Guest Commentary

Kathay Feng, California Common Cause: We are in a time when there are so many people who seek to sow divisions among Americans. I’m looking for the presidential candidate who presents a vision for how people can find common ground through uncommon solutions to create a democracy that works for all of us.

Horacio Amezquita, general manager of San Jerardo housing cooperative in Salinas: Since 1990, the people of San Jerardo have drilled one well after another, only to see each closed as a result of agricultural contamination including nitrates and pesticides. Our children and our elders have develop painful rashes as a result. We worry about other health impacts from this stew of contaminants.

Robert Lempert, RAND Corporation: As California and our nation head into uncharted territory due to climate change, all of us will need to learn how to adjust in response to changing risks. We will all need to become more adaptive by acting, learning, and responding. To survive our changing climate, we will need to understand that even what looks familiar no longer is.

Joel John Roberts, PATH and PATH Ventures: We need to respond to homelessness like it is a natural disaster. That means not building a limited number of permanent buildings for shelters, but setting up enough temporary structures immediately, perhaps on county and city property, to get people off the streets now. A half a million-dollar studio apartment for one homeless person feels like a design-by-committee solution.

Marcie Frost, chief executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System: CalPERS is using its voice, shareowner votes, and investment dollars to minimize climate risk to our portfolio and investments while teaming up with others to ensure we see action, not just words.

Re “California is a wondrous place. I’m leaving,” Dec. 15, 2019: California’s history is full of people like Andrew Malcolm. They come expecting California to live up to some Hollywood ideal; they leave disappointed.  California is a real place. We have real wonders and real ugliness. Accepting any place as your life home requires a […]

Andrew Malcolm: California is a special place. I've lived here by choice twice, nearly a quarter-century in total. I have no regrets about living here. And I don't regret leaving here. As the neighbor said, "California's not the same anymore."

Dane Strother, Sacramento-based Democratic strategist: I moved to California to learn. I’m here to watch. I’m here to work. I’m slowly not adding three hours every time I check the time. I’m grudgingly waiting for the walk sign. I have one professional chapter left to write in life and the new drawings on the Etch-A-Sketch are of new friends and a place I believe in.

Erica Costa, former Assembly Fellow: Differences between Republicans and Democrats permeate much of what occurs in the Capitol. But the California’s Assembly Fellowship Program can prepare people for meaningful careers in a highly charged partisan atmosphere, regardless of their party affiliation.

Austin Brown and Dan Sperling, UC Davis: Imposing fees on electric vehicles in California could reduce their sales by 10–24%. The result would be a small increase in transportation funding would come at the expense of the long-term benefits that electric vehicles deliver for individuals and for society. The upshot is that imposing new fees won’t solve our transportation problems. It will only make them worse.