3 days ago
Letters: S.F. drug treatment programs offer help, but to overcome addiction, this needs to happen
Regarding 'He overdosed after being turned away by S.F. drug treatment center. Mother seeks answers' (Letters to the Editor, June 10): Carolyn Stueve-Martin must realize no mental health or drug treatment service could help her son Jonathan's addiction unless he truly desired to stop and had adequate support to commit to permanent change.
This means having a reason to live, a place to live and wanting an alternative lifestyle. It is not a third or fourth party's responsibility to prevent his death. It must be his support system, his capability to do so and his desire for such difficult change.
There are multiple services available in San Francisco that are compassionate to this need, much more so than most other cities (perhaps like Stueve-Martin's hometown of Tulsa, Okla.).
Where were family or hometown friends or many other potential opportunities for Jonathan to seek and receive addiction treatment and support?
I understand how grief-stricken a mother must be over the useless death of her son, but pointing the finger at San Francisco and looking for answers will not return her child nor change the fact that he was an addict who didn't seek, desire or find help sooner.
This major factor about addiction is so rarely discussed.
ME Harrington, San Francisco
Charge for parking
Regarding 'There will be consequences for S.F. Mayor Lurie if free parking in Golden Gate Park ends' (Letters to the Editor, June 9): I didn't vote for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, but I might now if he makes a tough economic decision that also helps the environment.
The most disgusting thing in the park is when cars choke its roads. It's insane when drivers come to the park looking for parking that just isn't there.
The letter writer calls paid parking a tax, but the real tax is the gas guzzling and idling done by motor vehicles. The economic impact of climate change will negatively hit us in a myriad of ways.
Why should cars be allowed to negatively affect the park? We need it as a bucolic retreat away from traffic jams.
More taxes won't help
Regarding 'Why can't anyone figure out how to save the San Francisco Centre? They're thinking too small' (Open Forum, June 5): William Fulton calls for yet another 'tax-increment zone,' yes, another city tax, to pay for transforming the San Francisco Centre into an urban gathering place. A better idea might be rezoning it for housing and retail.
The mall is a multistory building where luxury condos would bring in permanent residents who would patronize retail shops, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Instead of adding a new tax, give a tax exemption to the investor who converts the space. This might even bring some workers back to empty downtown San Francisco offices.
James Sandler, Pleasanton
Show their humanity
I read a story about federal immigration arrests in the Chronicle, but I didn't see anything about the poor souls who were grabbed.
President Donald Trump demonizes immigrants as 'murderers' and 'rapists' to obscure their humanity.
Immigrants are members of our communities, doing essential and often hard jobs like working in the fields, in restaurants, as child-care providers and as maids. Many have lived here for years, if not decades. They are people who care for us and whom we care about.
There is a counter to dehumanization. I encourage the Chronicle and other news media to tell these people's stories.
David Fairley, San Francisco
Great Valkyries coverage
As a reader who has complained in the past about the Chronicle's imbalanced focus on men's sports ('Cover women's sports,' Letters to the Editor, Oct. 21, 2021), I want to applaud the coverage of the Bay Area's new WNBA team, the Valkyries.
Marisa Ingemi's game reports, in particular, provide clear, technical overviews while her behind-the-scenes stories offer the kinds of insight that bring readers into the building process of this exciting young team.
