Letters: Reject bridge toll hike | Lead danger | Stepping up | Into the ditch | TikTok ruling | Not ready

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MTC should reject
bridge toll increase

Re: Borenstein: Bay Area transportation slush fund casts doubt on need for $2.50 bridge toll hike

We represent a coalition of taxpayer and transportation advocacy organizations (Bay Area Transportation Working Group, Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association, Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, Alameda County Taxpayers’ Association, Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers and Solano County Taxpayers’ Association) that oppose the $10.50 Bay Area bridge toll, which the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) will consider Wednesday.

BATA, comprised of members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, should reject this unwarranted $2.50 toll increase. BATA first must reform its deceptive financial practices and appoint an independent inspector general to serve as an internal auditor and investigator, like Caltrans, BART and New York MTA now have.

Of today’s $7 toll, $3 are earmarked for “toll bridge seismic retrofit work.” Although BATA deemed the seismic retrofit program complete in 2019, it will collect the $3 surcharge in perpetuity. BATA should use any excess funds for bridge rehabilitation or maintenance to offset the proposed increase.

Gerald Cauthen
Oakland
Mark Hinkle
San Jose
Marc Joffe
Walnut Creek

Oakland schools’ lead
danger is unresolved

Re: “What threat does lead poisoning pose to Oakland Unified students?” (Aug. 29).

Oakland Unified School District has a lead problem. As a student at an Oakland school, this is a real problem in my life.

I have been warned against drinking from the water fountains and told to use the FloWater stations instead, but these are often out of order. Many OUSD schools were built before the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 was passed, meaning there are many lead pipes.

The district acknowledges this, but as replacing pipes would be very costly, they have not done anything to rectify this massive health risk. Most people don’t know that the disturbing results of lead tests on all of the schools in OUSD are available on their website. I was horrified to learn that many of the water fountains I see people use every day contain lead.

OUSD has a lot of work to do on transparency and reducing health risks.

Naomi Wilson
Oakland

Government must
step up role for pets

Re: “Bay Area pet lovers battle animal overpopulation” (Page B1, Dec. 15).

I am grateful you spotlighted Paws in Need. They are a great organization doing important work.

But I think you may have buried the lede: Many shelters in our state have a 25% survival rate, not to mention deplorable conditions.

The problem is worsening and governments are doing little to combat it through low-cost spay/neuter programs, bans on backyard breeding, or expanding funding and facilities.

Many shelters are now in the business of simply disposing of a problem of our own creation. Nonprofits are scrambling to help, but they shouldn’t have to do this lift alone.

Healthy dogs and cats, sometimes entire litters, are euthanized for space. Almost a million companion animals are killed a year.

There’s your headline.

Dev Petty
Berkeley

Trump will drive
nation into ditch

In the movie “Unstoppable,” Denzel Washington plays a veteran engineer who, along with a young conductor, races against the clock to prevent a train from causing a catastrophe. As a nation, I feel that we are on a similar train right now — heading toward disaster with Donald Trump at the helm.

His choices for the leaders in his administration are, without exception, horrifying and appalling. Between lack of experience, conflicts of interest, being ideologically extreme, and scandalous, he has chosen loyalty over competence. As the saying goes, what you sow is what you reap. The American people are going to soon discover the danger of electing him as our next president.

While some defenders argue that he sought to “drain the swamp,” he is essentially undermining institutional effectiveness and credibility. Is there anyone in this nation to put the brakes on this unstoppable train?

Prakash Narayan
Fremont

TikTok ruling has no
impact on free speech

Re: “TikTok ruling threatens free speech in the U.S.” (Page A9, Dec. 15).

A federal law requires that TikTok stop operating in the United States unless it is sold to a non-Chinese company. A federal court upheld that statute, and this op-ed writer suggests that this “ban” on TikTok speech violates the First Amendment rights of the owner of the company.

However, no speech is being banned, with the statute only requiring a change in the nationality of the owner of the platform, not the speech itself. The writer doesn’t point out how the content of the speech would change in any way if the broadcaster underwent a change in management.

Daniel Mauthe
Livermore

New generation isn’t
ready to face future

I am scared for the new generations. For reference I am a 16-year-old kid attending Oakland School for the Arts, and as I look at the students I think, “Are they ready for the future?”

I know I’m not ready for it. The world has gotten so much scarier. Our world is slowly dying, AI is taking a giant step in development, and our next president … well you know what I mean.

I feel like my generation isn’t ready for everything to come. We’ve become lazier and more glued to our screens. I don’t know how we will survive this world.

Cole Chan
Oakland