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Better uses for BART
money than parking
As a BART rider, BART spending $34 million on parking is disappointing to me (“Parking garage plan revs up,” Page B1, April 20). As the article said, BART is seeing 30% of normal ridership, increasing after rising gas prices. There are clear problems contributing to why there is low ridership. There are bottles, cigarettes and sometimes needles between the seats. Trains smell of smoke and weed despite a no-smoking policy. Often, people jump the gates without paying a fare. Trash litters Berryessa station near bus stops.
A solution is simple: more security and custodians. It’s safer to have guards at the gates making sure riders pay their fares and stopping the drug issues inside the trains. That way, there will be a cleaner and safer environment. It will be a comfortable ride without the trash and drugs. Riders can worry less about safety while commuting.
So, BART should take some funding from the parking garage to hire guards and schedule more cleaning.
Zhihui Liang
Fremont
Becton is best bet
for Costa Costa DA
Re. “Vote for Knox for DA to restore law, order,” Letters to the Editor, Page A6, April 12:
District Attorney Diana Becton’s response to looting and theft has been swift. Those who are caught and arrested have and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, with serious felony crimes.
DA Becton also understands that fencing and organized retail theft rings operate across jurisdictional boundaries. To ensure accountability, law enforcement needs to work together, too. That is why the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office has coordinated with six district attorneys in our region to combat organized retail theft.
Diana Becton has done a tremendous job keeping Contra Costa residents safe and cleaning up a dysfunctional DA’s office that used to make headlines for waste, fraud and abuse. Vote DA Becton and say no to going back to the failed approaches of the past.
Susan Hildreth
Walnut Creek
More housing doesn’t
mean affordable housing
Re. “Support growing for more housing?” Page A1, April 14:
A myth about new housing units, including accessory dwelling units, is that the creation of such leads to an increase in affordable housing units. It does not. It leads to an increase of more market-rate housing units.
The creation of new truly affordable housing has to come via nonprofits that specialize in providing subsidized housing, which will be rented at below-market rates. In Concord, for example, there is a demand for two-bedroom, two-bath apartments that rent for $1,500. That need is for households with four members and incomes below $60,000 per year. No way will the creation of new market-rate rental housing provide any new rental units in the $1,500-per-month range.
There is also a great need for single-resident-occupancy units, or SROs, which are affordable to single residents. These types of units are best located near transit hubs and in multistory structures.
George Fulmore
Emeryville
Ukraine war exposes
Putin’s mythology
Ukraine may not have won this war yet, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin has already lost it.
For over a decade Putin has cultivated the image that he’s an infallible, albeit sinister, tactical genius. An unscrupulous, infallible former KGB agent who plays multi-dimensional chess while western leaders play checkers. That the Russian army is a hardened, capable force prepared to take on any challenge NATO has to offer.
The past seven weeks have revealed this as a myth. He’s shown himself insecure by having people arrested for holding up signs and by sitting at great distances from his staff at cartoonishly long tables, all while exposing the vaunted Russian army as undisciplined, tactically deficient and undermaintained.
Barry Gardin
Hayward
Ukraine-Middle East
comparison disingenuous
Amer Araim’s attempt to equate the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the situation in the Middle East makes several disingenuous comments.
First. there is not now nor was there ever a Palestinian state. Secondly, Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Israel for years because they will not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to hold elections because he is afraid of losing to Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza. Perhaps most important is his failure to acknowledge Palestinian terrorism from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).
Had the Arab community accepted the U.N. Partition Plan as did the Jews in 1948, there would be a Palestinian state. It is not for the United Nations or the United States to settle the conflict. As long as the Palestinians will not accept Israel as a Jewish state there will be no resolution to the conflict.
Gil Stein
Aptos
State should expand
nurse practitioners’ roles
Re. “Nurse practitioners can ease our shortage of doctors,” Page A16, April 10:
Nurse practitioners can improve access to care in underserved and rural areas without decreasing quality of care. A systematic review in 2017 demonstrated a positive impact correlation with nurse practitioner care and access to care. Allowing nurse practitioners to have full practice authority can truly alleviate the shortage of doctors.
As a health care worker, I see first-hand the effects of the shortage of physicians. As a patient, I feel that I receive better care from nurse practitioners because they are able to meet with me for a longer period of time whereas an appointment with a doctor is usually limited to 15 minutes. Other states have nurse practitioners with full practice authority and that has worked well. As a society, we need to embrace change especially when it can help alleviate a growing problem. I agree with Sally C. Pipes in repealing antiquated laws that are not benefiting our population’s health.
Iliana Rodriguez
San Francisco
Source: www.mercurynews.com