Letters: S.F. firefighters answer call when alarm sounds. That's why they deserve what they're paid
We heard the sirens start, and we followed the noise to a burning building. Mom never took the family to watch Dad work again. The nightmare of flames and the immediacy of death their father confronted was not something she wanted her children to know about.
One Thanksgiving, long after Dad had retired, a fire broke out near our home in the Excelsior. Dad was just about to carve the turkey. As the sirens approached, he went out to observe.
The firefighters responding were shorthanded, and all were busy. Dad noticed a hose wasn't connected to a hydrant. He stretched it and linked it to the hydrant. Dad got a big smile and thanks from the firefighter who noticed. I was never prouder of my dad.
Dad died in 1983 from cancer due to inhalation of smoke on the job. Letter writer Beth Brown should realize that the pay for San Francisco firefighters she decries as an 'insatiable appetite' and 'greed' is well-deserved.
These heroic men and women work shifts of 24 hours on, 48 off, with death tugging at their elbows each time the alarm sounds.
John R. Wallace, Mill Valley
Hold PG&E accountable
The primary reason is the lack of any accountability in the rate-making process from the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the investor-owned utilities, like PG&E.
The state's utilities have done everything they can to increase their profits by building capital-intensive, and in many cases, unnecessary transmission and distribution infrastructure.
At the same time, the utilities have used their political muscle to suppress the use of grid-enhancing technologies, methods to expand the capacity of the grid with much less capital-intensive strategies.
Because utilities get a guaranteed rate of return on capital deployed, they have no incentive to use less expensive methods, so ratepayers end up taking it on the chin.
And despite what the story said, we can do something about it by supporting consumer advocacy groups like The Utility Reform Network and the Solar Rights Alliance.
Rick Brown, Petaluma
Dems have to fight
Regarding 'California can never win a race to the bottom with Trump on redistricting ' (Open Forum, SFChronicle.com, Aug. 10): Taking the high road, as Michelle Obama once stated, has always been a losing political strategy for Democrats.
Stating that 'turning the other cheek would be real gangster' shows that it's time for Joe Matthews to retire from political writing. He's not reading the political landscape.
Republicans, conservatives and corporations have been beating the Democrats and progressives over the head with name-calling and falsehoods for decades. The right wing is winning at the ballot box and in the courts.
Look who controls the U.S. Capitol and most statehouses. It's time Democrats fight back, even if it requires getting dirty.
Michael Santos, Antelope, Sacramento County
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