Letters 7/23/2025

• Obsession!
• The Peanut Butter Event
• Protection From PG&E
• Big, Beautiful Disaster
• Who Inflation Benefits
• Utterly False Promises
• Buried Toxics At Bainbridge Park?
• More Money, Less Housing
• Vultures’ Feast
• Why Would Anyone…
• Misuse Of CEQA

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OBSESSION!

Editor,

As long as we exist, we change. While we strive to prevent it, we cannot. Life is a form of predestination. Aging will come about regardless of our wishes. Maybe that’s why humans focus on micromanaging each other. Perhaps that is why our obsessions isolate and prevent us from hearing outcries or recognizing the harm we cause.

The first step to recognizing an obsession is understanding that it makes us powerless to reason, insensitive to others, and brutally dedicated to a cause.

Every 4th of July, I think about Fredrick Douglass’ speech about disparity. Insensitivity(racism) was a problem during his lifetime and now. Then, I think about how Columbus imported a European obsession, the lust for gold. And how our culture destroyed native civilizations for the sake of possessing it. While we might think our behavior is different now, we should note that we are still obsessed with wealth and destroying each other’s lives to attain it. Change will never happen unless compassion is internalized. Once embedded into our conscience, civility will guide us to better decisions.

Tom Fantulin

Fort Bragg

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THE PEANUT BUTTER EVENT

Editor:

So there I was shopping for discounts on senior citizens day at Oliver’s, braving the slower walking and decision-making of my fellow seniors. When I went up the bread aisle (going south), a woman was blocking the aisle and trying to decide to choose from myriad types of peanut butter. Another woman (going north) was waiting to pass and, judging by her expression, fuming in her shoes. I stopped and politely said “Excuse me,” and the woman making choices said, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I may be here awhile,” and laughed. At the same moment, the other woman, with a mean expression on her face, rammed the woman’s cart, pushing it down the aisle and smugly marched after it.

I was saddened to see this because on a national level, one man and his mean-loving political party has normalized this behavior. Oh sure, the woman could’ve said the same thing I did. But she didn’t. She was mean and bullying.

I knew then the danger we’re in is as simple as this: our behavior toward each other will dictate the survival of our nation. And judging by what I see in public, we may not make it. We need to be better.

Marc Andrade

Santa Rosa

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PROTECTION FROM PG&E

Editor:

As I read about PG&E recruiting bodyguards, all I could think was, “Who is protecting us from PG&E?” (“PG&E is hiring an executive bodyguard. Combat shooting experience required,” pressdemocrat.com).

We need protection from their criminal negligence in starting wildfires and blowing up neighborhoods. We need protection from their incessant and unjustified rate hikes. But more than anything else, we need protection from their lobbying practices that attempt to block every good idea in the state Legislature for providing cleaner, cheaper and more efficient electricity. They are slowing the shifts needed to give us any hope of stopping the climate change disaster.

We need inoculation from their false arguments that rooftop solar is the reason for higher electricity rates when, in fact, solar saves the utilities over $1 billion each year. In fact, 92% of the utilities’ rate hikes are a direct result of their increased spending on poles and wires, which they would need less of if they prioritized grid-enhancing technologies.

Fortunately, there are groups working to protect us from PG&E. They are grassroots organizations that deserve your support and participation. They include 350 Bay Area (350bayarea.org), the Climate Center (theclimatecenter.org) and the Solar Rights Alliance (solarrights.org).

Cate Steane

Santa Rosa

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BIG, BEAUTIFUL DISASTER

To the Editor:

As yet another flood kills scores of Americans and devastates vast swaths of America, let the record reflect that the G.O.P.’s “big, beautiful bill” gutted key federal efforts to address the climate change that is the root cause of such environmental carnage.

My prayers and thoughts are with the dead, their families and the ravaged communities, but I also pray that Americans stop acting like sheep and do more to work with the rest of the world to tackle the climate change that is causing levels of destruction that will only get worse. Failure to do so will make us complicit in this unfolding tragedy.

William August

Cambridge, Massachusetts

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WHO INFLATION BENEFITS

Editor:

When the government spends more money than its income (from taxes), that creates a deficit. Deficits increase the national debt. The government pays for it by selling bonds or just printing more money. The more there is of anything, the lower its value. More dollars in circulation reduce their value.

That’s why in 1929 an ounce of gold cost $21 and the national debt was $17 billion. Today gold costs $3,300 and the debt is $36 trillion. In California, the average cost of a three-bedroom home was $3,900 in 1929. Today it’s $500,000. The rich invest in stocks, which increase in value more than investments in our homes increase. Inflation helps the wealthy and hurts the working class.

Raising the income tax for the top 10% of the wealthy will not hurt their standard of living. The government can use this money to avoid more deficits and lower the national debt. This would lower inflation without reducing health care, Social Security, etc.

The working-class work in the businesses the wealthy own, and that makes the rich richer.

Leonard Riepenhoff

Santa Rosa

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UTTERLY FALSE PROMISES

Editor:

I’m incensed. The ink had hardly dried on Donald Trump’s big, ugly scam when an email dropped into my inbox from the Social Security Administration titled “Social Security Applauds Passage of Legislation Providing Historic Tax Relief for Seniors.” The message said the Social Security Administration is celebrating long-awaited tax relief to millions of “older Americans.” I’m an older American, and I refuse to dance on the graves of those millions of Americans who will suffer and die early because of this shortsighted legislation that guts every safety net intended for the poorest among us. The few tax dollars I may see are not worth the devolution of society that comes when desperate and hopeless individuals do whatever it takes to survive. Keep your celebrations to yourself. Don’t use my Social Security account to disseminate your brown-nosed spin.

Terry Harms

Santa Rosa

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BURIED TOXICS AT BAINBRIDGE PARK?

Editor,

City Council rushes to bury toxic ground-fill at children’s park.

Fort Bragg’s city council was caught trying to dump tons of rubber crumb into a construction project advertised as “enhancement.” Residents Jacquelyn and Christopher Cisper caught wind of it July 3rd. Jacquelyn had been walking with her four year old when she noticed a black suspicious looking substance leaking from a small hole in one of the many blank brown bags that had been sitting on the back of a large pickup trailer in front of the park for over a week. Alarmed the couple began investigating. When questioned officials and Mayor Godeke claimed that the project had been in planning 20 years then backpedaled to several years. Told they had an EIR report, Mr. Cisper asked to see it. After waiting two days the project manager Chantel O’Neil said that they weren’t required to make one for the proposed two soccer fields, located in a small park in the center of town across from the library. The couple then requested the construction stop till further discussions with the town could be held.

The couple was told to look at the plan online that had been discussed in meetings for years. When investigating further they could only find one vote tally taken for the soccer field. It has 32 votes out of 32 in the negative. 32 people in 2017 voting against a soccer park. The type of soccer park is not mentioned the committee leaders are not listed.

When they asked, the couple was told they could only make comment at this morning Monday’s (July 14) meeting in the public’s three minute comment section.

They began working to gain signatures to ask for a real public meeting. Mr. Cisper stated he did not see how this 32 votes could represent a population of nearly 7,000 especially a vote that was taken in 2017.

The funding for the project only became available in 2023. The money became available through bond measure Proposition 68. A measure proposed to serve underserved communities by creating healthy infrastructure projects that specifically would protect the water and environment.

Infill or crumble rubber is a toxic substance that leaches into the water and has been linked to kidney cancer and breathing difficulties and is very soon within a matter of days to be dumped onto the ground for the two adjacent soccer fields.

Time is running out to stop this. Please show up Monday, July 14th at 6:00 pm sharp to make a public comment.

Christopher Cisper

Fort Bragg

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PS. THE QUESTION FOR FORT BRAGG

Editor,

Fort Bragg gets Renovated and Enhanced.

Recently, local Bainbridge Park was endowed with a $2 million renovation and enhancement. The completed project would have a small pavilion and two small 50 by 80 foot soccer fields and an ADA compliant rubber surface under its already installed play structures.

The project was paid for by a grant obtained through the Proposition 68 bond measure passed in 2018 and authored by State Senator Kevin de Leon. The bond was sold as a measure to protect our water and help underserved (the poor) neighborhoods improve their local, county and state parks.

Projects are proposed to communities who organize a committee and file a grant for a project. They negotiate the terms of the grant guaranteeing various infrastructure features in order to qualify for the grant.

Many grants have been structured in such a way as to insure the use of infill in these projects. Infill is chopped up old tires to about the size of kitty litter. It is used under artificial turf to provide better drainage and improve the soil structure so as to provide more even weight distribution. Infill is also mixed with a polymer and used to make ADA compliant surfaces. Infill is also hazardous waste. Infill is also PFAS (Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances). Infill is microplastics and just basically a real raw deal.

Recently Governor Newsom signed a bill passed by the California legislature to streamline CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) on June 30th 2025. This streamlining removed obstacles to the installation of materials used in buildings and construction. CEQA passed in California by then Governor Reagan and authored by then assemblyman John Foran, It was a flow chart of environmental regulations and standards that had to be met before projects could be approved.

This latest streamlining was very important because bond money must be spent by a certain time period and developers were blocked by the regulatory agencies that approved projects. Environmental Impact Reports (EIR)must be made and a certain set of standards must be met based on the size of the project and the materials used.

After the passage of Prop 68 and the developers started developing, there was some pushback. One of those pushing back appears to be the bill’s author Kevin de Leon. Developers and contractors were making a squabble as if they did not meet their deadlines they did not get paid.

I think these grants were conditional. Written by career grant writers working as administrators within the various agencies that apply for these grants. I believe that many of the grants were conditional and one of those conditions was that there had to be infill. Projects like soccer fields and other surfaces where the infill could be placed. Thus eliminating hazardous waste and bestowing it on our parks and underserved (poor) communities.

The best part? Those suckers paid dearly for the money they were given. They will keep paying. Because infill is ground up tires and ground up tires are hazardous waste that cause cancer and respiratory illness and a whole slew of other illnesses insuring a steady stream of customers for our medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Plastics are forever and they keep on giving.

PFAS run into the groundwater polluting it and have been linked to kidney cancer particularly. They also run through our estuaries killing aquatic life, probably insects and other ocean life. Insects are important too — they’re our pollinators.

Polluted water leads to an increase in water prices as the supply of clean safe water diminishes and of course the price goes up. Supply and demand.

By the way: stop buying water in plastic bottles. What th efuck is wrong with you hippie? Drink from the tap you entitled shithead.

Unwitting (hopefully) administrators in Fort Bragg I fear have made a deal with the devil. They’ve contracted for one of these grants and we are having infill installed very soon at Bainbridge park right across from the library. It’s already there in brown unmarked bags. I had never seen government work so fast. The materials were on site just a few days before the governor signed the bill “streamlining” CEQA.

All this material for “renovation and enhancement” seemed rather early. It didn’t make sense. All because a walk in the park by my wife with our four year old. These things are precious to me and, how dare you mess with them?

$2 million granted and the materials had to be in place before the deadline. That’s why they are getting pushed through. Well that’s my guess. I’ve never seen one of these projects move so fast.

Let me tell you dear reader this has not been one walk in the park this week. I’m tired of the Great Distractator. I’m tired of the red wing and the blue wing of this Turkey continually perpetually hurling itself into the fan.

Members of the City Council That 3 minutes you’ll grant me to ask you; why you want to poison my community. I have only one question. So stay tuned!

The question:

Show up Monday night at Town Hall 6:00 to find out.

PS. Fun facts

Proposition 68, $68 billion deficit.

Kevin DeLeon was accused of corruption and taking two cash payments from constituents amounting to $500 each and failed to report it. When de Leon was an assemblyman he wrote a bill vetoed by then Governor Brown that would make taking more than $440 without reporting it a crime.

Because Kevin de Leon was accused of corruption and he said something that hurt some somebody’s feelings it being very very racist and such or maybe one of his friends said it I’m not sure. It’s 3:18 in the damn morning and even if this gets done I don’t know if I’ll sleep. He is no longer a congressman and he’s running again.. Must be a masochist but he’s worth $5 million so even an “honest?” politician can be reasonably comfortable.

His seat is now occupied by Ysabel Jurado from LA.

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MORE MONEY, LESS HOUSING

Editor,

A state audit found that California invested a staggering $24 billion over the past five fiscal years to address homelessness. According to reports, in the 2021-22 fiscal year, when the homeless population was estimated to be 172,000, California spent $7.2 billion, which equated to nearly $42,000 per homeless individual.

With this kind of spending — you could house these homeless people in a typical apartment in Marin (which costs about $3,000 per month) and still have money left over for utilities. Yet, despite that money, the state still seems unable to house the unhoused.

This is why I have grave doubts about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to remove the ability of people to use the California Environmental Quality Act to stop new developments. I think it is a trickle-down approach to solving the housing crisis. It’s pretty clear to me that the state Legislature is caving in to a whole host of real estate interests. I suspect that won’t do much more than make developers rich and saddle small communities with further infrastructure burdens.

It appears to me that most small towns can’t even afford to fix potholes — while being saddled with massive public-employee pension debts. It just makes me question the wisdom of such a poorly conceived reflexive knee-jerk solution to a real problem. It’s time to just say no.

Guy Palmer

Mill Valley

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VULTURES’ FEAST

Editor,

Why is it new owners of mobile home parks feel they need to be made whole, and get a fabulous return on their investment, on the backs, and pocketbooks, of senior citizens, many of whom are on limited incomes and have resided in these parks for decades.

The owners come up with tales of woe, and how they need a healthy return on their investments, and because of regulations and laws, they are unable to capitalize and reap bountiful (immediate) returns.

Their only course of action is to attempt to double and triple rents, which are supposed to be protected by local rent-control laws. And if they don’t get what they want this way, they threaten to close the park. Is this “vulture capitalism”?

Not all real estate investments are winning enterprises. Usually, during the negotiation process, deferred maintenance and other projected costs are taken into account. One usually doesn’t overpay for such an investment. And if they do, one certainly can’t expect to recoup any initial miscalculation within the first couple of years of ownership.

And thank God, regulations and laws are in place to prevent such an obscene course of action. Otherwise, this form of elder abuse would run rampant.

Kevin Bashel

Santa Rosa

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WHY WOULD ANYONE…

Editor:

From fire science we learn of the fire triangle. It consists of three elements: heat, fuel and oxygen. Take away one of these elements and the fire cannot survive. American greatness, I’ll opine, is like the fire triangle in that it comprises three elements: education, innovation and hard work. Eliminate one and American greatness may not survive. U.S. colleges and universities foster two of these elements and successful graduates practice the third. Thus the question is begged: Why would anyone trump up excuses to impede from the missions or defund universities like Harvard and Columbia and Penn, where much of their effort aligns with their charters? Isn’t the point to keep America great?

Dave Delgardo

Cloverdale

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MISUSE OF CEQA

Editor,

The California Environmental Quality Act states that government officials, must order an impact report when “there is substantial evidence that a project may have a significant effect on the environment.” That sounds good to me.

Many housing proposals do not have a significant impact on the environment. Considering that, officials should not use CEQA to deny a project. I think the dominant governmental practice is that substantial evidence of significant impact exists, merely when a group of constituents says it does. They are the only evidence; their very opposition defines “significance.”

The article cited some of the environmental opposition to CEQA reform because of a jeopardized ecosystem and destruction of coastal habitat. If a housing project causes those threats then, of course, environmental assessment and project denial are justified. Most lands suitable for housing do not.

History shows that CEQA is one of the many tools local government uses to delay and stop projects. The housing supply problem is primarily the result of constituent objections and policy-makers agreeing. A council candidate will rarely be elected.

I think misused CEQA has been instrumental in housing shortage. Reform legislation is essential.

Angelo Siracusa

Larkspur