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Supervisors should learn to repair
Will our supervisors ever learn? It’s one thing to work to cut the budget to reduce the deficit, but to abandon maintenance of crime camera and ShotSpotter equipment already in place is criminal (“Crime cameras out of the picture?” June 27). How typical of our board to spend more money on buying more equipment ($200,000 in reserve for purchasing 25 additional cameras) than to take care of what we already have. Have they not noticed that our streets are a wreck, our sewer and water systems are ready to collapse and Muni trains are falling apart? They buy things and never allocate the funds to take care of them. Now they want to take away maintenance money for crime prevention devices that a report due out in August already shows have helped reduce crime by 22 percent. Who do they think this helps? I, for one, say keep the maintenance in the budget and hold off on more or new equipment until there is more money available in the future. Mayor should listen to people I question why Mayor Foust is such an admirer of the Cargill development scheme for the Bay land in Redwood City. She came out in January as an enthusiastic cheerleader for this development while at the same time, she and Councilmember Jim Hartnett, who also is her husband, were equally vocal in their disdain for the “divisive” grass-roots Open Space ballot initiative. We all know that Cargill is one of the mightiest agribusiness corporations in the world and wields a lot of influence in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and now apparently in our own Redwood City as well. In the end, Cargill stands to make a tidy profit while Redwood City will have to absorb the costs of infrastructure maintenance, police and fire protection and permanent loss of open space. Redwood City residents have been misled by their elected officials before, like the failed Glenborough Pauls plan to develop at Pete’s Harbor, which the then-mayor also championed. Residents took matters into their own hands and killed that plan on a ballot initiative. I would have hoped that Mayor Foust and council members would have learned a valuable lesson from that grass-roots initiative, but it looks like history is about to repeat itself. Redwood City School system in bad shape It is not surprising that student enrollment is shrinking in the public school system (“Funds sinking alongside enrollment,” June 28). The Board of Education’s inability to resolve the parental concerns of neighborhood schools, anti-JROTC, low test scores and disruptive or no-show students speaks volumes. Why would parents who value the basics of good education bother enrolling their children in the San Francisco public school system? The board consistently covers their decisions with the blanket called “diversity,” but it is apparent that their political interest far outweighs the interest of the students. Certainly, now is the time to clean house, starting with the Board of Education. San Francisco Court wrong on handguns The U.S. Supreme Court has thrown out Washington, D.C.’s, ban on handguns in the home, and said that the absolute ban on handguns in the District of Columbia (or anywhere else) is unconstitutional. I’m just glad that the Supreme Court is located in Washington, D.C., so that the increased danger from handguns may be felt personally by those five members of the court who believe that handguns (in the hands of untrained individuals) are the appropriate and constitutionally protected way to guard one’s home and person. I wonder if Justice Scalia and the other four protectors of the handgun will soon be attending big hootenannies sponsored by the National Rifle Association. Whitestone, N.Y. Plan for treasurer a bad idea I am appalled by the efforts of “progressive” supervisors and their political games. They are constantly trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Now, Supervisor Jake McGoldrick and other supervisors who are about to be termed out are in support of a new ballot proposal to make the city treasurer position a mayoral appointment rather than an elected office (“Looking for a soft landing,” June 27). In addition, they want to create new unnecessary commission spots. Why are they doing this, you may ask? Because polls show they could not win these seats by citywide election and they want to create positions for political friends and themselves after being termed out. They were elected by the people and now they are trying to create future positions to benefit themselves while taking away our ability to vote for important city positions. These people and their desire to continue to eat at the public trough must be stopped. San Francisco To add your voice We give preference to letters containing fewer than 150 words. Please include name, phone number and city of residence. By e-mail: letters@sfexaminer.com By mail: Editorial Page Editor The Examiner, 450 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94105 By fax: (415) 359-2766 |
