Dominican women’s team deserves our attention
I am writing to say that the best show in Marin County is seeing the Dominican University women’s basketball team play. As a faithful IJ reader for decades, I want to spread the word. Everyone should consider attending a home game.
These women are tough, disciplined athletes that understand the concept of teamwork. They’re usually the shorter team on the court, but they are always the grittiest and their basketball skills are beautiful.
The Penguins know how to put the ball through the hoop. They are fun to watch.
— John Garber, Fairfax
Encourage dedication to area’s native vegetation
As a certified arborist and master beekeeper, I am very concerned that decisions in Novato regarding a change to care of a road median area in the Pacheco Valle neighborhood could send the wrong message.
The West is facing a trifecta of environmental challenges: drought, wildfires, loss of biodiversity. Funding and volunteers are in short supply to help address these challenges.
When I drive through the area, I see a biological dead zone in most managed landscapes. I see oleander and juniper in abundance. There are way too many lawns that guzzle water — not to mention fertilizer and pesticides. I see sterile plants whose flowers do not provide nectar or pollen.
Doug Tallamy, a bestselling author of books including “Bringing Nature Home” and “The Nature of Oaks,” shared that an estimated 70% of native plants are needed in the landscape to preserve biodiversity. When I did a study of 25 front yards in San Rafael in 2019 (five randomly selected homes in five different neighborhoods), I found only eight native plants (representing only 1.2% of the plants observed) that could support pollinators. I suspect a study in Pacheco Valle would yield similar — if not worse — results.
The growing trend is to have more life supporting native vegetation in our gardens, not less. Dana Swisher has raised over $75,000 in Corte Madera for a native garden behind Neil Cummins Elementary School on city property. I personally raised $55,000 for a pollinator habitat garden installed last year in a prominent location on the Dominican University campus.
The fact that, as individuals, we were able to raise these funds speaks to the growing knowledge of the importance of native habitat to help combat an environmental crisis. I hope that Novato officials will reconsider their decision in Pacheco Valle. I think they will be remembered as being on the wrong side of history.
— Bonnie Morse, San Rafael
Petanque is a game for people of all ages
I suspect that many readers could relate to the article published Dec. 19 with the headline, “Adults need playdates, too.” Regardless of age, we all have a favorite activity we enjoy with others, or maybe we are thinking that now is the time to find a new fun, social activity.
Many and varied activities were mentioned in the article. I would like to add one that fits all the criteria mentioned in the article. It provides social interaction outdoors in the fresh air with minimal equipment. It is easy to learn and there is a venue right here in Marin, yet it is a game you’ve probably never heard of. I am talking about petanque.
Petanque is often compared to bocce because the goal is to roll a ball closer to the target ball than your opponent. Bocce’s origins are Italian and petanque is a game from France.
Petanque players gather at the courts right across from the Marin County Civic Center, across the parking lot from the children’s playground at the Civic Center Lagoon. Although you may not have noticed them before, the courts have been there since 1973. The most popular day for play is Saturday starting around noon. Petanque players love to share their enthusiasm for the game and are a friendly, welcoming bunch. Come check us out.
If you would like to read more about this fun activity, go to our club website for information, rules of the game, lots of photos, directions to the courts and information about free lessons. Go to lapetanquemariniere.org, or just put “Marin petanque” into the search bar.
— Sara Danielson, San Rafael
Focus on building more units in downtown areas
Some things are complicated and some aren’t. And since housing discussions continue to dominate the political landscape in Marin County, one might conclude that it is complicated. However, I don’t think it’s that complicated at all.
The reality of the problem boils down to basic math, in every regard, which is simple. There are too many people, and not enough homes. We should make more homes, right? Yes, some of the locations previously seen as challenging in Marin might warrant additional homes, but I think the big mover of the dial should be the infill downtown locations of San Rafael and Novato.
I think those downtown areas have obsolete buildings, deteriorated streets and infrastructure in need of updating. But, by some measures, they do not have much actual housing. So, in order to fund new infrastructure, create jobs and, most importantly, housing, Marin needs to build thousands of new units in both San Rafael and Novato downtowns .
Short of doing that, I think we are basically trying to plug holes in a dam that is about to burst. And, by the way, adding restrictions to existing housing will do the opposite of fixing the problem. Adopting rent-control rules and creating other “renter protection” hurdles for owners to remove dangerous and disruptive residents only makes it harder on future residents. I think it will force owners to keep raising rents and to avoid taking chances on prospective renters that they might otherwise have taken a chance on.
— Scott Gerber, Petaluma
Disturbing commentary about banned books
I am writing in response to Todd Maddison’s recently published California Voice about banning books (“Why questioning certain material in schools isn’t about banning books or hate,” Dec. 10).
The way I read his commentary, I think Maddison is advocating for the banning of books he considers obscene because he does not want his children to read them. But Maddison does not have the right to decide for another parent what books that parent’s child can or cannot read. What Maddison would define as obscene cannot be used as a value scale for other parents.
I am the son, grandson and great grandson of newspaper reporters. In fact, both my grandfather and great grandfather published a small town newspaper in Brinkley, Arkansas. They would tell me such actions speak of a dictatorship.
I think the very idea of banning books is frightening, in and of itself. By telling people what they can and cannot read, the state is controlling information. I think Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda, would be laughing to see this.
I strongly suggest that if Maddison wants to ban books, he should start with his own books. Throw those on the burning stack. Let his censorship begin at home.
— Eric W. Overholt, Marin City
Kennedy good choice for president in 2024
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, I think it is interesting how the public has been training into a duality of thinking. But there is an option neither side of the two-party system wants to acknowledge for fear of losing their power advantage.
That candidate said he would stop U.S. support of all wars, remove corporate control of government, focus on cleaning up the environment, grow nutrient-dense food and build a healthier population. I think the truth-talking candidate is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy knows world leaders and has effectively litigated against environmental polluters. I think he tells the truth, even in the face of name-calling. You need to hear what he says, not what others say he said. I think Kennedy is the hoped-for common-sense leadership we need at this time to save our democracy.
— Virginia Souders-Mason, Kentfield