San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks on April 29 during a tour of the new RESET center to combat drug use. Some of people arrested for misdemeanor drug violations could skip jail and instead be taken to this new sheriff-led drug sobering center in SoMa.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The San Francisco Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation and Triage Center is “not a jail,” yet police officers are stationed there. People are brought to the sobering center by police, and though they could leave, they risk being rearrested and sent to jail.
What’s that saying? If it walks like a duck …
Money and political energy are being spent on unproven approaches to substance use while proven interventions like harm reduction services, mobile crisis units and prioritizing housing are on the chopping block statewide.
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If we do not address key drivers of problematic substance use — unaffordable housing, economic instability, food insecurity, interpersonal violence, childhood trauma, to name just a few — detention facilities like the San Francisco RESET Center might spread, selling us on institutional control thinly veiled as care and “not a jail.”
No AOC controversy
Regarding “He made noise as AOC’s chief of staff. Now her silence looms over his bid for Congress” (Politics, SFChronicle.com, May 4): Implying there is a controversy over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s lack of an endorsement for Saikat Chakrabarti’s bid for San Francisco’s congressional seat is a bit overdone.
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There is no mystery, and sometimes simple answers make more sense.
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AOC is reluctant to weigh in because she has to maintain some loyalty to the former speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who has endorsed progressive state Sen. Scott Wiener for the seat she is retiring from. Why would Ocasio-Cortez choose one progressive over another and go against Pelosi?
AOC’s effectiveness requires support from other Democrats who might not appreciate her going against Pelosi. And Chakrabarti has not worked with AOC for seven years. Why would she be expected to endorse him?
Uncivil rights movement
On Monday, the Supreme Court expedited its 6-3 conservative majority ruling that diminishes the Voting Rights Act on the request of a group of “non-African American” Louisiana voters. And this isn’t about race?
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Typically, there is a 32-day waiting period before sending such orders to the lower court. According to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the expediting of a ruling has occurred only twice in the past 25 years. This ruling also expedites racial gerrymandering by Republicans.
The Trump administration and the other branches of government have set back the progress in racial equality and race relations by at least six decades.
The campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion is a barely veiled effort to maintain and establish an even greater white superiority.
Of course, this is about race.
Mitchell Goldman, Richmond
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Disaster plan could work
Regarding “Endorsement: Insurance commissioner might be the toughest job in California. Patrick Wolff is up for it” (Editorials, SFChronicle.com, May 2): The editorial board is doing a disservice to readers with a cavalier assessment of the insurance crisis in California. It is quick to dismiss insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim’s proposal for a publicly managed disaster insurance program.
The board failed to note that we already have a publicly managed disaster insurance program that covers earthquakes, run by the California Earthquake Authority. Kim proposes extending this concept to other disasters, including wildfires.
Why is such an approach workable and economically manageable for earthquakes, but not for wildfires?
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Too many people
Regarding the Joel Pett political cartoon (Letters to the Editor, May 1): The cartoon about the population bomb floored and elated me.
Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.
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Discussing human overpopulation is a taboo and forbidden subject, despite its pressing importance and urgency.
Thank you for the intelligence and morality to publish this daring political cartoon. That’s what true journalism is about.