Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Dec. 13, 2023

E-bikes a good choice for some commuters

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is showing leadership by allowing the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike path to remain as it continues to study impacts on commuter traffic. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for some politicians.

Yes, I understand that there are many people with long commutes, as well as those who need to haul stuff. Yet there are plenty of people who could, with a 50-pound machine, transport themselves via electric-assist bicycle to work and wherever. If more did this, it would allow more room on the road for those who must drive.

E-bikes make riding practical for many. Aside from the many health aspects of bicycling, bikes are more space friendly.

We should all consider the many billions of dollars spent by the auto industry to convince us to buy cars and drive. We’ve been obedient. Traffic has grown, as billions more have been spent on endless road expansion.

It’s a cancer on our world, a disease we don’t need. Perhaps you’ve noticed. Instead, let’s conduct our lives in a way we can feel proud of. Cars make dollars, bikes make sense. Please allow the good choice made by Richmond Bridge officials to remain, at least until we know the whole story.

— Joe Breeze, Fairfax

Rail history should always be considered

I was most interested in the article with the headline “Transit Center design plan unveiled” published Dec. 3. In particular, I was intrigued by the comments of Ron Downing, planning director for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. He seems exactly right. The design effort being made to recollect the railroad history of the San Rafael station is apparent.

“One of the most important things is we’re going to retain the features, the look and feel, of the 1929 railroad depot,” Downing said.

This is in contrast to another decades-old railroad feature replaced just a few years ago. The bicycle bridge across East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard was built on the alignment of the old wooden railroad trestle. The new bridge is modern and attractive, but offers no resemblance to the former railroad structure, nor to the history of the railroad in Marin.

While the new bridge was being planned, I offered an idea for its design and function. The design, of course, would have reflected memories of the railroad. The structure could have been a multi-modal architectural statement on one of the most important entrances to Marin County.

The new bridge would have provided a grade-separated northbound on-ramp to Highway 101, replacing the annoying traffic light at East Sir Francis Drake that now controls this ramp.

It would have created a route for the extension of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit tracks, such that the rail station would have been built immediately adjacent to the nearby ferry terminal. This would have eliminated the current nine- to 12-minute walk from train to the ferry. Doing so would have offered the possible extension of SMART to the Corte Madera shopping centers.

My plan also would have extended the North-South Greenway bike path. Unfortunately, I received no response from the bridge planners.

— Robert L. Harrison, Tiburon

More to heroic story of Mono Lake preservation

Dr. Marty Griffin was one of the environmentalists who ensured the 1962 creation of Point Reyes National Seashore. It was established, in part, to prevent development in West Marin and to preserve its copious natural resources. Southern California’s Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve was established in 1981 after a series of lawsuits by the Mono Lake Committee and the National Audubon Society against the city of Los Angeles to prevent water diversions that threatened the very existence of the ancient alkaline lake.

I’m writing to add context to Dr. Griffin’s commentary comparing Point Reyes to Mono Lake. While the Audubon Society was key in the effort to restore Mono Lake, I think primary credit should go to the late David Gaines (disclosure: he was my cousin). Gaines, an ornithologist, noted that the diversions of the Owens River by Los Angeles had dropped the lake level and exposed island-nesting birds to predation by coyotes and other land animals.

He began the effort to restore flows in 1976, co-founding the Mono Lake Committee with David Winkler and Sally Gaines in 1978. At that point, he brought the Audubon Society into the fight. In honor of my cousin’s initiative, the 1.5-mile boardwalk from the visitor center to the lake bears his name.

I encourage readers to learn more about the Mono Lake Committee through its website, and to read John Hart’s book, “Storm over Mono: The Mono Lake Battle and the California Water Future.” Better yet, visit Lee Vining and explore the area. The drive to Mono Lake over Tioga Pass is spectacular.

— Kathleen Gaines, Marinwood

Hard for some to pay rent and high utility bills

I wholeheartedly agree with Curtis Panasuk’s letter, appearing Dec. 6, calling for federal oversight of the California Public Utilities Commission regarding its relationship with the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. It appears to me that the CPUC never met a PG&E rate increase it didn’t like.

I am concerned that the commission’s latest approval of a January 2024 PG&E rate increase is so impactful that it may actually increase homelessness in California.

As co-chair of the St. Vincent de Paul Conference at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Novato, I would like to share that the St. Vincent de Paul Society provides financial assistance to needy families in order to keep them housed, not only help with rent and food, but with ever-increasing utility bills.

In the past 12 months, our conference has helped 46 families pay all or some of their outstanding PG&E bills. Many of these neighbors had fallen behind in their payments due to loss of income during and beyond the pandemic. They could not pay both their rent and their skyrocketing PG&E bills. Some had their electricity turned off, sacrificing heat and light in order to pay rent and avoid eviction.

It is not an exaggeration to suggest that PG&E rate increases and the CPUC are contributing to homelessness. The commission’s apparent rubber-stamping of new rate increases needs to be investigated.

— Steve O’Keefe, Novato

Rules regarding inherited homes need changes

Many in the community may not be aware, as we were not, that an important change to California property tax law slipped into the fine print of California Proposition 19, which narrowly passed in 2020. This little noticed provision has taken away the ability of parents to transfer or gift their home (while living or through their estate) to their children without a property tax reassessment.

This change has the effect of reversing Proposition 58, which has been the law of the land with regard to the parent-child exclusion on property tax reassessment since 1986.

A petition effort is underway to undo this new Proposition 19 tax provision and reinstate Proposition 58, through a ballot initiative for 2024. The one-page petition can be found at RepealTheDeathTax.com. It must be printed, signed and mailed to the organizers of this initiative. One million signed petitions statewide are required to qualify for the 2024 ballot, with a deadline of Jan. 16.

— Jyll Johnstone and Michael Arlen Davis, Belvedere

Facing existential danger from Hamas actions

I am writing in response to the recently published Another View commentary by Frank C. Strasburger (“Israel should take different route than US did following 9/11,” Dec. 5). I find the selective blindness regarding the existential danger that Israel faces from Hamas to be disturbing.

When Strasburger writes about losing “the moral high ground on which Israel stood as victims on Oct. 7,” it sounds like a warped version of “sending sheep to the slaughter.” That’s not right.

I think Strasburger might more usefully address his plea to Hamas, not Israel.

— Julia Lutch, Davis