Latest news with #SaraLibby
San Francisco Chronicle
20-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Scapegoating cities won't solve California's housing crisis
Regarding 'This rich beachfront city is trying to launch an anti-housing insurgency in California' (Opinion, May 17): Sara Libby's portrayal of Encinitas as a wealthy, heartless enclave waging an 'anti-housing insurgency' is false, inflammatory and intellectually lazy. Encinitas is not some gilded fortress. It's a community of working families, retirees, renters, duplexes, mobile homes and apartments — hardly the caricature Libby paints. Property values have risen, but like everywhere along the California coast, that's an economic trend, not a municipal conspiracy. To mock the city's support for a ballot measure restoring local planning authority as a 'tantrum' is insulting. Questioning Sacramento's increasingly coercive mandates isn't selfish, it's a defense of democratic governance and local context. Encinitas has followed the law, updated its housing element and approved projects. That doesn't fit Libby's narrative, so she ignores it. The state's housing failures won't be solved by scapegoating thoughtful communities or silencing dissent. Encinitas isn't the villain here — ideologues and lazy journalism are. Mike Lewis, Encinitas, San Diego County Ethnic studies is worthy Regarding 'California's ethnic studies mandate is dead. It was never really alive to begin with' (Open Forum, May 15): Justin Ray's op-ed about the failure of California's ethnic studies mandate felt like a eulogy for a course that never had a chance. But I don't think it's the mandate itself that failed. I think we failed to defend it. California lawmakers passed a requirement with no teeth. School districts were told to teach 'ethnic studies,' but not what that meant or how to do it well. Educators were given no mandatory training. No protected funding. No guardrails. That isn't just poor planning. It's sabotage dressed up like reform. This approach lets everyone feel like something good happened while ensuring nothing actually changes. It's political performance art. A real ethnic studies course doesn't just show students different skin tones in textbooks. It teaches them how power works, how history is written and how stories are erased. And how people resist. It teaches students that the world was built by someone — and that they have a right to remake it. Ethnic studies is not about shame. It's about accuracy. It doesn't make white students feel guilty. It makes all students feel informed. Which is kind of the point of school. Jesse MacKinnon, Pleasant Hill Build affordable housing Regarding 'Controversial S.F. housing project in the Mission gets green light despite resistance' (San Francisco, May 16): Why should a landlord be rewarded for his intransigence and failure to abide by the public interest? Less than 20 of the 181 units proposed for the 22nd and Mission streets site would be below market rate, despite San Francisco's desperate need for more. The city should show some guts and use eminent domain to take the property over. David Fairley, San Francisco Don't tax Big Tech Regarding 'Big Tech harms kids and local news. California needs to hit it with an impact tax' (Open Forum, May 18): No, California does not need to hit anything with a 'tiny tax' that will ultimately drive away more businesses from our state. While I agree that tech can lead to mental health problems in children, I disagree that taxing tech companies is how we solve this. If anything, tax the user — that's what we do with cigarettes and sugary drinks. The authors claim that data collection by Big Tech is driving away advertising dollars and killing local news outlets. My husband was a staff photographer for the now-defunct San Mateo County Times, and I can say with authority that the economic recession of 2008 killed many local newspapers — that was caused by predatory mortgage lending, not tech companies taking away advertising dollars. Cassandra Palo, San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle
13-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: How stressed moms with schoolchildren can relax and help their kids
Regarding 'Sunday is Mother's Day. The rest of May is pure hell for moms like me' (Opinion, May 10): I read Sara Libby's column with one eyebrow raised as the parent of a second-grader at a school that receives federal funding for low-income students and has no PTA. One of the things I most appreciate about being part of a socioeconomically diverse school community is that I am not subjected to the expectations that surround upper-middle-class parenting. My son's school celebrates many of the May rituals that Libby mentions (spirit week, teacher appreciation), but it feels relaxed. There is an understanding that many families have larger concerns, and we show up for our kids when we can. This year, I worked on the fifth-grade yearbook, but I skipped teacher appreciation and left spirit week up to my kid. I put boundaries around commitments because I know that my child will benefit more from having a relaxed mom than from winning the costume contest. I encourage Libby and other highly involved mothers to set similar boundaries to create a culture that is more livable and more inclusive. So, please skip the school camping trip and use your newfound free time to advocate for fully staffed public schools. Lizzy Brooks, San Francisco Building codes serve purpose Regarding 'Despite good experience, S.F.'s building department is still problem-plagued. Here's a fix' (Letters to the Editor, May 9): Letter writer's Stan Barnett's well-intended suggestion that San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie 'create a task force' to reduce the city's building codes is misplaced. Likewise is his view of 'decades of lawmakers layering on requirement after requirement.' The California Building Standards Commission oversees changes in state codes. But changes are only made for good reasons and without decreasing safety, not simply to cut back the code. That said, as a practicing architect for almost 40 years, also involved in national model code development for the past 15 years, I fully support reducing the size of building codes. Brainstorming in the building community is happening informally, but it's not an easy task, and there are few, if any, 'obsolete codes' as Barnett suggests. In the meantime, San Francisco can streamline the planning and permitting approval processes, though that is tied to staff size, which is tied to the city's budget and competing priorities. Martin Hammer, Berkeley Provide context Regarding 'Kennedy Center director blasts 'Les Miz' cast as 'vapid and intolerant' over Trump boycott' (Arts & Entertainment, May 8): The story twice cites President Donald Trump's appointed ideologue, Kennedy Center Director Richard Grenell, insisting that boycotting the center is an attack on its patrons. This is from the man who axed the entire leadership of the Kennedy Center, then canceled programs that don't adhere to the anti-gay, racist, anti-history, anti-immigrant, anti-human rights and anti-dissent agenda of the imperator in chief. Though many recognize the hypocrisy of this phony self-righteousness, there is another level. The distortion of language, creating fake victimization, exemplifies how fascism gains adherents in the working class. Grenell uses rightist 'cancel culture' ideology, a fascist idea. Attacking those who boycott against racist, cruel and inhuman agendas, whether here or over the Israel-Gaza conflict, turns the meaning of language upside down. Journalists have a responsibility to go beyond highlighting the disinformation. Show us how language is distorted to attack our rights and, in this case, our national culture. Marc Sapir, Berkeley Fund the arts The Trump administration does not feel these local productions reflect American values. So, I say to these big donors, whether it be $20,000 or $40,000, this is just a drop in the bucket for you. Support the arts. Oppose censorship. Marla Blanchard, San Francisco
