Need to investigate, publish cause of fire

I found it quite interesting that there was no cause given in the June 21 article regarding the fire at Natural Bridges State Beach. As we enter another high fire season, I seem to be reading more and more about daily fires from various news sources happening in and around Santa Cruz. And it’s not a new thing.

Was it politically incorrect not to publish the cause? I think this city and county needs to take very seriously the many fires that occur here, set both intentionally or not. We have many encampments and sadly many unbalanced folks living in our many green areas with lots of combustible supplies such as propane, lighters and piles of flammable materials.

We need to see serious enforced repercussions for those responsible for these potentially disastrous occurrences set intentionally or not.

We do have serial arsonists in our midsts. It’s not enough to douse the flames and walk away. Not in the climate changing world we now live in.

— Kim Ruth, Santa Cruz

Empathy over Rotkin tempered by rail stand

I have tried to access empathy for Mike Rotkin and his end of life journey, but forever burned into my memory is him sneering at me from behind his desk as I attempted to make public comments about the train.

Unfortunately I did not know him outside of the context of his unwavering, illogical train advocacy and smug dismissal of anyone who disagreed.

— David Date, La Selva Beach

Despite differences, respected Rotkin’s clarity

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Mike Rotkin. While he and I did not see eye to eye on the future of rail in Santa Cruz, I always respected his experience, intellect, commitment, and the unique way he challenged those he disagreed with.

In many other areas, Mike and I actually had common ground, and I came to appreciate the clarity he brought to complex civic issues. He was a worthy opponent who, through thoughtful opposition, made me sharper and more deliberate in my own work. When I presented my work at the March RTC meeting on his “flippant” (as he called it) comment about too many negative letters from too few opponents of rail, he graciously took a moment to publicly apologize (in his own way) to me before the board.

Santa Cruz has lost a passionate and principled voice. My condolences to his family and loved ones.

— Jack Brown, Aptos

Maybe Panama should extend its rail to county

I recently came across a news item from Central America. Panama is set to begin construction of a modern railway from Panama City to the Costa Rican border, a distance of 295 miles, with 70 bridges (including one over the Panama Canal) and 14 stations. The passenger trains will be able to travel at up to 110 miles per hour. The cost is estimated to be $4 billion to $5 billion.

Hmmm. That’s close to the $4.28 billion we’re hearing about for our 22-mile rail line.

I don’t doubt that there will be cost overruns for the Panama line, but still. And it’s a safe bet that the Panama project will be complete before the Santa Cruz project. Not to be flippant, but maybe we should raise $45 billion, and get Panama to extend their railway on through Watsonville to Santa Cruz.

— William Duckwall, Santa Cruz

RTC and ZEPRT: Is it ‘riders’ or ‘boardings’?

At this month’s ZEPRT presentation, during the Q&A, RTC staff confirmed that “riders” actually refers to “boardings” — the standard industry term that counts each time someone boards the train, not each unique individual.

This distinction matters. Boardings are the metric used by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), especially when calculating cost per passenger-mile, a key factor in evaluating transit investments.

If boardings is the industry standard, then why did ZEPRT use “riders”? Are they amateurs or just being deliberately deceitful to the public, and then the news media passes along the deceit in its reporting?

— Michael Lewis, Live Oak

Trump’s definition of ‘peace’ is warped.

Nothing says peace like staging soldiers on your own soil and bombing another country.

— Tom Mason, Scotts Valley