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Contra Costa carveout
needs housing creativity
Re: “Transit housing bill gets consent” (Page A1, Sept. 17).
As we look to the future in Contra Costa County, we must make sure that our communities are affordable for young families.
Our local officials need to be bold when it comes to affordable, residential housing. We are lucky to have multiple BART lines serving the entire county. I am disappointed that Orinda and Lafayette (total population of fewer than 45,000) influenced the carveout for our whole county.
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Given the two towns’ small populations, what if BART closed one of their two stations and built affordable homes for first responders on the property? Cal Fire employees would be able to afford to live locally and respond more quickly to fires in Lamorinda.
Monisha Merchant
Concord
Dems’ fealty to market
is bad news for poverty
Re: “State poverty rate surges” (Page A1, Sept. 14).
The California Budget and Poverty Center predicts bills signed by Gov. Newsom will increase our state’s poverty level from the terrible 18%. Given California’s wealth, this declares the falsity of the Democrats’ claim that the crisis is simply the result of Donald Trump’s vicious ruthlessness. American democracy is in extreme crisis because capitalism is again in a worsening crisis. Democratic leaders, however, are paralyzed in fear of New York’s Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s social agenda.
Trump-based racist government violence is pushing us toward civil war. Yet, that MAGA agenda still holds significant sway. Why? It’s because many people (mostly “independents”) see that the DNC is too tied to market forces to pursue a viable alternative to economic pauperization. Persistently, leading Democrats demand that their own elected officials enforce the market’s concentration of wealth and the genocide in the Middle East.
Marc Sapir
Berkeley
Newsom should veto
censorious AB 715
Re: “Measure awaits Newsom signing” (Page A1, Sept. 21).
I strongly agree with Jim Boots’ letter to the editor (“Newsom should reject overreaching bill,” Page A8, Sept. 21) that AB 715 is both overreaching and vague. I believe it is unconstitutional censorship, which is not the way to fight antisemitism.
Gov. Newsom should veto this bill.
Beth Weinberger
Oakland
‘Originalists’ perpetrating
a constitutional delusion
Conservative Republican “originalists” claim to be mind readers, able to read the minds of the long-dead creators of the Constitution. Many constitutional scholars think the “originalists” are deluded.
It’s not easy to change the Constitution, but it has been done 27 times. In the beginning, it wasn’t just women who couldn’t vote; almost all men couldn’t vote either. The originalists are using their bogus philosophy to “justify” their hijacking of the Constitution. Scholars understand that while it’s difficult to change the Constitution, it’s always been possible, and was always meant to be possible.
The idea that a modern group of conservative, mostly male scholars and justices claims the sole right to read the minds of the long-dead, highly diverse and internally argumentative founders of our republic is a deluded fantasy that has seized power in our courts.
Thomas Jefferson thought we’d write a new constitution every 20 years.
Michael Steinberg
Berkeley
Speak out against
attacks on free speech
Every American, regardless of political party, should protest the restrictions on free speech recently imposed by the Trump administration. Our Constitution, which Donald Trump swore to uphold, guarantees freedom of speech in the First Amendment. It is essential to any democracy and is the hallmark of ours.
It may seem unimportant that late-night show hosts and news commentators are being “fired,” but the organizations firing them are yielding to government pressure to do so. Free societies are free to express opinions. We must not give up that freedom.
Our way of life is under threat from within, as Abraham Lincoln predicted, but we can react and protect this precious way of life for our children. Protest, speak out and get informed.
Dorothy Nicholas
Livermore
Protect threatened
white sturgeon
White sturgeon are a key part of the Bay Area, and in 2024, they became a candidate to be listed on the endangered species list.
In July 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife designated fishing of white sturgeon as catch and release only. People continue to take these fish illegally. We need to spread awareness of the dangers white sturgeon are facing, as they can easily go extinct if we are not careful.
These fish can not protect themselves. It is our responsibility to protect them. If anyone sees someone poaching any animal, they should report it to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through CalTIP.
Josh Tryner
Antioch