Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Jan. 1, 2025

Marin leaders must keep pushing on e-bike safety

The recent Marin Voice commentary (“E-bikes are vehicles, not toys, so think before you buy one as a gift,” Dec. 16) by Marin Supervisor Mary Sackett and Dr. Nelson Branco spotlights the “throttle-powered e-wheels capable of providing power beyond 20 mph” as dangerous, illegal and not e-bikes, despite how they are labeled and advertised.

Driving home that point, a consumer fraud class action was filed recently in Marin Superior Court against Super73, the manufacturer of the most popular brand of throttle e-wheels. According to the lawsuit, a woman bought her son a Super73 brand two-wheeler mislabeled as a “class 2 e-bike” — only to be later informed by the police that it is not legal for her or her son to ride. She’s seeking refunds for herself and all other California consumers misled by the manufacturer.

The influential statewide bicycle organization — CalBikes — is also calling for enforcing “truth in advertising” by the companies that market what they call “rogue motorcycles” as e-bikes.

Now we just need Sackett’s youth e-bike safety committee to act on what I call the “rogue motorcycle problem” and to move forward urgently with a countywide minimum age requirement of 16 for throttle e-bikes. I see no reason to put this off until next summer.

Note also that the California Air Resources Board just announced a program to subsidize the purchase of e-bikes by lower-income families. Inexplicably, it includes many of those dangerous “rogue motorcycles” on its list of approved e-bikes. I’ve asked them to fix this major flaw.

— Bob Mittelstaedt, Kentfield

SMART will never come close to penciling out

In its original plan, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District targeted getting 5,000 daily passengers and fares covering 36% of operating expenses. It has never come close to reaching either target.

In fiscal year 2024, SMART appeared to push its ridership as high as possible by offering free rides to seniors, veterans and students. It came in at 2,329 (less than half of target). But, by discounting fares so much, they now cover less than 3% of operating expenses. By comparison, both CalTrain and Bay Area Rapid Transit’s fares cover 33% or more of operating expenses, over 10 times more than SMART.

I think, in at least one way, SMART exacerbates, rather than alleviates, vehicle traffic. During commuting hours, car commuters can be backed up during three traffic lights switches at the SMART San Rafael station. Meanwhile, the SMART train ambles by carrying very few passengers.

SMART will never pencil out. Its service area does not have the population and employer density to support a railway system. Sonoma and Marin populations are projected to remain flat or decline. The connection from the SMART station to the Larkspur Ferry can add as much as 35 minutes to an already long commute to San Francisco. The San Francisco Financial District may never recover its pre-pandemic employment level due to work-from-home employees. Thus, the San Francisco office vacancy rate has risen from 4.7% in 2019 to 34.5%.

Finally, SMART is not good for the environment. It uses diesel fuel to carry very few passengers who could otherwise take a bus or carpool.

— Gaetan Lion, Mill Valley

Ethnic studies curriculum must have a proper focus

I attended the Tamalpais Unified High School District Board of Trustees meeting when the ethnic studies curriculum was raised (“Tam Union student test scores rankle trustees,” Dec. 13).

It was disappointing to hear district representatives seemingly ignore the many concerns expressed by parents about the curriculum as written and its divisive and politicized content. From my perspective, the lessons of civil rights heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks should be the focus instead of stories of armed resistance like those of the Black Panther Party and the Third World Liberation Front. I think it is not only misguided but also dangerous and harmful.

From my perspective, district officials are not answering questions directly, instead just saying that they trust teachers to teach it the right way. That’s not the point. Parents support our teachers too, but we should not support this curriculum.

Our community deserves a balanced and positive curriculum, one that highlights the obstacles and inequities faced by different ethnic groups, their struggles and their achievements. That message is what will inspire students to continue the important work of combating bias and racism and finding common ground with each other regardless of their ethnic background.

— Melissa Cohen, Mill Valley

Careful consideration of 101 HOV lanes needed

As I read the article about discussions for commuter lanes along the Marin-Sonoma Narrows section of Highway 101 (“Planners prepare for Marin-Sonoma Narrows debut,” Dec. 15), I couldn’t help but share my experience as a “reverse” commuter.

As the article states, in Sonoma County, there are high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) restricted lanes on both sides, regardless of commute flow. Where the highway expands to three lanes at the Sonoma-Marin line, the left lane restriction is immediately in effect.

On numerous occasions, I have witnessed two (or more) slow-moving trucks in the right and middle lanes going uphill with one in the middle lane going as little as 3 mph faster than the truck in the right lane. Due to the left lane HOV restriction, it reliably causes a bit of unanticipated slowed traffic, leading to some panicked braking and slaloming cars through the slowed traffic.

Given that Novato’s Redwood Landfill draws a lot of large trucks to that stretch of road, along with the many agricultural trucks of Sonoma County, the backup would happen with some frequency.

Considering that, I think northbound between the Atherton ramp in Novato and the Pengrove ramp, the reverse commute lanes should be exempted to be open like in Marin.

— Eric Fransen, San Rafael

Americans should make a budget for the people

It is time for the people to fight for themselves, and this movement must be peaceful and beautiful. We must take charge of our country’s spending.

It’s time to act. Bring back the American dream of a better life. At the same time, we need to give our congressional representatives the power to make a budget for the people, not for the profiteers.

Certainly, the people’s taxes must be spent for the people. If corporations that profit from the war industry had to pay for that themselves, they would likely find war no longer pays. Only then will peace have a chance.

— Dart Cherk, Mill Valley

Importance of clean energy must be taught

In his Another View commentary (“Time to get real about renewables,” Dec. 16), Ryan M. Yonk asserts that consumer choice and not government mandate will keep fossil fuels dominant in our energy portfolio.

However, the continued dominance of the fossil fuel economy substantially increases the likelihood that large areas of Earth, including some of the United States, will become unproductive, even unlivable and certainly politically unstable well before the end of this century. Failure to factor this into consideration means that we are forgoing any attempt at intergenerational equity.

In effect, we would be impacting the very people we expect to support us in our old age. How’s that for a rational policy?

Widespread electrification, powered by new, modular, nuclear plants can prevent these dire consequences. The waste doesn’t need to be buried at Yucca Mountain but deep in granite formations like the Finns and Swedes do, or reprocessed like the French do.

It is our government’s responsibility to teach the public why this solution is essential and far less risky than they currently believe and also far less so than the fossil fuel alternative.

— Chet Seligman, Point Reyes Station