Letters: Homelessness is not an identity for Oaklanders ...Middle East

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Homelessness is not an identity

Re: “Homeless issue puts Lee on hot seat” (Page A1, July 9).

Oakland is overrun by encampments and their detritus — rats, syringes, feces, etc. Sidewalks are blocked, forcing pedestrians into the street.

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Barbara Lee seems to miss the point — but that’s also because of how the issue is framed. This isn’t about “homelessness.” That’s not what’s prohibited — let alone criminalized — in San Francisco and San Jose. It’s about the abuse of public space — about encampments and the entire encampment subculture.

If the inhabitants of these encampments have such “deep roots in the community,” why don’t their neighbors want them around? Respect and consideration are a two-way street. Homelessness is a predicament, not an identity.

In the past, I’ve been homeless and destitute. There’s always someplace else to go — another way to approach life. It’s a big planet. Time to move on.

Mitchell Halberstadt Oakland

Tax credits are best way to help renters

Re: “City rejects new renter protections” (Page B1, July 6).

Renters do not receive tax advantages equivalent to those available to homeowners. Homeowners, if they itemize, can deduct home mortgage interest, and with the increase in state and local tax (SALT) deductions up to $40,000, the advantage to homeowners is decidedly more favorable.

To make it more proportional, we could allow renters to deduct up to $3,000 a month, $36,000 yearly, from their adjusted gross income.

My Gen Z granddaughter tells me that she will be renting for the next 20 years despite earning $80,000 a year. The cost of buying a home is just too high in major cities. Let’s do something for renters instead of development-stifling rent control.

James Hammill Walnut Creek

BART must cut spending to get more funding

BART is very important to the Bay Area, but neither the SB 63 proposed resident tax nor a tax on Silicon Valley businesses is the answer to BART’s budget issues. Those are simply handouts with no incentives.

Instead, I suggest the state match additional funding to BART for every dollar BART reduces from their current actual spending. (Eliminating unfilled employee positions or unspent funds are not actual spending and would not count as reductions.)

If BART wants us to help close its budget gap, it needs to have “skin in the game” and show us it is willing to make structural changes, too. Yes, this will require making difficult decisions and also working with the unions to accomplish this, but that is the responsibility of BART management with the board’s support. If BART wants our help, they need to first show us they are willing to help themselves.

Louis Lucibello Alamo

Let’s open our eyes to Trump’s power grab

Resist like it’s 1938 Germany. It took the Nazis fewer than 60 days to dismantle a constitutional republic.

Today in our country, people are being snatched off the street by masked, unidentified “agents” and thrown into unmarked vehicles. No ID, no warrants, no due process, just our very own ICE Gestapo hard at work spreading fear, chaos and worse.

Make no mistake: These power grabs that Donald Trump has achieved are flashing warning signs of a police state. One asks why the good Germans allowed the Third Reich to happen. Indifference? Fear? Racial hatred? With apologies to Pastor Martin Niemoller, first they came for the Brown people, and I did not speak out because I was not Brown. Then they came for the gay people, but I did not speak because I was not gay … and so on. We must wake up, people.

Marilynn Gray-Raine Danville

Live landscaping can mitigate heat islands

In a warming climate and with shrinking water supplies, water-wise landscaping offers a thoughtful response. But what about plant-free yards, where greenery is replaced with gravel, stone or artificial turf? Should we adopt this approach to save water? Here are three points to consider.

First, research from Virginia Tech shows that plant-free yards can lower property value by up to about 13 percent because buyers appreciate living landscaping.

Second, eliminating plants deprives birds, pollinators and small wildlife of habitat, reducing the biodiversity that brings our neighborhoods to life.

Third, hard surfaces don’t cool the air like plants, raising local temperatures (and power bills). This is known as the urban heat island effect. The U.S. EPA recommends vegetation and trees as a simple way to reduce heat islands.

I invite local leaders to update landscaping guidelines and encourage designs that conserve water, support wildlife and help cool our neighborhoods.

Yana Burakovsky Pleasanton

Fossil fuel remains a necessary evil

Re: “Insurance companies should sue Big Oil for harm to climate” (Page A6, July 9).

I spent my career in the insurance business. I am surprised that Rep. John Garamendi and state Sen. Jerry McNerney could be so naive. Until we come up with a better propulsion source (and electricity and EVs are not the answer), oil companies are, for better or worse, our necessary evil.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a column that talks about the Big Beautiful Bill having eliminated many energy subsidies. It contains a pertinent quote: “A new green elite now has a chance to arise and deal in adult fashion with the climate puzzle, not only its scientific uncertainties but its difficult yet bridgeable political intricacies.”

Ed Griffiths Pleasant Hill

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