Regarding the recent East Bay Times story, “If you think housing’s pricey, try child care,” the high cost of child care is a constant burden for families. Despite the enormous expense, the average child care provider is one of the lowest-paid workers.
An average family child care provider will work 40 to 60 hours a week. Their hourly rate can easily fall below the “livable” minimum wage set by the state. Parents seeking child care are not looking for just a babysitter. Child care providers are responsible for providing a safe environment and serving as a child’s primary educator during the most critical years of their emotional, cognitive and mental development.
The number of child care openings is declining. Unless we find a way to make the early childhood care field an attractive profession with livable wages and benefits for individuals who have the patience, skills and compassion to raise our most valuable resource, the cost will continue to rise as quality care becomes scarce.
— John Jones, Antioch
Maybe Schultz can show Democrats way back to basics
Concerning Marc Thiessen’s recent column, “Dems mad at Schultz for more than risking Trump’s re-election,” I have felt lately that Democrats are losing their direction, and I enjoyed reading Thiessen’s piece. I feel, as he does, that Democrats need to get back to a more moderate, unified message and that hopefully, Schultz can show the way back. I hope so, because if Democrats want to win, they must get back to basics and reach the majority of all Americans.
I think Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren should simmer down a bit and be more reasonable about their policies that will affect all of us. For example, everyone is entitled to health care, but Harris said everyone has to give up private health insurance. This either-or approach should be modified with various solutions to this problem and be well thought out. Having Schultz as a middle man, running as an independent, will ruin the Democratic chances of beating Trump.
— Joan Visser, Walnut Creek
‘Mansplaining’ fails to change voter’s mind on Schultz
Regarding the recent letters “Howard Schultz should be recruited to run as a Dem,” “Perhaps Schultz can show Democrats the way back” and “Wealthy need more say in allocating their tax dollars” in the East Bay Times and columnist Marc Thiessen, who recently “mansplained” about the kind of people the Democrats should run for office and the kind of policies we should endorse (“Dems mad at Schultz for more than risking Trump’s re-election,” he advised Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren to “simmer down a bit,” and on why taxing wealthy people is wrong.
Sorry, Marc, you are a Republican apologist, and you have no right to opine on the direction the Democratic Party should take. We don’t need oligarchs to determine how much philanthropy they want to give us, we need just taxation to reverse the growing inequity caused by decreasing tax rates over the last 40 years, and a democratic decision-making process on how to spend our national wealth. I don’t expect Marc Thiessen or Howard Schultz or any other billionaire to like it, and I don’t want Warren or Harris to simmer down one iota.
— Deborah Bayer, Richmond
ZIP code shouldn’t determine Oakland school enrollment
About the recent East Bay Times story “Board votes to close East Oakland’s Roots middle school,” I have been following your coverage of the challenges that the Oakland Unified School District is facing, including the need to close up to 24 schools over the next five years.
I have been surprised by how little attention your paper has paid to the implications of closing schools on the students who attend them or the district’s plans to support these youth. In this context, I am writing to support the “Opportunity Ticket.”
This seems to be the only proposal that focuses on these students and tries to turn school closures into an opportunity by giving them higher priority in the school enrollment process. In addition to prioritizing those students most impacted by school closures, this proposal leverages the current crisis as an opportunity to address the racial and economic disparities that characterize Oakland schools by reducing the primacy of residential neighborhood in school enrollment priority.
— Mikaela Rabinowitz, Oakland
Human error would still be issue in any state-run PG&E
About the recent East Bay Times piece “What if the government owned PG&E?” the top management of a company such as PG&E is held accountable when a disaster occurs and the company is named as being at fault.
In most cases, the actual individual who created the situation that caused the disaster is some lower-level manager or technician who made the decision to delay a repair or assumed that a marginal condition would never really be a problem or just did not notice a minor fault. Underlying reasons run the gamut from inattention and laziness to simple human error.
Why would government control be an improvement? The government not only has its own share of ineffective workers, it has the power in most cases to hide its mistakes and the disasters that it causes as well.
— Dennis Mockel, Oakland
Meat factories far crueler to animals than is fur-trapping
Concerning the recent story “Bill may ban fur trapping in state” in the East Bay Times, I oppose the bill to ban fur trapping. I don’t eat meat and would never wear fur, but real cruelty is not hunting or cage-trapping, where animals live natural lives until the moment of their death.
Everyone who buys factory-farmed meat in the local grocery store subjects millions of animals to cruelty and causes damage to the environment. Why further alienate rural Californians to save 1,500 animals a year? Make them our allies as we tackle global warming and destructive corporate farming practices.
— Martha Sellers, Oakland
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