Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Paying back money
bad move for cops
Re: “Cops on leave earned $1.8 million” (Page A1, Sept. 26).
No matter where you stand on the charges, the Antioch mayor’s call for the officers involved to reimburse the city for the salary they earned while under investigation on paid leave is just about the dumbest suggestion I ever heard.
These officers didn’t take leave voluntarily, and they are not responsible for the rules that require the city to pay them. Furthermore, reimbursing the city could be viewed as tantamount to an admission of guilt.
Alan Wald
San Francisco
Kindness found
on a BART train
On Sept. 28 my wife and I were returning from vacation. We landed at the Oakland Airport and caught BART to go to Concord.
Upon transferring at the 19th Street station the train was crowded — it was 4 p.m. on a work day. We had several suitcases. Promptly a gentleman offered us his seat. We are both seniors. My wife took the seat. Then a young lady offered me her seat.
Wow, kindness is coming back.
Herb Yonge
Clayton
Walnut Creek should
honor earlier agreement
In October the Walnut Creek City Council will make a decision regarding selling “Lot A” at the end of Kinross Drive to Spieker Development.
Before they will make their decision I want to remind readers of the following:
1. The proposed main entrance is historically denied through the 1970 establishment of “Lot A,” a barrier put in place by the city of Walnut Creek precisely to prevent what the developer is asking for. The city foresaw that a Kinross extension and connection to the property would negatively impact city residents and took action. The city should continue to honor its past promises regarding “Lot A.”
2. There already exists an environmentally superior county entrance which, according to the county’s own Environmental Impact Report, would “lessen the project’s biological resources impacts by avoiding riparian and wetland habitats.”
Lisa Svidler
Walnut Creek
Reparations won’t
undo past wrongs
Re: “Anti-affirmative action group sues West Point” (Page A4, Sept. 20).
On the issue of reparation for centuries of slavery, doling out money to presumed descendants of the slaves is not the way to atone for our sins of the past. Who would disburse the money? Taxpayers of all demographics and recent immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came to this country after the Civil War? And after the money disbursement, would we wash our hands of our past?
A better way to provide reparation to people of all colors — including women, who still encounter discrimination, inequality of compensation, and obstacles to improving their quality of life — is to spend money to provide access to good education, medical care and help with all other social problems that don’t concern people of wealth, often of white skin color. Recently even military academies are being sued by an anti-affirmative action group. That is not the way of democracy.
Glauco Romeo
Fremont
Gold lame pantsuit
actually is news
Re: “Biden article promotes a sexist trope” (Page A6, Sept. 29).
Allan Berkowitz stated that the East Bay Times news article about Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Susan Ellenberg greeting President Biden in a gold satin pantsuit was “demeaning, sexist, and irrelevant.”
He might have asked President Biden if he would have preferred that Ms. Ellenberg have greeted him in a coat and a tie, rather than the pantsuit. I think the president was quite happy to have Ms. Ellenberg dressed in fashionable attire.
Also, Berkowitz might have lost track of what makes news. Dog bites man is not news. Man bites dog is news. Local politician greets president in coat and tie is not news. Local politician greets president in attractive, fashionable pantsuit is news.
I’m all for the pantsuit, as very likely also was Joe.
William Gilbert
Lafayette
Reagan, Trump stand
in sharp contrast
Re: “Reagan gave America hope; Trump offers venom and lies” (Page A6, Sept. 26).
George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times, wrote that President Reagan offered a “shining city on a hill” versus Trump’s “venom and lies.”
Related Articles
Letters: Feinstein’s graciousness | Wise choices | District 6 | Shelter critics | Small step
Letters: Retail theft | No solution | Betraying immigrants | Term limits | ‘Fake news’ | Swipe fees
Letters: Foster kittens | Enforce decorum | Gun law | Trump candidacy | Remove DeJoy | Making reparations
Letters: Reform Prop. 13 | CPUC’s duty | No screens | Sexist trope | Term limits
Letters: Stadium financials | S.J. homelessness | Fund education | Wildfires’ reality | Quality music | Pain of inflation
Reagan saw “a bright dawn ahead.” “Trump spews hate.” Reagan truly liked people; Trump merely uses them. Reagan used tough words, like “evil Empire”; Trump comes off as a childish bully. Reagan would never call people stupid, even if they were. Trump? Reagan was a true believer in conservative values. Trump is a con man.
If I were looking for anti-Trump rhetoric to use at my next get-together with the guys, I could just say something like, “Well, Trump is full of venom and lies and spews hate and uses people and is a childish bully and a con man and a whole bunch of other bad things.” That just says it all. Good job, Mr. Skelton. Great journalism.
Gerald Kosel
Clayton
