Advice: Get an ID
Can someone please enlighten me as to why having an ID shouldn’t be required by law (“Sneak Attack,” Oct. 31)? In the majority of countries around the world, a valid ID is required to participate in all government programs, to vote and to receive government welfare. I’ll give the 93-year-old adopted lady who lost her purse a break, but why are so many young people, whatever their ethnicity, race and economic background, without a valid ID? I’ll tell you the biggest reason: because they don’t make it down to the DMV. Yes, it was a sneak attack by the right for this election, and, yes, it screwed a lot of people out of voting, but go get an ID already. You should have done it when they told us about the law six months ago.
Santa Rosa
Dividing Lines
Stop spreading the hate and division (“How We Represent,” Oct. 31). “If minorities are already well-represented in Santa Rosa, then why can’t parents in the city’s most predominantly Latino neighborhood get a simple crosswalk painted on the road in front of their children’s school?” Replace the word “minority” with “white,” and you’ll see the stupidity of your ideas. Is there some reason the parents can’t lay two boards down and spray white paint between them to make a solid white line, then pick the boards up and move them five feet and repeat it again? That’s what we did at our school in a white neighborhood.
As a native of San Francisco, now here, I have seen district elections make San Francisco a laughingstock and a place where not only is there no consensus but you have the most corrosive parochialism at work. “This is a black district,” “This is a white district,” and this district is “reserved for a Latino.”
Via online
Copter Nights
I live in Roseland, and the new elementary school, Roseland Creek, has a nice bike path all the way through the west side—so it’s perplexing that the other school can’t get a crosswalk painted (“How We Represent,” Oct. 31). One thing I’ve noticed since moving here from Marin County is that helicopters fly over our side of the city almost nonstop. Lots of times they fly low, with searchlights, and really disturb the peace. What is up with them polluting our airspace with noise, and cops constantly up and down the streets? They should allow us a district representative, because they sure see Roseland as an area in their jurisdiction. When it comes to cracking down, they’re all over Roseland. Sure, we have our share of crime, but after four years here, what I see is hardworking families like ourselves, just trying to make a good life for our kids in Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa
Blood Quarrel
The family Mr. Sarris claims to be his has, according to the matriarch of the family Velia Navarro, no Native American blood at all (“Chairman Sarris,” Oct. 31). He is not an Indian. The stories Mr. Sarris has told about Ms. Navarro’s family, including her beloved great grandmother and grandmother, are patently untrue and deeply offensive to the family.
The casino project is an environmental catastrophe, which no amount of money will be able to put right. It has destroyed sensitive vernal wetlands habitat and the genetically unique Sonoma County tiger salamanders unfortunate enough to live on the casino footprint site. No other developer would have been able to build on this land, which was set aside as critical habitat for the salamander before casino construction began.
No payments to the county will be made until 2014, if at all, as the tribe does not have to pay if it does not make enough profit. The tribe does not have to allow independent audits, including those by state officials, to determine if it has made enough profit. These are all facts, and all verifiable.
Stop the 101 Casino Coalition
Time for Sharing
I love Yerdle and I love giving and getting something and sharing (“Share Alike,” Oct. 31). The Sharing Economy is a tsunami that is rising under our feet. Generation X-ers are not buying cars; they are sharing cars. This is the way to transform our consumptive culture to a collaborative culture. As Van Jones said, “The emerging shareable economy has the potential to create a new American model—one in which everyday Americans have access to additional sources of revenue, savings and new career opportunities.”
Santa Rosa
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