Fresno’s downtown ‘G’ sign to come down, and yet more city history gets lost | Opinion

Historic ‘G’ sign downtown

Reading the story in The Bee about the historic “G” sign coming down from the old Guarantee Savings Building reminds me of the day the old Fresno County Courthouse came down. I waited all day in my ninth floor office of the Del Webb building just to see that courthouse dome fall.

Fresno, and especially downtown, is losing its face and so much history every day, and I would love to see a column return to The Bee similar to the “On This Date” piece, but only about our area’s history. I know it would appease us old timers.

Karen Ramsden, Fresno

National debt is inconceivable

Claudia Sahm’s opinion piece (Jan. 17) telling folks to not worry about the rising national debt shows why people of her ilk should not be or never have been members of the Federal Reserve economist team. On January 8, 1835 the United States had zero debt. That was the last time.

Now 189 years later we owe $34 trillion. When I graduated from high school in 1970 the national debt was $371 billion and I remember people worrying about that staggering debt. Which means the debt has increased more than 91 times the debt in 1970.

Opinion

To bring perspective to these large numbers, let’s assume we borrowed the same amount each day since 1835 until today. That would mean we borrowed just under $180 billion each year, or $492,860,766 each day, which breaks down to $120.5 million per hour, which means we borrowed $342,264. each minute. That breaks down to $5,704. every second for 189 years. Claudia is wrong. Very wrong!

In 1965 Sen. Everett Dirksen said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” Our leaders should have listened to him. Each of us owes $ $104,615.38. Ready to write a check for your share?

William Atwood, Bass Lake

Oh, the irony

People such as Mike Karbassi have criticized those who chant “From the river to the sea,” claiming it has harmful intent. The same people chanting this are asking for the U.S. to stop supporting the massacre of mostly women and children in Gaza.

Have you asked them what it means? The phrase resulted in Rashida Talib being censured in Congress despite her clarifying it as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate.”

One’s freedom does not necessitate another’s destruction. Only because other’s look at us as in a preconceived racist lens assumes that is the case. Some serious bigots in this world can’t even tolerate persecuted people demanding freedom.

Compare that to some Republican politicans who said to “Level Gaza” or “let the rubble bounce” or turn Gaza “into a parking lot” in straight up Nazi fashion. They get away with it. Those same people are calling Rashida Talib the Nazi.

And it’s the Gazans who live in a concentration camp where they are being massacred. The irony.

Mohsin Khan, Fresno

Hunter Biden investigation is a farce

I find it fascinating watching the farce that is the Hunter Biden investigation. I recall that on Jan. 7, 2020 the insurrection that occurred on Jan, 6 was too far in the past to need examination, yet we’re skipping over the last administration like it didn’t even exist to chase after a private citizen that has never been on the federal payroll.

There’s been a lot of accusations but no substantive proof. The charges involve tax issues and incorrect information provided to purchase a gun. Where is the NRA? Why aren’t they defending his 2nd Amendment rights?

And isn’t the IRS a corrupt, unreliable agency when they go after someone favored by the right?

These are perfect examples of the blatant hypocrisy that serves as the platform of the MAGA movement. There is no better example of hypocrisy than the liar Trump himself. Do you believe Biden has absolute immunity for anything he does? Can he remove secret documents and take them home to keep?

All this brouhaha is an excuse not to advance any legislation to actually make America first in anything. making their mantra a lie as well.

Meanwhile we’re still waiting for the Republican replacement for Obamacare.

Joe Messer, Fresno

Mix food scraps with yard waste

With regards to the letter written by Diane Woody (Jan. 21), I believe there’s a misunderstanding on how composting works.

For one thing, the food waste needs to be in contact with yard clippings in order to allow microbes to break down, or degrade the food.

The “stewing” part is necessary in order to accomplish this process. Putting the table scraps in a separate receptacle is only a waste; it doesn’t serve the purpose of helping cut down methane emissions, which is the whole goal of mixing food scraps with green waste.

Brenda Markham, Fresno

It’s the economy

I’ve been voting Democrat since 1968, but it ends in 2024. California has gone too extreme and forgotten “it’s the economy, stupid!”

I may go to hell for this transgression, but I’m still leaving from California.

Gordon Yamanaka, Clovis

So many red-light runners

Have you noticed how many people are running red lights with a total disregard for the lives that they threaten, including their own?

I don’t mean catching the middle of a yellow light. I mean the light is red from the beginning of the intersection to the end of the intersection.

Have you also noticed that the average driver have learned to wait several seconds before venturing out into the intersection?

Question: “Where is a traffic cop when you need one?” I commend Fresno’s motorcycle cops for the traffic stops we see them make on a regular basis.

Question: Does Fresno utilize traffic cameras to take down the license plate of red light runners ticket them? My hope would be that if the red light runner acquired enough tickets, his license would be revoked.

Without additional visible traffic cops, what will deter a red light runner? Must we wait until innocent people are killed in a multiple-car pileup at a busy intersection?

R. Mikki Addison, Fresno