Comment Archives
Re: “Breaking News: San Jose Dispensary Landlords Threatened with 40 Years in Prison as Feds' Marijuana Crackdown Continues”
The DOJ's claims to be protecting "school children" is a joke, given the closer proximity of liquor stores, sex shops, and other adult businesses to schools. Sorry Haag but the politically correct "protecting our children" scheme doesn't work anymore. People are smarter now, especially in the Bay Area. ---Quit wasting our tax dollars to attack other citizens.
Re: “Breaking News: San Jose Dispensary Landlords Threatened with 40 Years in Prison as Feds' Marijuana Crackdown Continues”
Just another political move to setup for RAIDS on state approved medical marijuana dispensaries. Notice the timing, how these RAIDS always happen after every election season... Reminds me during the end of Alcohol Prohibition. Law enforcement knows its getting to the end and making one final punch to cash in on the government's 7 billion dollar budget on the war against marijuana. Much easier to go after defenseless medical marijuana pharmacies than real drug criminals: Cartels and organized drug trade. So SAD that our tax dollars are used to arrest other citizens.
Re: “US Judges Can End Drug War, Researchers Say; 'Institutional Racism' Creates Unequal Protection for Whites”
Great article!
Re: “Contemporary Performance Ensemble Concert”
The Mills College Music Department and
The Center for Contemporary Music present:
CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE (CPE)
Steed Cowart, director
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
8:00PM
Littlefield Concert Hall
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
CPE
Brett Carson: piano
Stephan Haluska: harp
Josh Marshall (Teaching Assistant): saxophone, flute
Julie Moon: piano
Dylan Neely: violin
Jacob Peck: guitar
Eric Glick Rieman: melodica
Scott Siler: percussion
Peter Sloan: trombone
Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94613
http://www.mills.edu
-----------------------------
Program:
Daniel Goode:
Eine Kleine Gamelan Music
Anna Wolfe-Pauly:
Score
Steve Adams:
Parallel Construction #1
Graphic #41
Jacob Peck:
New Work
Alvin Curran:
Quintet and The Lonely Red Mullet
(from Music for Every Occasion)
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Parking a private vehicle in public space should never, ever be free. Not only are cars responsible for 20 to 50 thousand deaths every year in this country, they pollute everyone's air, and take up public space with their incessant parking. Motorists need to pay there share and poney up to their costs to the public. NO FREE PARKING EVER! disabled or not
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Yes most that use the disable placards are entitled. It's fraud and the doctors that help them get the placards should be fined.
Now with regard to the paying:
Let them park close to the front door, BUT DO NOT LET THEM PARK FREE.
That's just my opinion. Thank you for listening, Leonard Vinci
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Unfortunately there are always a few who louse things up for everyone else. The criteria for "disabled" has expanded to absurdity. There is little stomach for police action and it would be daunting to "prove" some marginally impaired people really aren't disabled. Therefore the solution is to eliminate free parking. Better yet eliminate parking meters and institute a city wide progressive tax. Next up how about enforcing traffic laws in Berkeley, Oakland and elsewhere?
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Joaquin Palomino states, ".. 20 percent of people with disabilities in California were classified as low-income in 2010...which shows that while there is a correlation between having a disability and being poor, it isn't a strong one..." Since pharmaceutical companies routinely get drugs approved by showing a 1 in 50 or 60 correlation, I think 1 in 5 is actually extremely robust.
I am 67 years old, but not retired - I still work, but my hours got cut from 40 per week to 30, then from 30 to 20. I'm one of the 20% "low income". I need the free parking. I can't afford to pay an additional $3 - $5 each time I go anywhere.
I have severe osteoarthritis. I need two canes to walk, and I simply can't walk more than a block; I can barely walk that far. I can't stand for more than a few minutes; so I can no longer take public transportation (which I used to do all the time) because it involves too much walking and standing. I have to use my car, and my disabled parking placard. When I do go somewhere, I physically cannot get up every 1/2 hour or hour and hobble out to feed a meter. There are businesses in my Oakland neighborhood that I can no longer patronize because the parking spaces in front were changed to red zones, and I just can't make it from the nearest legal parking spaces - even if they were empty.
Yes, disabled placards are abused. The solution is better enforcement, not taking free disabled parking access away from people who really need it. The shortage of available parking already limits my ventures to downtown Oakland. If I had to feed the meters besides, I would simply never go there at all. How good would that be for business?
Re: “Caltrans Should Delay Bay Bridge Opening”
Right on, Mr. Gammon and all journalists continuing to perform a public service by informing us about the "nuts and bolts" soundness of our new Bay Bridge!
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
from a disabled one: not paying a parking slot is not a great advantage, but finding a place convenientely close to a shop, on the contrary, it is a need. i would accept to pay any disabled parking slot as far as the amount of expenses would later be reduced from my taxes, simply because i must use my own car to go everywhere, and cannot afford paying a taxi. my all life requests more expenses than a "normal" one.
abuse? create a chip on the parking tag and control in real-time it is a valid one.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
As an orthopedic NP I'm asked regularly to sign for handicapped parking permits. Fewer than 10% of the requests come from people using a cane, let alone crutches or a wheel chair. Unfortunately, it seems that many people sincerely believe that if walking a few blocks causes discomfort, they should have a placard. Pain is real and subjective, but it is not a disability. In almost all cases increased activity such as walking on flat surfaces is beneficial and part of their treatment plan. Providers need to be held more accountable for placating patients with placards instead of educating them to maintain function.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Do those who are receiving free parking due to a disabled tag also get discounted or free fuel for their cars? I think not, but that might be the next "well intentioned" move in this social scheme gone berserk. Disabled parking spaces in convenient locations are a good thing, but why should they be free in areas where other spaces are not? A law that is difficult to impossible to police is a law wide open to abuse, and that's exactly what we all see happening in almost any location. Considering the abuse, I recently chose not to apply for a disabled placard, because almost all such spaces are taken by people observed to "bound" out of their vehicles and briskly walk away. It is a joke! Of course removing an already-given entitlement prompts wails from those who have it, and that's the big problem with any entitlement these days. Many of the very comments here demonstrate that. Since billions have been spent to make access for the truly disabled more available on their behalf, one might think that the disabled would not mind paying for parking their cars, just like everyone else - but no, that's now out of the question. Well, perhaps we should go for complete equality among parkers and have all parking fees on public streets banned - making it a free-for-all for sure. Disabled parking abuse has become the almost unpunishable crime practiced by the masses, and it will go right on in today's entitled culture, no matter what this article advocates.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Moronic lazy policy.
I agree with costacoralito, charging for disabled parking defeats the entire purpose.
If there is fraud and folks using cards they are not entitled to, go after the fraud. Don't destroy a needed law.
And no, Joe Blow on the street should NEVER confront possible abusers... you have no idea what their medical situation is, nor should the disabled have to justify themselves to any cretin on the street.
If you suspect abuse, REPORT IT. Take a picture or video of the alleged offender and the vehicle and placard info and report it. Then the investigators can check things out and fine those not in compliance.
On the wrongheadedness of this policy I agree with Mara Math.
As for who I am, I am on full SSDI disability and in a wheelchair with two forms of arthritis and other medical issues. In other words my income is only a bit over $900 a month.
Personally I do not know why the non-disabled even drive, much less drive downtown. Are they too good for mass transit?
Re: “Activists Try to Get Rid of Juvenile Records Fee”
This comment was deleted because it violates our website's Terms of Use. People who repeatedly violate our policies will lose their right to post comments. You can read our entire Terms of Use here.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
The solution to the placard problem is not to charge disabled people, but rather to check whether the placard is legitimate and whether the driver has the proper documentation in the vehicle. Make the fines high for using the placards illegally. When a privilege is abused there are consequences. Those consequences should follow from the enforcement of the law, not punishing the disabled. I have trouble walking. I would rather be able to walk. The ability to park where I need to without having to worry about meters and time is invaluable to me.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
So . . . in order to deter the able-bodied who commit fraud, punish the truly physically impaired who actually need and have legally obtained disability parking placards? Way to go! Hey, let's take away food aid from starving folks, too, since sometimes people who don't need Food Stamps steal them! And wasn't there just some big scandal in MediCare or MediCal where fake billing was uncovered? No more healthcare for the verifiably sick or disabled!
This has the reek of yet another effort to balance the budget on the necks of the poor and disabled. I suspect the Quan administration would rather collect money from those of us who are disabled than put a little muscle into cracking down on fraud. Increased fines for illegal placard use would be a real and far more effective deterrent to corruption, and add more to the budget than picking the pockets of the disabled.
Incidentally, why do people with placards need free parking? Because some of us can't make extra trips back and forth from our destination to our parking spot to feed the meter. Because medical appointments can run hours late. Because depending on one's disability, everything can take longer. Because many of us are on a fixed income precisely because we are disabled/because being disabled enough to qualify for a placard often means one can't work full time.
Re: “Activists Try to Get Rid of Juvenile Records Fee”
Why should a juvenile's records be sealed? Drive around with a gun... or steal an iPhone... and get away with it? I can't think of a policy that encourages juvenile crime more. I'm guessing this is one of the reasons that older gang members can recruit juveniles to sell their drugs and do other types of illegal activities.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
What's so crazy about this is that we can have access and still collect for parking. Most disabled people need access to parking spots close to where they are going but they can afford to pay to park. So why not have disabled spots but not have them be free? Isn't this obvious?
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
The whole idea is to allow a disabled person enough time to function... feeding a meter defeats the whole purpose of the permit. Punish the people committing fraud if it is prevalent not the disabled. If more revenue is the goal then the answer might be to charge for the permits.
Re: “San Diego Mayor Bob Filner Comes Out Swinging for Medical Marijuana”
Mr. Filner is a very special mayor to back MMJ as strongly as he does. Thankfully more and more Californian's are getting behind marijuana usage (for responsible adults adults). With the help of other respectable people in the MMJ community (including ASA and politicians) we may just get legalization in CA:) http://www.californiadispensaryinfo.com/