Friday’s Letters to the Editor

County office plans

EDITOR: I have a long history in supporting Santa Rosa’s downtown. When I moved to Santa Rosa in the mid-’80s I started my first business in the 700 block of Fourth Street. In the mid-’90s I was a member of the Downtown Partnership Committee and have leased commercial space downtown for over 25 years as a commercial real estate agent at Keegan and Coppin. I still support all efforts to create a vibrant downtown environment for our community.

Having said all that, and considering this county proposal, I believe it is well meaning but ill conceived (“County to move its offices downtown,” July 28). Currently there is an overabundance of downtown office space just languishing; 520 Mendocino, 50 Courthouse Square, the ATT building, Citicorp building, the entire second floor of the Wells Fargo building all come to mind just off the top of my head.

The most important issue here is creating affordable, convenient parking for the existing office spaces. We may be missing the forest through the trees by not addressing this problem right before us.

ANNETTE COOPER

Santa Rosa

DA’s leadership

EDITOR: I was fortunate enough to have worked directly for District Attorney Jill Ravitch and I know firsthand the office has thrived under her leadership. Well respected by her staff, she ensures justice is served, victims receive the services they need, and the guilty are held accountable. The Family Justice Center went from concept to reality under her leadership and has become the gold standard as a one-stop shop for victims of violent crimes.

The public spoke when they voted DA Ravitch into her third term (which she is currently serving) and she announced publicly, long before this recall, that this would be her last term in office. So, why would one man spend over a million dollars to recall someone with just over a year left in office? The answer is simple, revenge. We cannot allow a man who was angry that he was held accountable for leaving our most vulnerable population stranded during the Tubbs fire to use his money to control the politics of our county. Vote no on this recall and send the message loud and clear that money cannot buy our vote!

CINDY WILLIAMS

Santa Rosa

Alarming headline

EDITOR: I was alarmed by the headline “Vaccinated people pose threat” (July 30). By itself, the headline would seem to suggest that getting vaccinated can be dangerous to the patient and to those around him. By the time the reader gets to the fourth paragraph, he gets the real gist of the article: “People with so-called breakthrough infections — cases that occur despite full vaccination — of the delta variant may be just as contagious as unvaccinated people even if they have no symptoms.” So the rest of the article makes it clear that it is the virus which poses the threat, not the vaccinated people. But not everyone reads every article to the end, and the alarming headline by itself might provide support for those who hesitate to get vaccinated — a hesitation which we can’t afford to support at this time.

FLORENCE IRVINE

Santa Rosa

Water solutions

EDITOR: In the early 1970s while attending San Jose State University one of my professors talked about the fact that California is for all intents and purposes with little rainfall other than in the northern part of the state. In the 1970s there was already talk of droughts, but yet we have done very little to prepare for the future. While I am not a great believer in filling up land with water for reservoirs, our population continues to grow with little long range planning taking place for water needs. Solutions: reservoirs, water percolation ponds to keep the water table up, and desalination plants.

We are now seeing the shortsightedness of this inaction. We need to start planning now for the near future. We have clean water, as Healdsburg has demonstrated, to create short term reactions in the near future. What about the rest of the county, or for that matter the state? Are our heads going to be hidden in the sand like an ostrich? I hope not.

Our water crisis is somewhat like COVID... we need a vaccination of common sense to survive.

FRANCISCO ALVES

Healdsburg

Stereotyping dangers

EDITOR: Labeling and stereotyping groups of people is not only wrong, it is childish and exposes ignorance and oversimplification. That includes politicians, police and priests. There are undoubtedly too many unethical and even criminal members in each of these groups, but they are by far in the minority.

Each of these groups is greatly harmed by its code of silence when it comes to exposing and holding accountable those who are behaving in criminal or unethical ways. Each of these groups sorely need stronger conditions for entering. Hiring practices must rule out racists, sexual abusers, liars and the like.

Good and great politicians exist in all parties. Good and great police far outnumber the bad actors within police forces. Good and great clerics too are much more common than abusers. Labeling and stereotyping any group by race, ethnicity, creed, gender, disability or sexual orientation is always inappropriate and culturally harmful.

WILLIAM CAMPAGNA

Cotati

You can send letters to the editor at letters@pressdemocrat.com.