Letters: Housing the issue | Richmond parking | Landline benefits | Amendment language | Biden’s fitness

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Housing, not bridge,
is the real issue

Re: “Richmond-San Rafael Bridge managers re-examine westbound lane options” (Feb. 3).

The major topic missing from the article on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s bike lane is housing. Why do so many people have to cross this bridge every day in the first place? It’s because the Bay Area generally, and particularly Marin County, has been too slow to act to reverse the housing crisis. This means commuters have to live far from their jobs, which ends up costing them, and all of us, money and headaches through increased emissions and worse traffic.

We need to reduce the amount we drive. Allowing people to live near where they work and shop is one of the best ways.

Cities have an outsized role in determining where and how much housing ends up getting built through local land-use controls. Cities need to do their part by relaxing outdated requirements around minimum lot sizes, parking and building heights that stifle new construction.

Maxwell Davis
Oakland

‘Daylighting’ will ruin
Richmond parking

Re: “New safety law — ‘daylighting’” (Page A1, Feb. 7).

I live in Richmond and parking is a daily struggle. I have barely five feet of parking in front of my house thanks to a wide crosswalk the city created last year. For me, it will be impossible to comply with the law, and if I park somewhere else, I will get my windshield broken or a flat tire.

Come and walk the streets and ask the residents what the impact of this law is going to be. All cities have to address the parking problem before implementing this daylighting law.

Juan Lores
Richmond

Landline benefits
are numerous

Re: “AT&T looks to pull the plug” (Page A1, Feb. 8).

Continuing landline service is important for a number of reasons — quality of sound is better, calls are not droppedand landline service is better at providing emergency dispatch to locations where needed.

But in Northern California, where PG&E’s callous and greedy disregard for customers’ safety and service cause increasingly frequent power outages, my landline is the only thing that works when the power is out.

Beth Weinberger
Oakland

Amendment language
cancels states’ rights

Re: “Supreme Court ruling tramples states’ rights” (Page A6, Feb. 6).

Frank Murray asserts that states, not Congress, should decide what the 14th Amendment means.

But the 14th Amendment itself says, “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” So the 10th Amendment does not apply.

Randall Spangler
San Jose

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Upcoming speeches
will prove Biden’s fitness

Re: “Biden should step aside — but how?” (Page A7, Feb. 13).

What should be obvious is that most who want Joe Biden not to run for reelection are those who know that he is the best Democrat with the chance to defeat Donald Trump. He did that last time; he will likely do it again.

Upcoming are the State of the Union and the Democratic Convention speeches by Biden, both of which should prove to be impactful and well-thought-out.

George Fulmore
Emeryville