Letters: Keep Price | Name change | Help homeless | Farcical debates

East Bay Times Letters to the Editor for May 19, 2024

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DA Price should be
allowed to do her job

Re: “Defiant DA Price vows to defeat recall effort” (Page A1, May 16).

I do not support the recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.

This recall seems to be primarily funded by people who want to redo the 2022 election, but that is not the way our election system is designed to work.

I think that we should let Price continue to do the job she was elected to do.

George Fulmore
Emeryville

Slight change could
ease name change

Re: “Oakland’s airport adopts its new name, sues San Francisco over ongoing dispute” (Page A1, May 11).

A slight change to the new name for the Oakland International Airport could solve the problem of confusion with the San Francisco airport.

The new name should be “The Oakland-San Francisco Bay International Airport.”

Putting “Oakland” first in the name would clarify things and get San Francisco off Oakland’s back.

Michael McCarthy
Castro Valley

Use shuttered Dublin
facility to help homeless

Prisoners have been moved out of the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin.

The homeless situation is a major concern in the area, and I have not heard of any viable solutions coming from any level of government. Cities and counties are requesting federal funding. The Federal Correctional Institution Dublin is federally funded.

Every day I see businesses with job offers and nearby people requesting assistance but due to the state of their clothing and a lack of access to hygiene, the two are unable to connect. There needs to be a conduit between businesses and the homeless requesting assistance.

My suggestion is to use the existing Federal Correctional Institution to provide housing, food, hygiene facilities, on-site job training and counseling for job placement.

Although the Federal Correctional Institution Dublin is currently a locked institution, I believe it can be modified for this purpose.

John Stretch
Martinez

Presidential debates
have become a farce

Re: “Biden, Trump to debate in June and September” (Page A1, May 16).

Debates can be one of the most important and influential pieces to our democracy. A debate is a formal discussion of a topic, during which persuasive arguments from differing sides are presented.

Unfortunately, presidential debates have become a complete farce.

Participants are supposed to present constructive responses to a moderator’s questions, and then a couple of rebuttals to their opponent’s arguments. Instead, we get a lot of slanders, name-calling and interruptions as participants yell over one another.

The article states that they would like to be able to control for some of this by holding the debates in a TV studio where they can cut off participants’ microphones when their time has elapsed. Call me a cynic; I don’t think that will actually happen. Biden’s campaign chairperson calls for “No more games. No more chaos.” If not what is the point? You surely cannot call it a debate.

JJ Kael
Oakland