Letters: Real estate transaction | For-profit rodeo

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Howard Terminal plans on real estate

The Howard Terminal stadium deal isn’t about keeping the A’s baseball club in Oakland. This is a pure and simple real estate transaction.

The owners of the A’s are holding the last ball team hostage in exchange for their own privatized luxury village enclave and skyscrapers, on land currently fully used by the Port of Oakland.

The often chanted slogan “Bigger than Baseball” correctly identifies the ruse leveraging the ballpark for a gigantic real estate fat shot. In the words of Oakland City Councilman Loren Taylor, “I see Howard Terminal as a real estate transaction. Only 10% have to do with a baseball stadium.

The Oakland City Council must separate and remove the Fischer Luxury Village from the ballpark. Then see if the owners still want to keep the A’s in Oakland.

Cynthia Billings-RoanOakland

Rodeo events are for profit, not history

Subject: “Proposed Wild Cow Milking Ban Threatens Rodeos,” page A1, August 14, and “Animal Rights Advocates Are Asking Too Much,” page A6, August 19)

The writer seems disconnected from reality. She cites a four-year-old 2018 Gallup poll indicating that only 5% of Americans are vegetarians. This percentage is increasing rapidly every year.

Nor does she realize that the majority of the meat consumers buy today comes from factory farms. Most hamburgers come from exhausted dairy cows that can no longer produce milk. There is no “rope and riding, bronco breaking” or wild cow milking, or the need for bucking straps on factory farms. And while its purpose is to preserve the skills of herders of the past, there has never been the milking of feral cows or the need for bucking straps included in herding duties.

These events featured at a rodeo today are used for entertainment and profit only.

Kathy GlesonConcorde

Prop. 30 will hunt more taxpayers

Re. “California Loses Vital High Income Taxpayers”, page A12, August 21:

As the old saying goes, and as Dan Walters rightly noted in a recent column, the more you tax something, the less you get. For California, that means fewer high-income earners who contribute the bulk of the state’s discretionary income. Some are leaving, spurred in large part by California’s highest income tax rates. And it will only get worse with Proposition 30, a disastrous move in the November ballot that would push taxes on the wealthy even further.

Ride-sharing company Lyft is pushing Proposition 30 forward in a cynical, self-serving campaign that won’t benefit Californians and will only hurt our competitiveness. With a record budget, a big surplus and massive reserves, California doesn’t need tax hikes. What we need are solutions to issues like housing, homelessness, and crime that are shrinking our population, hurting low-income and vulnerable populations, and reducing economic opportunity. Voters should reject Proposition 30.

Jim Wundermannice hill

Congress Should Reinstate Expanded Child Tax Credit

As Americans file their taxes, it’s important to remember how important the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) has been for children and families.

According to a study by the Brookings Institution, the changes made to the CTC in 2021 have had a profound impact. Child poverty has fallen by 40%. CLC recipients led healthier lives, invested more in their children’s education, and were less likely to rely on payday loans. Families spent their CTC payments on their children’s rent, food and clothing – the same costs rising for all of us.

But some lawmakers have halted an extension of CTC payments. As a result, 3.7 million children fell below the poverty line in January. And 1.4 million CLC households quit their jobs because they can no longer afford childcare.

I call on Congress to expand the CTC with permanent full refundability and resume monthly payments immediately.

John OdaSan Francisco

To fight inflation, lower taxes, vote Conservative

When you vote in November, remember which party passed the so-called Cut Inflation Act that increases government spending and tax breaks by $485 billion. History tells us that the exact opposite is what government should do to reduce inflation.

If you’re tired of paying high gas and food prices, vote for a Conservative who will cut public spending and lower your taxes.

James TaskerMoraga

With democracy at stake, vote democrat

The differences between the Democratic and Republican parties are becoming clearer every day.

Republicans want to push the negatives, with sweeping statements such as “We’ve gone astray.” They keep pretending the sky is falling. But the reality is that they have no positive solutions to improve or fix anything. “Reducing the federal debt” or “cutting taxes” will not result in any positive change for the average American. In fact, such talks will likely lead to further attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

On the other hand, Democrats passed the Cut Inflation Act, which adds thousands of new IRS agents, who will seek out the annual $1 trillion “tax mess” from those who don’t pay the taxes they should. Democrats also stress that “democracy is on the ballot.”

The best choice in November will be to vote for the Democrats.

George FulmoreEmeryville

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