Добавить новость
ru24.net
News in English
Август
2023

Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Aug. 12, 2023

0

Dipsea Trail bridge over Redwood Creek is overdue

The recent Marin IJ article on restoring coho salmon habitat in Redwood Creek (“Muir Woods launches endangered salmon restoration project,”Aug. 1) skirts a closely related, equally urgent issue: When will the bridge carrying the Dipsea Trail over the creek be rebuilt?

The previous bridge, a legacy of Marin’s famed nature teacher Elizabeth Terwilliger, washed away in the epic storm of January 1982. Decades passed. Two thin wood planks were placed across Redwood Creek in summer for hikers and Dipsea Race participants; many simply went through the creek bed.

For seven months a year, the Dipsea Trail, the most iconic trail in the Bay Area, was severed at Redwood Creek, blocked by “closed” barriers.

A decade ago there was progress. Environmental, design and construction elements for the bridge were prepared and approved and work seemed imminent. But nothing happened. Now, it appears the new National Park Service plan has the bridge scheduled for 2029. That’s far too long.

Licensed contractors and skilled workers are waiting to volunteer their services. Even the redwood will be offered at cost, and that cost will be funded by donors. It is long past time to act. Surely someone can make the bridge a reality.

— Barry Spitz, San Anselmo

Sacramento creating an inevitable housing bubble

Sacramento’s Residential Housing Needs Assessment will generate an apartment housing bubble. Based on the most recent census data, California has 6,509,220 rental units. The rental vacancy rate was 3.8% in 2022.

RHNA targets to add 2,500,571 rental units by 2031. According to the Department of Finance, the population of California is forecasted to remain flat to 2060. According to my calculations, all that new housing could increase the rental vacancy rate from 3.8% to 30.5% by 2031.

If we add 2.5 million rental units on top of an existing stock of 6.5 million with a flat population, our rental vacancy rate goes through the roof.

This is an impossible situation. The real estate development industry is not going to develop 2.5 million units in a state with no population growth resulting in a rental vacancy rate of 30%. The needed credit financing will evaporate long before 2031.

The same is true for the private equity investors. They are not going to invest in projects that are sure to lose a ton of money.

I predict that staying on this path will lead to a lot of lawsuits.

— Gaetan Lion, Mill Valley

Low buildings better for West End construction

I am writing about the plan for a new apartment building that is approved to be as tall as eight stories at Fourth and E streets in the West End neighborhood (“San Rafael planning board approves 162-apartment project,” April 15).

In the spirit of compromise, I have an alternative idea to gain rental units without putting such a monstrous building on this corner.

Our neighborhood keeps its small-town “Main Street” character with low-profile storefronts and businesses all the way down past H Street. In order to preserve the West End theme and feel, how about acquiring the old Yardbirds building at 1801 Fourth St. and putting a low building at the corner of Fourth and H? Then add another low building at Fourth and E, like bookends.

I think the strip mall at Fourth and H is in need of an upgrade and the building at Fourth and E could then be modified to better fit the aesthetics, rhythm and traffic flow of the West End neighborhood.

I’m heartbroken about this skyscraper.

— Melissa Flower, San Rafael

Marin City standing up against new development

Our Marin City neighbors, through their Save Our City organization, have filed a lawsuit to stop development of a 74-apartment development at 825 Drake Ave. (“Marin City apartment complex opponents file suit to block bonds,” May 25).

Too often, objections to projects greenlighted by the passage of Senate Bill 35 are examples of “not in my backyard” NIMBYism. But this is not the case in Marin City. In fact, as Bettie Hodges, a “Save Our City” co-founder, notes: Marin City would be exempt from SB 35 if it were an incorporated jurisdiction, due to its high percentage of existing affordable or subsidized housing.

Save Our City has multiple valid reasons why this development is wrong for Marin City, not the least of which is that the plan appears to prioritize creating a profit for nonresidents over current resident safety. What about the quality of life for the existing Marin City community?

Sadly, Marin County has a long history of ignoring the needs, desires and preferences of Marin City residents. I encourage all Marin residents to help shift that trajectory.

Please call or write your supervisor and say you stand with Save Our City. The development should be stopped.

— Patricia Shea, Sausalito

Judge Chutkan a good choice for Trump’s trial

Judge Tanya S. Chutkan is an appropriate choice to preside over special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of the government’s criminal case against former President Donald Trump over actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

Chutkan is a former public defender who has sentenced 38 defendants convicted of crimes related to the insurgency at the Capitol (sometimes to more time than federal prosecutors have requested). She will effectively respect Trump’s constitutional rights.

I believe the jury will convict the defendant. When it does, Chutkan will be tough enough to handle the sentencing. I ask that everyone involved to please fairly try, convict and imprison this tyrant. Vindicate American principles of fair play and substantial justice.

Nobody, especially an ex-president, should be above the law.

— Ford Greene, San Anselmo

Affirmative action created to address U.S. inequity

In his recently published letter to the editor, I think Michael Hartnett distorts an opinion from the CEO of a local agency, the North Bay Leadership Council, bemoaning the loss of the legality of affirmative action, before taking an opportunity to bash President Joe Biden.

Saying that Biden wants to “pack the court” with like-minded judges is a tired trope fueled by a Republican Party rhetoric determined to bend and cherry-pick facts in support of his point of view.

The hypocrisy of this claim is obvious. Packing the court is exactly what Republicans accomplished during Donald Trump’s time as president.

Trump made two Supreme Court picks. During former President Barack Obama’s tenure, Republicans successfully blocked a nomination by refusing to even go through the process.

Hartnett closes by writing about the principles of equality in a color-blind society. Unfortunately, in 250 years of American history, nobody with eyes, ears and a functioning intellect would say that we have ever lived in a color-blind society. Affirmative action was created because of that fact.

— Mark Silowitz, Novato

Ku Klux Klan Act has been used frequently

In an article by the Associated Press published in the Marin IJ about former President Donald Trump’s most recent indictment (“Trump election indictment,” Aug. 2), the description of the law under which he was charged in the fourth count as a “Reconstruction Era civil rights statute” wrongly gives the impression that it’s a long-disused law dredged up from the distant past.

In fact, the law, 18 USC Section 241, more commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, although originally passed in 1871, has been used frequently —six times since 1961. In fact, it has come up three times since 2017.

It is important to give readers a more complete perspective on the momentous event of this indictment and to avoid giving the opportunity for some to brush off the serious charges as obsolete or meaningless.

— Tom Krase, San Rafael




Moscow.media
Частные объявления сегодня





Rss.plus
















Музыкальные новости




























Спорт в России и мире

Новости спорта


Новости тенниса