Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Sept. 25, 2022

Reclassify e-bikes to avoid more accidents

We need serious conversations around bicycle licensing and regulation. The electric-assist bike revolution is in full swing. Many know from firsthand experience that it can often feel like the Wild West.

Being passed closely by a high-speed bike on a multi-use path can induce significant anxiety. We all deserve the right to enjoy a safe, peaceful walk, hike, run or bike ride on our multi-use paths, fire roads and trails without fear of collision resulting in injury or death.

The Sausalito pedestrian’s demise was entirely predictable (“Sausalito pedestrian dies after e-bike collision,” Sept. 21). This is the result of California’s ongoing experiment to mix higher-speed electric transport with slower-moving pedestrians.

E-bikes are a wonderful form of transportation and exercise. However, without regulation, it is increasingly scary out there for innocent hikers and walkers seeking simple outdoor enjoyment and solitude. Under the vehicle code, e-bikes are classified as conventional bicycles. This is a mistake. Updates are now clearly needed. An initial starting point is to study the feasibility of licensing all Class 2 and 3 throttle-assist e-bikes. They should be reclassified as a specific class of two-wheel motor vehicle.

As e-bike popularity continues to increase, it is fully predictable that similar catastrophic accidents will occur with greater frequency. This death is a call to action of our incoming leadership to ensure public safety. It will continue to get less safe out there for all of us unless we demand action.

— Larry Minikes, San Rafael

Tennis allows inmates to just be ‘teammates’

Thanks to the Marin IJ for publishing the recent Associated Press article about tennis at San Quentin State Prison (“San Quentin inmates find community through tennis,” Sept. 19). I have been deeply involved with the program since 2007. The prison is a grim place, but Saturday morning visits provide a unique counterpoint.

One group, the “Inside Team,” consists of 18 prisoners, many serving life terms. The other, men and women from the Bay Area and beyond, are volunteers. Though tennis is the common denominator, something of far greater importance occurs during the visits. Prisoners are exposed to values, qualities and achievements that light the path to a better way of life.

Their constrained, lonely lives are brightened by the support and friendship of caring strangers. Visitors learn from them, too. It takes only a short while to appreciate the courtesy and curiosity of these men who have caused grievous harm to others, and be reminded that most will someday be released back into society. I want to believe they will, in small measure, be better prepared for that day because of our efforts.

We don’t know, and never inquire, why these men have been incarcerated, judging them only on the quality of their tennis. In an environment where inmates are defined by the nature of their crimes, tennis volunteers simply regard them as teammates.

— Martin Silverman, San Rafael

Don’t let CPUC devastate rooftop solar benefits

A recently published Marin Voice commentary by Robert Archer (“Rooftop solar overdue for a correction,” Sept. 16) argued that rooftop solar on residential properties is uneconomical and unhelpful, because few home systems have battery backup to reduce strains on the energy grid when power is in shortest supply — during late afternoons and evenings. The author paints with too broad a brush.

Many, like my husband and I, do have batteries that store power for use at night. We not only reduce our bills, we help our neighbors and the grid. During a power outage a few months ago our neighbors “plugged in” to run their refrigerator (without the noise of a generator).

Through our battery backup system’s manufacturer, we are part of a pilot program that sends our stored solar power to the grid during peak hours, stabilizing supply for the community. This, along with community solar and storage, including electric car batteries that return power to the grid during times of need, is the future. It makes the grid both “greener” and more resilient. The California Public Utilities Commission proposal has some incentive for battery backup, but not enough to overcome increased solar costs.

The future should not be a centralized power system that relies on distant solar farms, often built on pristine lands, while requiring additional dangerous and expensive transmission lines. Some adjustments may be in order, but the public is not well served by a plan designed by the big utilities to discourage rooftop solar and preserve their monopoly over power generation.

— Stacey Pogorzelski, Novato