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Despite effort, money,problems go unsolved

A review of the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury Report Summaries 2022-2023 is alarming in that it reports the failure of local governments to make progress in several areas.

Considerable money and effort have been poured into implementing progress in areas such as affordable housing, Concord Naval Weapons Station development and affordable housing with little or no results and often for many years. Why can’t these governments make more progress?

My sense is that voters are not demanding timely action and the governments have their own agendas of much less importance.

John AmosPleasant Hill

Oakland must solvepolice staffing problem

Re: “911 call dispatch suffers glitches” (Page A1, July 8).

As Oakland police union head Donelan states: “There’s no concern for public safety among the leadership of this city.”

The article notes Oakland recently reported average response times of 27 minutes to the most urgent 911 calls (more “normally,” 15-20 minutes).

In relation to crime level, Oakland has suffered from less police coverage than any other city in California for decades. Oakland reports a similar absolute level of crime as San Francisco, with twice the population (so half the crime “rate”). Yet San Francisco has two to three times the officers.

Report after report has warned Oakland needs 1,200 officers for a coverage level similar to the average city (or San Francisco). It peaked around 800 in 2006; now it’s 700.

The media ignores this. If we need state aid, let’s get it. We can’t anymore afford city government tied only to municipal unions and the Anti-Police Terror Project.

Steve KoppmanOakland

Education code callsfor end to junior rodeos

California Education Code 60042 mandates “the humane treatment of animals” shall be taught in schools. All animal welfare organizations condemn rodeo for its inherent cruelty.

How then to account for the growing number of Junior Rodeos (kids K-12) throughout California, especially during the summer months? Junior rodeos feature many blatantly cruel events, dangerous for kids and animals alike: mutton busting, calf and steer riding, calf roping, goat tying, chute dogging, pig “scrambles” and more.

These events send a terrible message to impressionable young children about the humane and proper treatment of animals — some would call it child abuse. They also serve as a breeding ground for future rodeo cowboys.

Local boards of education, school principals, teachers and humane educators everywhere need to hear from parents and the general public. Junior rodeos need to end. Obeying Education Code 60042 would be a good start.

Eric MillsCoordinator, Action for AnimalsOakland

Protecting books againstAI requires new rules

Re: “Sarah Silverman and novelists sue Bay Area Tech firms over AI capture” (Page A1, July 11).

Suppose I were to read a highly acclaimed book and take notes about its stylistic choices.

Suppose I write a new book on a totally different topic using the stylistic points I noted. Would publishing the totally different book violate copyright?

Surely not — it’s totally different.

This is the same situation that the novelists’ case addresses. The publishing industry might decide to protect books that are used as AI training data. If so, they need to devise and implement a new methodology, different from copyright.

Jay IsraelBrentwood

Court rulings seem basedon alternative Constitution

Re: “Court rewrote law to stop student loan forgiveness” (Page A7, July 6).

When a Republican spokesman made false statements regarding Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, Kellyanne Conway stated that the statements were true because the GOP had “alternative facts.”

After the 2020 election, Republicans perpetuated the Big Lie and claimed that Trump had won and the presidency had been stolen from him.

Now the Supreme Court has struck down the student loan forgiveness program. UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky explains, “a federal statute … explicitly authorizes the secretary of education to ‘waive or modify’ student loan obligations. That is exactly what President Biden did.”

One wonders if today this conservative Supreme Court, under Chief Justice John Roberts, is ruling from alternative federal statutes and an alternative Constitution.

Jeanne KinkellaSan Leandro

High court’s ruling opensdoor to discrimination

The conservative majority of the United States Supreme Court, in the 6-3 decision of 303 Creative v. Elenis, rules that a Colorado designer can deny services to same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs.

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It is not surprising since the designer’s ancestors invaded this country more than 500 years ago to escape religious persecution in Europe. However in 1600s New England, for example, these Christian nationalists massacred the Pequot people because the Pequots would not convert to Christianity.

The court decision on the Creative case will allow business owners to use their religious freedom to deny services to anyone including interracial couples who do not fit their beliefs.

Billy Trice Jr.Oakland