Parks employees in Marin deserve our appreciation

I want to take a moment to salute the work of Marin County Parks employees who are diligently maintaining and improving our parks and open spaces.

I know it because I see it. Over the past several years, as I’ve walked hundreds of miles in county open space preserves, I’ve observed not just flashy new trail signs, but significant improvements in trail maintenance and construction.

Recently, for example, my wife and I circumnavigated Terra Linda by walking the 8.5-mile ridge loop, made much more pleasant with the recent construction and upgrading of the Eagle Rock and Jameson trails that connect to the Ridgewood Fire Road and other trails in the Terra Linda/Sleepy Hollow Preserve above Santa Margarita Valley.

Elsewhere, workers had mowed the tall grasses to keep the trails clear, and herds of goats were doing their thing as well, keeping the weeds down and helping prevent wildfire.

I assume much if not all this work has been funded by Measure A sales tax revenue. That’s money well spent, in my opinion.

Kudos to those local government employees who are seldom recognized, or worse, disrespected. The quiet, competent work you do is noticed and appreciated by many of us.

— Robert Sterling, Terra Linda

Richmond Bridge rally puts spotlight on issue

The idea of preserving the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge’s westbound third lane for what I consider a tiny handful of weekend recreational cyclists is neither environmentally sound nor fiscally responsible. The recent protest in support of restoring the westbound vehicle lane reflects growing public frustration (“Demonstrators rally for Richmond-San Rafael Bridge lane,” May 15).

Protesters rightly called out the ongoing waste of taxpayer dollars on a failed experiment. Their message is clear: End the delay. It’s time to put Marin-bound commuters first.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition continues to claim that reopening the lane to traffic would increase greenhouse gas emissions. I consider this to be ideology masquerading as fact. I expect that reopening the lane will reduce stop-and-go congestion and help the environment by cutting the number of idling cars and improving traffic flow.

This bike lane experiment has been a costly failure, as I predicted. It did nothing to reduce congestion, as promoted, or meaningfully improve regional bike connectivity. Taxpayers funded an expensive project that benefits very few, while leaving thousands of daily commuters stuck in long, unnecessary delays.

Three lanes are already working as intended in the eastbound direction. With modest infrastructure improvements, a third westbound lane would similarly relieve traffic backups.

Maintaining the bike lane, even just on weekends, is an absurd and unjustifiable use of public funds. Let’s acknowledge the obvious. The priority should be helping working commuters, not preserving a recreational amenity that fails every reasonable cost-benefit test.

Let’s stand with these workers and let common sense prevail: Restore the westbound traffic lane permanently.

— Larry Minikes, San Rafael

No need to plant doubt in ability to hold elections

I am writing in response to the letter by Francis Drouillard published May 11. From my perspective, Drouillard seems to be accepting what I consider to be authoritarianism by engaging in a diatribe against those who disagree with his views.

In his letter, he accuses me of scoffing at election integrity in a previously published letter by pointing out that no significant fraud has been uncovered in the considerable lapse of time since the 2020 presidential election.

The nation’s election officials in our politically “red” and “blue” states have all demonstrated, time and again, that we can absolutely trust them to run free and fair elections.

To my knowledge, the losing side in the 2024 presidential election has not raised any groundless claims of fraud affecting the outcome. On the contrary, former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee, conceded victory to President Donald Trump, unlike Trump in 2020. Personally, I also recognize the win.

Yet, it appears to me that Drouillard still wants to plant doubt in our minds. We should be the ones questioning the goals of his group in the running of our future elections.

— Michael Sillman, Larkspur