MMWD should begin expanding reservoirs now For decades, the Marin Municipal Water District has researched ways to expand its water supply. The efforts of this research have included (among other topics) pitches to expand current storage facilities; the pros and cons of acquiring or increasing the amount of water purchased from nearby counties; and the feasibility of developing a Marin County desalination plant. The apparent product of this research is that there is no consensus on the best way forward.
Sadly, no significant MMWD projects — neither long-term, nor short-term — have begun. This taxpayer-funded research has resulted in years of unproductive, elapsed time that has ignored an old Marin County adage: The water shortfall problem in Marin is typically one of inadequate water capture rather than insufficient rainfall. In other words, the rain that now drains annually into the Pacific Ocean from Marin could be captured and stored in our own reservoirs if they were expanded.
MMWD leaders have, for decades, relied on consumer conservation to meet the county’s growing need for water. In the last election, voters replaced several members of the board’s “conservation club” with people who professed that water policy action might be possible. They were elected and residents have been patient.
A short-term MMWD tactic was recently previewed in the IJ (“Marin Municipal Water District develops conservation playbook,” May 5). I took it to mean that we are to pretend, in the winter of 2024, that we are in a drought and use the county’s water according to drought-year guidelines. Instead, I suggest that the expansion of existing Marin reservoirs begin now.
Then let them fill up to the spillways. There is no less expensive, faster and more commonsense way to develop a secure Marin water supply than using what MMWD already owns and operates. — Norma Rusbar, Mill Valley San Rafael should vote no on library foundation plan I am writing in support of the Carnegie Library along San Rafael’s cultural corridor.
Keep the Carnegie intact, reject the library foundation’s property tax bond (“San Rafael measure for new library, community center headed to ballot,” June 5). I think the plan will abandon the Carnegie. As an alternative, I support a plan from local architect Ron Kappe to render a new elevation for an updated addition to the original reading room.
His new design differs from the 2011 modern facade by continuing the design elements of the original reading room and serves the square footage recommendations of the city financed needs assessment. I am concerned that, if the library moves out of the Carnegie building, there will be no well-reasoned or appropriate economic reuse offered. If the city or the foundation have a good plan, I think they should state it.
Ultimately, this is about location. Choose to improve the library that we have by voting no on the unnamed 30-year property tax bond in November. An unbiased and fresh needs assessment is necessary.
The last one is seven years old and incomplete. What offends me the most is the San Rafael Public Library Foundation’s depressing lack of imagination. No one should blame the classic building itself for clumsy old remodels.
The Carnegie has maintenance-related issues and city officials should have fixed them decades ago. This is going to be a beauty contest. Choose beauty; keep the Carnegie.
— Brad Sears, San Rafael Powerful e-bikes make hills less of an issue I read the recent letter in support of opening Alto Tunnel to cyclists and pedestrians by Robert Jupe with interest. I think Jupe, who advocates for opening the tunnel, actually concludes his letter by accidentally presenting an argument against the need for the Alto Tunnel. He does so by mentioning his electric-assist bicycle.
In my view, the advent of e-bikes shoves the incredibly expensive reopening of the Alto Tunnel between Corte Madera and Mill Valley off the priority list for Marin County. This new technology makes it possible for any rider to easily make it over the Camino Alto and Horse Hill grades. If Corte Madera provides its half of a bike lane over Camino Alto hill, bicyclists will have two excellent routes to Mill Valley.
I’m quite certain that the addition of a bike lane will cost a fraction of what it would take to do the tunnel, and in half the time. Unfortunate as it may be, we just don’t have the money for every nice project. — Michael Sillman, Larkspur Joe Biden’s record deserves our respect It seems like people are forgetting very quickly how much President Joe Biden did over the course of his career for our country.
Biden, an honorable, intelligent, respectful and decent man stepped into the presidency at a critical time when so many issues needed to be taken care of. First and foremost, he brought the U.S.
through the COVID-19 pandemic. I think the previous president was more interested in winning another term as president than seeing that all the American people receive the critical vaccine. This is a very sad time.
I find it unacceptable that many, including fellow politicians, feel emboldened to publicly make derogatory statements regarding Biden’s decline. I personally want to thank him for all he has accomplished in the last four years. As a senior citizen, it’s hard enough to accept and face the changes in our lives.
Biden deserves your respect and appreciation. Our country is facing a very critical time. We are being threatened to lose benefits that belong to us.
We either earned or paid into these programs. Among them are Social Security, Medicare, Medi-Cal, veterans’ benefits and the Affordable Care Act. Not all U.
S. citizens are fortunate to be able to afford medical care. For many years the U.
S. government has acknowledged and supported those in need. These benefits and more must continue.
We must all support and vote for the Democratic presidential nominee no matter if you are a registered Republican or Democrat. We need to preserve and support all the people in our country. — Jacqueline Louis, Greenbrae With core values intact, divergent views are OK As the election approaches, the thing that troubles me most about former President Donald Trump’s credo, as I perceive it, is not as much the substantive positions — there always has been a push and pull between the platforms of the two parties, with the pendulum swinging one way and then another over the decades.
It’s his willingness to abandon core values that have made the pendulum process possible. For Trump, his ends always seem to justify his means — even if it isn’t truthful. He appears to have no respect for differing views.
Those who see things differently are often called enemies. Civility and cooperation seem to have no role. Additionally, Trump appears to believe that he can never be too angry or too cruel.
For the first time (except from the fringes), violence is now seen by some as a seemingly acceptable instrument of political change. The republic is not troubled at all by the tension of divergent policy views and, if functioning properly, encourages it. But if we agree to jettison core values that have made the republic possible for 250 years, we are in for a rough ride.
— Ben Ballard, Sausalito Dark, pessimistic views are now a political reality I totally get that I live in a “blue bubble” where Democrats run the state Legislature. But I am a realist too, so I ground myself very frequently. I worry that people who have a dark, pessimistic view of America are ascendant.
They have convinced a large swath that their questionable views are reality. I think that former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, had a vision of America that is the absolute opposite of what the Republican Party and its supporters have become. It’s sad to witness.
— Murari Desai, San Rafael.
