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The Trader Joe\u2019s in Oakland\u2019s Rockridge neighborhood could close for the construction of two senior housing towers at the site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dan Hernandez\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Regarding \u201c\u2018Hands off my Trader Joe\u2019s\u2019: Oakland neighborhood reels from plan to replace store with housing\u201d<\/a> (East Bay, SFChronicle.com, April 22): Contrary to what the spokesperson for developer Align Real Estate had the nerve to say, I think many \u201cretirees and empty nesters\u201d would be happy to own their homes and remain in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n Would retirees and empty nesters be guaranteed a unit in the proposed senior housing<\/a>? And do they really want to be in the towers\u00a0\u2014 one of which is proposed for 31 stories.<\/p>\n I also wonder why Trader Joe\u2019s has to be torn down. Why can\u2019t the developer design something that incorporates the store? Removing it takes away the neighborhood\u2019s grocery store.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n I don\u2019t live in Rockridge, but anyone familiar with the area knows it is predominantly one-story and two-story buildings. A couple of towers would be totally out of place.<\/p>\n A one-story Trader Joe\u2019s store and its sprawling parking lot could become a pair of towers that would house a 415-unit senior living campus in Oakland\u2019s Rockridge neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n SCB Architects<\/p>\n What big cities need<\/p>\n Regarding \u201c\u2018Hands off my Trader Joe\u2019s\u2019: Oakland neighborhood reels from plan to replace store with housing\u201d<\/a> (East Bay, SFChronicle.com, April 22): The plan for two senior housing towers<\/a> in Oakland\u2019s Rockridge neighborhood is what the city, region and the state need.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n More people need to live in denser housing near public transit, jobs, medical facilities and shopping areas. With energy shortages and higher gas prices, the days of two-hour commutes to the distant suburbs are over, and the urban centers are back.\u00a0<\/p>\n That means high-rise residential construction, as in downtown Berkeley, will be more the norm in other cities and vibrant neighborhoods like Rockridge.<\/p>\n Sceptics, like the woman in the story who said, \u201cThey\u2019re trying to make it a big city, and we don\u2019t want it,\u201d should look at Oakland\u2019s population: It\u2019s about 440,000, which ranks it as roughly the 45th-largest city in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n No comparison to Holocaust<\/p>\n Regarding Joel Pett\u2019s political cartoon<\/a> (Letters to the Editor, April 27): Comparing America\u2019s immigration enforcement to the Holocaust is a historical error.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Shoah was the industrialized extermination of 6 million Jews\u00a0\u2014 the culmination of over 1,000 years of European antisemitism, made possible only by a totalitarian state with no independent courts, no free press and no democratic opposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nazi Germany required the willing collaboration of occupied nations across Europe. None of those conditions exists today in the U.S.<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies are harsh, and most Americans rightly find them cruel and un-American. But cruelty is not genocide. We still have federal judges blocking executive overreach, a free press documenting abuses and elections ahead. Our democracy is weakened but intact.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cheap Holocaust analogies don\u2019t strengthen the case against these policies\u00a0\u2014 they weaken it and dishonor those who perished in a darkness that had no such safeguards.<\/p>\n Ronald Albucher, San Francisco<\/p>\n Sunset Dunes underutilized<\/p>\n Regarding \u201cS.F.\u2019s Sunset Dunes celebrates a year of car-free fun amid push to reverse course<\/a>\u201d (San Francisco, SFChronicle.com, April 26): As a 25-year resident of the Sunset District, I understand that many people are enjoying Sunset Dunes park, but they enjoy it on the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you go to the park during the middle of the week, few people are using it, and that is when commuters need to use it as a road. The most reasonable solution is to close it to traffic only on the weekends.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Compromise is not a bad thing, especially in this case.<\/p>\n Adam Michels, San Francisco<\/p>\n Action louder than words<\/p>\n I don\u2019t believe political rhetoric is what drove the suspect in the apparent assassination attempt<\/a> on President Donald Trump; it was the actions of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n