Letters: Bay Area residents should prepare a smoke safety plan
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Bay Area residents need
a smoke safety plan
After a historic year of wildfires in Southern California, we are entering dry season in Northern California, where wildfire risk rises dramatically.
As a pulmonary physician, I want to remind the general public of the dangers of breathing in wildfire smoke. Inhaling particles in wildfire smoke leads to inflammation throughout the entire body. It can cause flares of asthma and emphysema, heart attacks, strokes and unstable heart rhythms. Some people are especially high risk, like older adults, children and pregnant women.
It’s important to be prepared for periods of poor quality by knowing how to create a “clean room” in your house. You can get air quality alerts from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District so you know when air quality will be poor.
For additional tips to protect you and your family from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke, please visit lung.org/wildfires.
Laura Myers
Oakland
Strong policies beat
redistricting gambit
Gavin Newsom’s proposal to redraw California congressional districts if Texas does so is a desperate, reactive idea. There is a more effective, long-lasting and powerful strategy to make Democrats relevant again.
Make the government actually “democratic,” not just in name only. Legislate what people want: Tax the ungodly rich, cut the military budget, provide universal health care and child care, protect basic human rights; there is so much more that can and should be done.
Since Bill Clinton, Democrats have abandoned the working and middle classes and championed corporations and the rich. It’s way past time to get the “for the people” ethic back on track. People are rightly furious with Democrats because they always cave, while Republicans gut and destroy.
That’s the strategy that Zohran Mamdani has so effectively employed to excite people and put him at the brink of New York’s mayorship. It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense.
Keith Nakatani
Oakland
Treat Blvd. bike lane
is still a bad idea
Once again, a small number of cyclists are demanding bike lanes on Treat Boulevard, a heavily trafficked, multi-lane thoroughfare that’s only getting worse with all the new construction. We shot it down once before; it’s time to do it again.
The Canal Trail parallels Treat and offers a great (and safer) option for cyclists. There is no excuse to carve out a lane when a great option exists. And would bicyclists even use it? Almost no bikers use the expensively built bike lane on Bancroft Road.
Enough already. Tell the city and county to stop this costly project.
Denise Kalm
Walnut Creek
Foreign aid is good
for the U.S. and globe
Across the country, tremendous confusion and anger have been felt in recent weeks. During times like these, it’s especially important to consider the things we do have. America has clean water, food and health care, resources that are often taken for granted.
Most Americans assume we spend around 25% of our federal budget on foreign aid. In actuality? It’s about 1%. Providing aid to the world’s poorest countries creates greater global security, a stronger global economy, and diplomatic connections.
Advocates don’t belong to one party, movement, religion or person. Ronald Reagan was a proponent of foreign aid, creating the framework of large-scale foreign aid as it stands today. Barack Obama’s launch of the Global Health Initiative revolutionized health systems in 80 countries. Amid the ever-increasing partisan polarization, this is crucial. Despite other issues persisting, our country promises to serve and protect others just as we have done in the past.
Lillie Woodard
Danville
Only two-state solution
can bring lasting peace
I am aghast at what is happening in Gaza. By not condemning Israel’s actions, the U.S. is complicit in the destruction of Gaza and the killing and starvation of the Palestinian people. (Donald Trump even suggested the Palestinians leave Gaza, and he would create the Riviera of the Middle East along the Gaza Strip. That is imperialism.)
Where is the world’s outrage? Fortunately, more countries are speaking out. France suggested, as part of the peace process, the need for a two-state solution. Many other countries agree, and other Western countries are expected to announce agreement. Israel strongly condemned France, and the U.S. has expressed opposition to the proposal by France.
The U.S. must stop sending weapons to Israel, condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza, insist on the experienced United Nations food aid distribution, and support a two-state policy. This is the only way permanent peace can be achieved.
Arlene Reed
Diablo