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Better design could help
People’s Park project
Re: “Activists take to streets after university erects People’s Park barricade” (Page A1, Jan. 6).
UC Berkeley has presented only crude and club-footed schemes for “People’s Park” that would obliterate the “People’s History.”
A superior plan — if “development” is inevitable — could provide many dormitory rooms and related spaces, and leave the site almost entirely untouched by construction:
A slender band of dormitories, inset from sidewalks and supported by four interior arches, would hover along the sides of the property, which slopes down toward Telegraph Avenue. The vast majority of the site would remain park; entries for students and the “formerly homeless” at the northwest and southwest, would be flanked by waterfalls, expressing the site’s character.
Finally, no walls would be seen from within the park looking outward, except slender pylons supporting a tower, with historical exhibits below.
Arthur Stopes, III
Berkeley
Prop. 47 has reset
retail crime
Re: “Proposition 47 helped reform state’s criminal justice system” (Page A8, Jan 7).
Praise of Proposition 47 missed a few points. I feel that this article did not address the change in threshold for misdemeanor theft from $400 to $950.
The intent was to reduce the number of people in jail, and it did just that. Retailers like Target, CVS and Walgreens report shoplifting increased more than 50%. The article indicated that property crime decreased. Of course it did. If the crime isn’t reported, then the rates go down. We witness people filling up carts and walking right out. Items like facial cream, rug shampoo and alcohol are under lock and key. These items are not food for your family, but things to resell.
This is not part of retail theft syndicates, just regular thieves ransacking the stores. Stealing $950 each day for a month is $28,500. It’s the new and improved criminal justice system.
Chesteen Lindberg
Richmond
Somebody must check
PG&E’s greed
Re: “PG&E monthly bills poised to top $300” (Page B1, Jan. 9).
“PG&E monthly bills poised to top $300.” What a lovely way to spin the fact that Californians are getting screwed yet again. We are paying for their top brass, who have failed to do their jobs with regular maintenance for years.
The fatal gas explosion in San Bruno in 2010 should have been a red flag that they weren’t doing their due diligence, yet no oversight. But the top brass likely collected their million-dollar bonuses.
It’s time to put a stop to their greed and hold them accountable. The Public Utilities Commission should be held accountable, as well, for their lack of oversight and not reining in PG&E for their greedy overreach for higher rates.
Gerry Jackson
Pittsburg
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Americans tend to
focus on negative
Re: “Is the U.S. economy truly on the mend?” (Page A7, Jan. 9).
After reading Paul Krugman’s column, I am again brought to the opinion that Americans are the most ungrateful people on God’s green earth.
It is never enough. The glass is never half full. It’s so sad, and it is a matter of what you choose to focus on.
DiAnn Hillerman
Oakland
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