Sunday’s Letters to the Editor

Funding firefighters

EDITOR: With the record number of fires in and around Sonoma County, shouldn’t we concentrate on passing tax measures that would increase funding to our fire departments? We throw tons of money into utopian-minded projects like SMART rail and trying to solve social issues without taking into account the years of fires that have led up to this year’s record-breakers.

The firefighters are both undermanned and underequipped to deal with this new normal with the funding they have. Instead of the heaps of praise they get and deserve, I’m sure they would appreciate us properly funding them for the heroic tasks they perform.

JORDON BERKOVE

Guerneville

Follow your values

EDITOR: Practicing Jews all over the world observed Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, from sundown last Sunday to sundown Monday. I am a cultural Jew and feel strongly that reflecting on one’s transgressions — and the desire to make amends — should be a daily practice.

Socrates is credited with saying that an unexamined life is not worth living, and it falls to all of us to examine our thoughts, words and deeds constantly. I quite simply ask my fellow patriotic voters to examine and be led by your personal code of conduct — the morals and ethics you were taught and the values you teach your children — when you cast your vote in November for the next president of the United States.

NANCI ADAMS

Santa Rosa

Hard to get tests

EDITOR: I am sheltering a friend who evacuated from his Oakmont home because of the Glass and Shady fires. Since he recently visited friends in San Francisco, we thought it a good idea for him to get a COVID-19 test. After spending over an hour online and on the phone, I have determined that it is totally impractical to get tested here in Sonoma County.

The earliest appointment available was five days away, and the results wouldn’t be available for almost a week thereafter. We might as well wait two weeks to see whether he or I develop symptoms.

It has now been over six months since we began practicing restrictions to combat the virus. For all the blather the Sonoma County Health Services Department spews out about testing, they have, as yet, evidently not actually developed a practical method of delivering and administering such tests.

Unfortunately, the complete inadequacy of our public health systems exposed by the virus appears to include the federal, state and county governments. Your tax dollars at work … or not.

DOUG YULE

Sebastopol

Small business at risk

EDITOR: I wanted to follow up on Steve Olson’s letter detailing why Proposition 15, the split-roll initiative, is bad for Sonoma County agriculture (“Split-roll debacle,” Sept. 22).

It is also bad for small businesses. The pro-Prop. 15 literature would have you believe that this initiative is about making big corporations and greedy landlords pay their fair share of real estate taxes. I saw a social media advertisement that said “small businesses are protected.” That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Most retail, restaurant and some office tenants have signed triple-net leases. That means rent and taxes are paid separately. The rent is fixed by the lease, but the taxes are passed through to the tenant. Big landlords and real estate investment trusts won’t be paying these increases. They will pass on the entire amount to small businesses.

Please don’t be deceived by misleading ads that would have you believe the cost of this will be picked up solely by California’s largest corporations. The vast majority of these increases will be paid by your favorite local retailers, who are in no position to be saddled with higher expenses, particularly now as they try to keep their businesses alive during the coronavirus epidemic.

JOHN WITHERS

Santa Rosa

Still a golden state

EDITOR: I was disturbed to read the recent letter regurgitating Fox News talking points about California and San Francisco (“Bidding farewell,” Letters, Sept. 25). The letter included observations like “San Francisco (has) streets littered with feces, needles and garbage.” I walk around San Francisco for three to four hours every Wednesday, and I don’t see any of that. The city does, unfortunately, have a large homeless population. But so does Sonoma County.

San Francisco is still full of interesting neighborhoods, diverse architecture and small non-chain stores. There’s nothing like the Filbert Steps in Petaluma, just to pick one example, and they are as much fun to descend as they ever were.

Unless Donald Trump has his way, California will always remain beautiful. I consider our Golden State easily worth our slightly higher taxes, and I am always grateful for our environmentally sensitive regulations.

CHARLES WAGNER

Guerneville

Law and order

EDITOR: Law and Order is a concept that works out perfectly for presidents who find laws inconvenient. They cannot be prosecuted while they are in office, and the felons who work for them can simply be pardoned.

STEPHEN HAWKES

Healdsburg

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