Alzheimer’s centers need support here in California

I am concerned that the network of 10 care facilities known as California Alzheimer’s Disease Centers are in financial trouble, including the world-class one hosted by the University of California at San Francisco that serves many Marin residents. Some centers are at risk of closing as early as July, reducing access to diagnosis and treatment for hundreds of thousands of Californians.

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, most likely due to Alzheimer’s. My memory lapses have interfered greatly with my life. As with any disease, it’s essential to determine the cause plus treatment options. Treatments are currently available to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, but only if the disease is detected early. Californians face many barriers in getting an early diagnosis, including the scarcity of dementia specialists and brain imaging equipment. For low-income people, the barriers can be insurmountable.

These centers are a smart investment that leverages hundreds of millions in federal research spending to expand access to diagnosis and treatment for Californians and train primary care providers. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, nearly 720,000 Californians aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, and that number is expected to more than double by the year 2040.

Please join me in calling on Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Damon Connolly to increase funding to ensure that Californians with Alzheimer’s and other dementia can get the early diagnosis and quality care.

— Martin Grant, Greenbrae

MMWD plan puts Nicasio community at serious risk

Thanks to the IJ for the recently published article outlining Marin Municipal Water District’s proposal to raise the spillway and enlarge the footprint of the Nicasio Reservoir (“MMWD begins environmental review of Nicasio Reservoir project,” May 11).

While this project may appear to be a cost-effective hedge against future drought ramifications for central and southern Marin, I think the consequences for the Nicasio community are unacceptable and should not be overlooked.

History and hydrology show that the existing reservoir level is already impeding the natural flow of the large volume of stormwater runoff that flows from the high ridges that surround the valleys of Nicasio. Raising the spillway any further would exacerbate this ongoing, documented flooding, with serious consequences for the Nicasio School.

I suspect the school’s well and campus — along with nearby homes, ranchland and infrastructure — would be at increased risk of inundation. The Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, local roads, bridges and culverts could also be in jeopardy.

It is especially troubling that this project would impose such a burden on a community that receives no benefit from the reservoir. The approximately 280 households in Nicasio rely entirely on private wells and springs located in our town and are not beholden to MMWD.

This scheme, albeit cheaper than alternatives such as raising the dams of Kent or Alpine lakes, shifts the cost to our small rural community in the form of environmental risk, possible property damage and public safety concerns. This is not a fair trade-off. We need our school to remain viable, we need the one main road through our town, with its low-lying bridges and culverts, to remain open, especially during storms.

I ask that MMWD look to their other identified alternative solutions to solve the problem of providing water to their customers in the face of possible future droughts.

— Amy Morse, Nicasio

Trump should not accept jet from Qatar

The contrast is striking: When former President George W. Bush was in office, he was required to pass the gift of a puppy from the president of Bulgaria on to the National Archives under the Constitution’s emoluments clause, in which government office holders are banned from accepting gifts from any “king, prince, or foreign state,” without the approval of Congress.

However, President Donald Trump has stated that he will accept the gift of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, valued in the vicinity of $400 million, from the government of Qatar. He said he intends to use it as a temporary replacement for Air Force 1.

I find that the acceptance of this gift wreaks of corruption. I think it is a clear violation of the same constitutional clause that stopped Bush. This clause speaks to the dangers understood by our Founding Fathers, that human beings can be corruptible and foreign governments may seek to corrupt a president for their own strategic and financial gains.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has written a memo approving of the legality of Trump’s acceptance of this gift. And it is known that Bondi was employed by the government of Qatar between 2020-22 as a lobbyist. It is also known that the Trump family company has recently signed a deal with the Qatar government to build an expensive golf resort in that country.

Qatar has sent what has been called “humanitarian aid” to Gaza and, recently, it was accused of financially supporting Hamas, the terror enterprise that took credit for massacring more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, which reignited a war between Israel and Hamas.

The acceptance of this gift has the unpleasant odor of a quid pro quo. I see it as an attempt to shape U.S. policy for the mutual benefit of Qatar and Trump.

— Bruce Farrell Rosen, San Francisco

Empty our prisons and use them for homeless

I have an idea for simultaneously tackling two of our most vexing problems: rising homelessness and the need for prison reform.

The United States has approximately 4% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s incarcerated. This has happened for numerous reasons, including sentences that are longer than in the rest of the developed world, where the emphasis is less on punishment and more on therapy, job training and rehabilitation.

If we were to follow the lead of other developed nations, we could dramatically reduce recidivism and prison overcrowding. If we did that, we would be left with many empty cells. I suggest offering them as shelter to the homeless.

A prison cell is hardly luxury housing, but it would provide a degree of safety, shelter from the elements, a bed, sink, toilet and three meals a day.

Homeless people would be housed in a separate area of the prison, have the option of keeping their cell doors locked or unlocked, and be free to come and go as they wish between, say, 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. There could be on-site social workers, mental health and addiction services, and job training.

If the prison was isolated, buses could be provided to take the newly housed residents to work, school and to get medical care.

— Dr. Ann Troy, San Anselmo

Democrats did not give voters a good option

One of the common questions asked of the American people during the 2024 election campaign was “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” The answer across America was a resounding no.

I think the Democratic Party platform offered for years wore thin and many of the electorate weren’t “buying the act” anymore — enough was enough. Add to that the confusion of switching the nominee from then-President Joe Biden to then-Vice President Kamala Harris and it was a recipe for disaster.

Money couldn’t buy a win. On Election Day, many registered Democrats across the country “broke ranks” and voted against their own party. Some said they felt their party had forgotten them.

Many elections have been won because the electorate voted against someone rather than for someone. I think that’s what happened in November. Even now, the Democratic Party still seems like a lost ship without a rudder. It was the failure of the Democrats that gave Trump the votes needed to win. The pendulum swings. Remember the old adage, “We have met the enemy and the enemy is us.”

— Bob Stephens, San Rafael