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NIMBY is not always
the wrong position
Farhad Manjoo (“California homelessness is dire. Here’s how you can help,” Page A6, Dec. 6) makes the common mistake of assuming that the homeless problem is mainly due to a lack of affordable housing. The state and local municipalities already spend countless millions on this. But the problem only gets worse.
Responsible people who temporarily find themselves homeless will find their way out of this. The real problem is with the chronically homeless, who are almost always homeless due either to mental illness or substance abuse. Such people actually prefer to live on the streets rather than accept other options, being unwilling to accept the conditions required with these.
Since we live in a free society, not a police state, we often cannot force such people to take these options. But it’s not wrong to insist that they not live wherever they please. “NIMBY” isn’t wrong here. I doubt that Mr. Manjoo would accept homeless people literally living in his backyard.
Christopher Andrus
Dublin
Spieker site will not
be able to replace trees
Why the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors fell hook, line and sinker for Spieker Development’s glossy and glossed-over representation of the proposed “Diablo Glen” conglomeration will be a question for the ages.
One area of developer deception is the promise that they will plant replacement trees at a 3-to-1 ratio for the 350 ordinance-protected trees that they will eradicate. Most of the replacement trees will be potted or podium plants placed in courtyards and landscaped areas. These are a weak substitute and certainly not replacements for the hundreds-of-years-old, mature, deep-rooted, county code-protected trees that will be axed.
Further, much of the site will be occupied by buildings and infrastructure and it is obvious that there is insufficient area to accommodate the proposed number of replacement trees.
It is truly a crying shame that this thoughtless and destructive proposal has been whole-heartedly approved.
Laura Lee
Walnut Creek
Bad time for change
to solar reimbursement
Your editorial on rooftop solar (“State must level playing field for green electricity,” Page A12, Dec. 11) is misguided. If we want to use the market to guide investment in green energy, the signals need to be clear.
Wind is already price-competitive. Storage is still getting to scale. Putting subsidies for low-income customers into the equation is a red herring. This is a public good that needs a separate funding model. Now is not the time to inhibit rooftop solar with an unrealistic payback period.
Michael Beaver
Fremont
Theater offers chance
to re-enter the world
Berkeley Shakespeare Company’s production of “Twelfth Night” is a refreshing lark. The multitalented cast delivers a spell of joyous melodrama. In this play, the twins, Viola, played by Ruby Songster, and Sebastian, played by Matthew Reich, tragically lost to each other, romcom their way back to being reunited.
Julianna King’s direction waste’s not a word or prop or opportunity to entertain. Clearly, everyone in this production has played more than one role to make this production excel. Wit and passion are everywhere and you could pay a lot more for live theatre and not feel as elevated as I did at the end of the show.
The intimate Berkeley Aurora Theatre (2081 Addison St) will only have this show for one more week Thursday-Sunday. Berkeley Shakespeare Company’s Twelfth Night will rekindle your social possibilities (masks are required for the audience) and have you grateful for live performance again.
Scott Steward
Davis
Thiessen’s unfounded
screed is bad for paper
The East Bay Times has embarrassed itself by publishing the latest MAGA propaganda piece from Mark Thiessen (“Where is the outrage over Hunter Biden’s laptop abomination,” Page A13, Dec. 11). Thiessen doesn’t get into the purported scandalous contents of the laptop – he just wants to talk about the media’s collusion in burying the story.
But what story? If there were anything to report, surely it would’ve come out by now. Republicans have been holding up this laptop like a golden glowing MacGuffin (think: “Pulp Fiction”) that will surely bring down the Biden Crime Family. By Thiessen’s reasoning, since this newspaper hasn’t reported on the contents or cover-up of the laptop yet, they are complicit in the cover-up.
News outlets have legitimate cause for concern: The provenance of this [still] mysterious laptop is murky, as is the chain of custody.
I can’t wait to see Mike Lindell’s opinion piece about the unreported evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. Next Sunday?
Rob Vorkapich
Walnut Creek
