The facts about native trees

While I appreciate the generally informative content of Sajid Farooq’s article on Aug. 22, the title “Tree removal plan approved” and use of words such as “TIMBER!” and “axing” are clearly meant to stir opposition to ecological restoration of San Francisco’s natural heritage.

San Francisco tree facts:

1. More native trees are proposed to be planted as part of the Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Plan than the number of invasive ones that are proposed to be removed.

2. An estimated 668,000 total trees grow in our county’s urban forest.

3. Most tree species in the urban forest are not native to the Bay Area.

4. Six of the non-native tree species are classified as priority weeds.

5. Twelve tree species are native to San Francisco.

6. A few coast live oak woodlands remain in The City that supports many native wildlife species.

7. No one in the local environmental movement has proposed to restore all of Golden Gate Park “back to the dunes.”

8. Natural resource professionals and community volunteers do manage our native habitats for local biodiversity, including where necessary, removing invasive weeds that impact rare and endangered species.

Peter Brastow

Founding Director, Nature in the City

The City

Public employee audacity

Only in San Francisco, the capital of the culture of entitlement, would people have the audacity to protest when The City can no longer afford to pay them $24 per hour (which equates to almost $50K annually) to perform a job requiring no skills or training.

If the goal is to provide “occupational training,” wouldn’t sending DPW charity cases to a community college, where they might learn skills a tad more advanced than street sweeping, be a better (and cheaper!) way to support them in their struggle for self-sufficiency?

But I guess we wouldn’t want to be “mean” and actually demand that people work toward self-sufficiency. Better to swim upriver against the laws of economics to provide massively subsidized jobs for a chosen few that will do nothing except ensure their continued dependency on government handouts — particularly in the face of a city full of teachers and social workers making far less than $24 per hour.

Jared Rodecker

The City

Goodness shows

Thank you for printing the wide variety of letters and staying true to your values. Where would we be without media that reflects the widely differing opinions this country allows us to express free from fear or retribution?

While in this moment, I’d like to say thank you to the majority of media staffers who gather and distribute most of what I hear and read, as well as all the hardworking and honest politicians, public servants, cops and firefighters, the Muni operators I take my penny-ante frustrations out on, and the average citizens just doing the best they can one day at a time to get by without harming others or the place we call home.

The bottom line is that almost all of us really are good people struggling together in challenging times in a place we love. I lose sight of all the beauty, courage and integrity I pass by each day, so thanks to all of you for this great city.

Stu Smith

The City

Lost cat in Lebanon

Southern Lebanon is in ruins, bodies are still being discovered, billions of dollars in damage and leaders of Hezbollah, Iran, Syria and assorted jihadists are claiming victory. It reminds me of Mark Twain’s hoax requesting assistance in finding his lost cat, which was so black as to be invisible. Thousands wrote in claiming to have seen it.

Robert Prentiss

The City

School failure

Ever wonder why the San Francisco Unified School District is so bad? All we have to look at is the high school test results. About one-fifth of the students are unable to pass because of the SFUSD.

When compared to Lowell High School’s near perfect 99 percent passing rate, it doesn’t surprise me at all about who the district is failing to teach. When the district distributed money equally among the other high schools, it failed to take into account the private donations that Lowell High School receives.

Oh yeah, Lowell will demand its fair share of the SFUSD’s money, but it also gets private donations that go directly to them. They now have more money to hire and retain the best teachers.

So is it surprising that they did so well while others were left behind? Now I know why so many of my friends’ parents fought to enroll their children into Lowell in the 1980’s.

Patrick Siu

The City