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Cities must distinguish
between e-bikes
Re: “Cities struggle to get a handle on e-bike safety” (Page A1, Aug. 19).
I put 7,000 miles a year on my class one electric assist bike; running errands, going to appointments and commuting to and from work. Using an electric assist bike has allowed me to reduce my car use by a whopping 90%.
Unfortunately, the state passed sloppy legislation that put the electric assist bikes of class two and class three into the same category as pedal bikes.
Class two bikes have a throttle. A bike with a throttle is a motorcycle. If you disconnect one wire on the class two, the top speed becomes 40 mph. By my count, four out of five e-“bikes” on the road are now class two.
Unless the state, and well-meaning journalists, start to distinguish between class one e-bikes and the class two e-bikes, which are really motorcycles, all the benefit that stands to be gained from the advent of e-bikes is in jeopardy.
Deborah Goldeen
Palo Alto
Unions are protecting
jobs, not blocking tech
Re: “Ludditte unions try to block technology use” (Page A6, Aug. 20).
In response to Dan Walters’ piece about self-service checkout kiosks, resistance to their use is not based on a fear of technology. It’s the same technology used at the traditional checkout. Self-checkout is not a labor-saving device — it’s a labor-shifting device. Stores are asking the customers to do their work for them, but it’s the same work. It’s a “service” I never asked for.
It’s not set up for my convenience as the stores try to say. It’s meant to lessen the need for more employees so the store can reap more profits. The fact that unions oppose their expansion is no surprise since it’s their mission to protect union jobs. It’s nice when unions try to do something that benefits their members as well as the public. They’re not being Luddites by trying to shift the same labor back to the employees and away from the customers.
Bill Griffith
Mountain View
Victorville could teach
Bay Area compassion
Re: “How is the Bay Area responding to order?” (Page A1, Aug. 17).
How is the Bay Area responding to Gov. Newsom’s order?
By coming in and dismantling their camps, breaking up their communities and now giving them a bus ticket, but to where? This doesn’t solve the problem.
Victorville Wellness Center in Victorville used its resources to build a campus that provides an array of services. They house 130 people in small individual units providing counseling and other rehabilitation services.
I suggest the major cities look into this as a possible solution. It is federally and state-funded with the City Council behind it. A group of volunteers have served food, clothing, tents and other essentials to the people in the city’s Columbus Park over the past 10 years, listening to their stories.
We must be compassionate and help the homeless, not turn them away until a place is available.
The Rev. Juanita Cordero
Los Gatos
Rosen isn’t alone in
opposing death penalty
Re: “DA Rosen’s flawed argument for reversing death sentences” (Page A6, Aug. 20).
I take issue with Ron Matthias pro-death stance.
DA Rosen’s opposition to the death penalty is based on solid grounds. He has clearly established that the death penalty is racially biased and reserved mostly for the poor.
In Propositions 62 and 34, Santa Clara County voters overwhelmingly voted against the death penalty.
Terry McCaffrey
Palo Alto
Letter’s assertions are
misleading at best
Re: “Harris economy would worsen inflation rate” (Page A6, Aug. 20).
Ed Kahl writes in Letters to the Editor that President Harris would continue and worsen the inflation Joe Biden caused, with “excessive government spending.” This is meme economics and it’s false.
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Remember the toilet paper shortage and how we’d have paid up if we could find it? And the rocketing price of used cars because new cars weren’t available? COVID-damaged supply chains jumpstarted inflation. Then the Ukraine invasion kicked the price of food, oil and gas up.
The Biden administration spent government money on infrastructure and manufacturing, including not relying on China-threatened Taiwan for 90% of our microchips. Both are essential for American vitality and defense, and both helped us recover from global inflation faster than every other major economy.
Bogus talking points about inflation put party over country, to our grave peril. Harris will spend government money where it needs to be spent.
Doug McKenzie
Berkeley
