Letters: Oakland police | Nuclear energy | Airport expansion | Raising families | Sweet to sour

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Oakland police staffing
is a complex issue

If we are going to have a conversation about Oakland’s shortage of police, it must be grounded in objective facts.

First, it is not accurate to say that leaders in Oakland have no concern for public safety. Mayor Sheng Thao recommended funding for six police academies in her first budget. This clearly shows that she is very concerned.

Second, the city of Oakland offers new police recruits one of the highest signing bonuses in the state, but the department still has a hard time finding qualified applicants. San Francisco is also having recruitment issues.

Finally, the Anti-Police Terror Project provides a check to the sometimes unchecked power and authority of rogue police in Oakland. Federal monitors are in place for a good reason.

This is a complex issue with no easy solutions.

Malik Washington
Dublin

Environmental cost
of nukes is too high

Re: “New focus for Berkeley ‘nuclear free zone’” (Page B1, July 25).

Nuclear energy is not “clean” energy. It doesn’t utilize carbon sources. It does require uranium and produces highly radioactive waste on an ongoing basis at all plants, some on earthquake faults. It’s stored at these plants in the open in temporary storage.

The U.S. has no solution to store this waste, which will be radioactive for 1,000 years plus, safely. There have only been three nuclear plant crises to date but even one more is too much.

Fukushima, a total meltdown, has bordered off large swaths of land that are now radioactive. It impacted hundreds of square miles and more than 300,000 people. Lives are permanently disrupted. Long-term health impacts are being watched.

We must be proactive to deal with global warming. Expanding nuclear energy is not the solution. It has serious risks that wind and solar do not have.

Judy Flum
Hercules

Airport expansion will
hinder climate fight

Re. “Officials set sights high with expansion plans” (Page A1, July 25).

Oakland Airport history is interesting, but history isn’t destiny.

Adding 16 gates to “meet increasing air travel demand” totally ignores the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C as called for in the Paris Agreement.

Flying is an elite privilege with high costs for everyone else. Just 12% of U.S. households take 66% of flights, but we all pay. Ultra-fine particles from jet fuel combustion cause asthma, heart disease and other health problems in a 10-mile radius from airports, as tested in Seattle. For OAK, that’s from Emeryville to Hayward.

We need to learn instead of repeating the history of a time when we didn’t know better. It’s time to reduce recreational flying to stop contributing to the extreme weather and wildfire effects of the Anthropocene.

Lin Griffith
Oakland

Raising families will
relight state’s glow

Re: “Golden State’s glow is fading” (Page A1, July 26).

California urgently needs you to raise families. “Golden State’s glow is fading” is a prophetic portrait of California’s plummeting population positioning the Golden State to become America’s next “rust belt.” Only families will change this dystopian prediction.

America’s core conflict is between depopulators and populators. I am from a native California family of nine. My wife and I have three children. Humans are not born to be served, but to serve. My siblings and children are first responders, teachers and veterans.

I guarantee that if you can compassionately govern family dinner, you can govern a state. It’s hard to hear, but children have friends, whereas adults have families. Let’s raise our children to be humanitarians with a passion to serve others, not a bank account.

Like you, my loved ones are escaping California’s turmoil. Help me make California glow again. Join the counterculture … become a modern-day hippie and vote.

Mark R. Clifford
Moraga

Time has soured
Bay Area’s sweet life

The gray-haired geezer sits alone in the rocking chair on the front porch and ponders life.

No, he didn’t leave his keys in the car or his house doors unlocked, but he does remember manners, respect and the kindness of his fellow human beings. A grimace will cross his face when hearing of a pro ball player making big bucks but setting a bad example for our youth of today.

It wasn’t long ago he got his mail midday; now it’s closer to midnight, if at all. The product he bought at the store for years is now locked up behind a glass cage where permission is needed before purchase.

He and his wife of 50-plus years have lived in San Francisco and Oakland in happier times, but those happy times turned into depression on a recent visit. The comic page has turned political and the politicians have become comical.

I ask again, what happened?

Bill Chestnut
San Ramon