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Carbon removal
needs residents’ PR
Startups around Silicon Valley know being a “trailblazer” isn’t easy. I was in Sacramento recently volunteer-lobbying for support of SB 308, introduced by Sen. Josh Becker, to strengthen carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Unfortunately, it didn’t make it through the Assembly Appropriation Committee.
New ideas need tons of PR to get voters comfortable before they vote. This is especially true in times of budget cuts and greater needs as California grapples with climate disasters and homeless needs.
As a grandmother-to-be, I’m all for CDR to safely take carbon out of the air and reach net-zero faster because environmental-related respiratory issues are on the rise in our family. Learn about CDR and help make it a household name. Have as many conversations as you can to demystify it and get folks comfortable with it, then write your representatives.
Jenn Bulka
Redwood City
Public safety salaries
skew city numbers
Re: “City-worker costs have skyrocketed” (Page A1, Aug 23)
Let’s put the data in perspective.
Most of the highest-paid city workers are safety (police and firefighters). The article failed to break down salaries, overtime, benefits and pensions in reporting the “hard data.” Cops are paid a lot of overtime, their pensions are generous compared to other workers and they receive full salary up to one year if injured on duty. Most city workers do not come close to these levels and to attack all “government unions,” as some readers have, does a disservice to the bulk of our hardworking employees.
The stark difference in pay is not new, if one looks back in time. City management shares some of the blame as do the rest of us when we value a safety worker more than other workers.
Harry Oberhelman
San Jose
Lofgren, Eshoo must
alter Eurocentric views
Re: “Lofgren warns Council against supporting tribe” (Page A1, Aug. 9).
Reps. Lofgren and Eshoo are out of step and stuck in a policy that must end: Eurocentric control of native peoples and their land use.
The entire system created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is awash with a history of oppression that even involves the justification of genocide, relocation to reservations, theft and cultural abuse of children, and now land use.
There is no reason for Eshoo and Lofgren to believe that the old ways should continue without further harm to native tribes.
Stop this role of master/subservience now. It’s ugly and no longer serves a useful moral purpose.
Delorme Mckee-Stovall
San Jose
Debt is best measure of
economic performance
Re: “U.S. economy better off in Democrats’ hands” (Page A6, Aug. 27).
Every president since 1929 has increased the U.S. debt. Comparing deficit reduction to debt reduction is just wrong.
The accepted way of measuring debt accumulation is beginning Oct. 1 of a new president’s first year, the start of the U.S. fiscal year. There are always financial influences passed on to new administrations from previous laws enacted. Even Bill Maher, hardly a conservative, acknowledged this in his most recent show. Black Swan events also contribute to new debt. Wars, terrorist attacks, pandemics and financial crises all cause massive spending. Yes, the numbers say Democrats have better results, but it’s not that simple.
Fun fact: The Biden administration is on track to exceed even Donald Trump’s debt increase (which includes $4.25 trillion in COVID spending), currently at $6.7 trillion with 13 months to go.
Brian Dunlap
San Jose
Harris-Walz are
our clear-cut choice
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We have had Donald Trump, and he was a disaster. He loved the generals, and then he did not. He failed at COVID. He wanted Clorox and aspirin for us. He is a race-baiter with a record of running his businesses into the ground. He is still knocking at the presidency based on a flawed electoral system. This upcoming election is crucial, and your vote matters.
Kamala Harris is young and ready to take the reins of a country teeming with young people who know the technology and norms of a new society. Besides that, I firmly believe that a woman has the better temperament to run our country. Men have had the sway, and a few have done well. The rest floundered. It is a shame that we have never had a woman president.
Kamala Harris has a winner in Tim Walz. They deserve to be elected.
Kohli Singh
San Jose
