Sacramento Bee readers respond to proposed rooftop solar tax, homelessness measures
Shared tragedy
“Vacaville man is blind, homeless and schizophrenic. Why can’t California help him?” (sacbee.com, Aug. 14)
The lead story in Sunday’s paper is an echo of my own family’s life over the past 40 years. My brother had a similar head injury, except he fell from the top of a 30-foot ladder. The rest of our experience is the same as Mark Rippee’s family: No one could force him to take his medication. No one could force him into a group home where he could receive treatment. Other than the occasional “5150” psychiatric hold, the system failed him completely. We paid for everything we could, but we couldn’t get past the system.
He’s dead now. Hopefully he finally has some peace.
Bill Child
Fair Oaks
Not to be blamed
“Sacramento County supervisors make it illegal to be homeless,” (sacbee.com, Aug. 12)
I am a retiree and a homeowner, and I strongly object to being blamed by columnist Robin Epley for Sacramento’s homeless problems. My husband and I worked hard to provide for ourselves and our family; obeyed the law; paid our taxes; and performed community service. So now we are responsible for our “unhoused neighbors”?
The reality is that there is currently no solution to the problem. Sacramento leaders — and others — are forced to deflect the blame onto “screaming retirees.”
Janet Quesenberry
Elk Grove
Protect our sequoias
“Yosemite CA’s giant sequoias were saved by forest-thinning,” (sacbee.com, July 17).
The giant sequoia is a national treasure, but its range is shrinking. It is down from thousands of acres to small stands on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. These trees, some over a thousand years old, developed with periodic ground fire.
Efforts to exclude fire began around 1900 and have had serious unintended consequences. Trees that were historically fire-tolerant are now being killed by wildfire. When ground fire is excluded, white fir and cedar trees invade the site. These more flammable trees send wildfire into the sequoia crowns, killing the iconic organisms. An emergency exists. The National Park Service estimates that in the last six years, wildfire has killed 19% of the old, large sequoias.
We need viable prescribed fire programs before we lose these red giants.
Charles Philpot
U.S. Forest Service, retired
Sherwood, Ore.
Commit to housing
“Homeless policies that prioritize CA housing more effective,” (sacbee.com, Aug. 14)
Citing direct experience as well as study data, the authors highlight a successful model for addressing homelessness: Providing affordable housing with intensive social services right where individuals live. Getting individuals away from the streets and riverbanks’ dangerous and dehumanizing circumstances and into stable supportive housing is the answer.
The county and city’s attempts to simply push homeless individuals into nightly shelter spaces will not solve the problem. We must collectively commit to a more intensive — and, admittedly, more costly — approach by developing permanent supportive housing.
William Pavão
Sacramento
Walk the talk
“Biden signs massive climate and health care legislation,” (sacbee.com, Aug. 16)
President Joe Biden signed into law one of the most expensive bills to fight climate change that this country has seen in its history. In Biden’s bill is money dedicated to promoting and encouraging the production of green energy, in particular rooftop solar energy.
Newsom’s appointed commissioners on the California Public Utility Commission and special interests such as utilities are currently working on policies that would tax rooftop solar owners and reduce incentives for low- and middle-income homeowners to install rooftop solar to fight climate change. These policies do not align with the president’s plan to make us less dependent on fossil fuel and promote rooftop solar as an affordable option for all homeowners.
I hope that Newsom communicates to his commissioners that this is not California’s policy on affordable green energy.
Roger Bailey
El Dorado Hills
Do the right thing
“Biden signs massive climate and health care legislation,” (sacbee.com, Aug. 16)
Someone needs to tell the California Public Utilities Commission that the U.S. Senate just passed the Inflation Recovery Act, which sets aside $369 billion to reduce climate change, including tax credits for residential solar and battery storage. That’s right: The federal government is funding billions for climate change solutions, while the CPUC is proposing to add unnecessary solar taxes on new and existing residential solar customers.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s credibility will suffer if the CPUC approves this. Let’s end this charade perpetrated by the utilities to line their pockets by eliminating their only viable competition.
Newsom must block this solar tax and do the right thing to save our planet.
Rene Wise
Fremont
Profit over planet
“CA electricity grid eyes supplies as weather heats up,” (sacbee.com, Aug. 12)
According to this article, “state officials have warned that supplies remain tight and blackouts are possible this year. Drought is erasing much of California’s hydro power, putting a squeeze on supplies.” Meanwhile, giant utility companies are urging the California Public Utilities Commission to adopt changes that would make it harder and more expensive for homeowners and nonprofits to install rooftop solar.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is arguing for changes that would make it more difficult for families and nonprofits to afford solar. PG&E’s narrow view is driven by a profit motive rather than efforts to fight global warming.
Linda G. Bond
El Dorado Hills