstone of our democracy is majority rule.”
I had just read about the number of union-sponsored bills our state Legislature has passed to the governor for signature. In 2022, 16.1% of California workers and 11.3% nationally are covered by bargaining units. Majority rule? Who is he kidding?
With over 80% of wage earners non-union, I get so sick and tired of politicians talking about creating good, union-paying jobs. Are they saying that 80+% of us have bad jobs? Sounds like the majority is not ruling.
Small business and franchise owners don’t need Sacramento’s union buddies setting wages and benefits for them. A state with serious budget issues can’t pay voluntarily unemployed people unemployment benefits. Unions make good managers, just ask BART.
Peter Coenen
Lafayette
Bill would fund gun
violence measures
Re: “Why governor should sign gun violence prevention bill” (Page A6, Sept. 14).
As a mother and grandmother, I was shocked to learn that since 2020, the number one cause of death of American children is firearms. This is simply unacceptable. Child deaths by firearms are preventable.
California has effective violence intervention and prevention programs that have a history of saving lives in communities hardest hit by gun violence. However, funding for these programs has been sporadic, inadequate and unreliable.
AB 28 will provide reliable annual funding for school mental health services, safe removal of illegal firearms, resources for victims of gun violence, education for firearm owners, counseling and support for victims, research to prevent firearm suicide and save all taxpayers the enormous costs of gun violence.
AB 28 has passed the state Assembly and Senate. We await gun safety champion Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature to enact this powerful remedy. It will keep guns out of the wrong hands and save the lives of our children.
Laurie Herbert
Pleasanton
McCarthy needs to lead
way out of budget mess
House Speaker Kevin McCarty has created a dilemma for himself on the budget resolution.
While he gave extremist radicals everything they asked for, they still refuse to govern responsibly. Although he and the president made an agreement to avoid U.S. debt default, the extremists wanted him to dishonor the deal with new spending cuts, and he complied.
Nevertheless, his party’s ideologues refuse to fund the government. He yielded to their irresponsible calls to waste time and resources for impeachment without credible evidence, yet those radical Republicans still refuse to support serious governing.
There’s a way out of this dilemma caused by McCarthy’s bad choices. Propose a clean, fully funded continuing resolution with no political stunts riding in sidecars. Surely, he can find four reasonable Republicans (plus himself) to vote with the Democrats and keep our government going. That’s what real governing, real leadership, would look like.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont
Source: www.mercurynews.com