Sacramento Bee readers react to Kaiser mental health services, Prop. 31, rail strike
Sacramento BeeSep 25, 2022
Don’t be fooled
“Sacramento CA ballot measure threatens light rail future,” (sacbee.com,
Measure A is not a true citizens’ initiative.
Don’t be fooled by the greenwashing of big business and developers who want to line their pockets with taxpayer dollars. Building new roads, interchanges and highways will just enable sprawl and further degrade air quality. We should be focusing on fixing existing roads and investing in effective public transit and active transportation projects.
No more excuses
“Sacramento’s homeless ‘snake pit’ is even harder for women,” (sacbee.com,
I retired from my 30 year career as a park ranger in 2008. I spent my days cleaning up the messes left by homeless people when they were moved from one place to another during “sweeps.” No permanent housing was available then, and it isn’t now.
There’s plenty of money for sports stadiums, soccer teams and farm-to-fork dining on the
Instead of temporary shelters, we need to build housing and services in our backyards. No more excuses or NIMBYism.
Kaiser’s failures
“How Kaiser patients had to fight to get mental health care,” (sacbee.com,
Trying to get care from Kaiser’s mental health section is pure hell, and getting adequate treatment seems impossible.
Your article profiled a mental health professional who ultimately prevailed with help from state officials. But finding and then navigating an entity that can help is a whole separate challenge, particularly for those who are ill and have been beaten down by Kaiser’s countless procedural hurdles.
Unfortunately, having been covered by Kaiser for decades, I notice other areas of deterioration: access to home health; access to medical equipment; access to procedures such as MRIs, PET scans and surgery; and wait times for procedures.
Kaiser was once held up as a health care model. Today, it desperately needs immediate and substantive remedial intervention. Lives depend on it.
Credit Biden
“Biden’s tight spot: a union backer out to avert rail strike,” (sacbee.com,
This is what I and most other Americans want to see from a president. Avoiding this railway strike was huge. I’m not sure people realize the devastating impact the strike would have had.
During the railway strike of 1992, at least we had a functional
Protect teens
“California Prop. 31 would ban flavored tobacco product sales,” (sacbee.com,
While kids should be protected by the
To truly protect our teens from addictive products with appealing flavors and their associated health impacts, we need to systematically remove flavored products from our communities.
The tobacco-company-funded no campaign has spent only
Remembering Fred
“Fred Franzia, wine leader and Two
I had the honor of knowing
Fred had close friendships throughout a very extensive national and international wine industry family. He was respected, and so was his company. I also knew him to be quietly and generously charitable. You couldn’t find a finer or more decent person.
Climate action
“Newsom signs environmental bills setting new targets, rules,” (sacbee.com,
I applaud the governor’s recent climate action — enlarging oil and gas setbacks from homes and schools, establishing clean energy targets and supporting decarbonization policy — and urge
This bill would codify environmental justice provisions into law to ensure that our new energy system leaves no one behind. Oil and gas facilities and power plants are more likely to be in communities of color and near low-income families, exposing them to hazardous air and water pollution. As a result, those communities are more likely to suffer from asthma, hypertension and other chronic diseases that are both progressive and generational. These are the same communities that are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.
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