Bottle Shocked
I’m a Sonoma County resident who is not a fan of every piece of arable land being turned into vineyards. We had some beautiful agricultural fields that were all turned into grapes for wine. Wine doesn’t feed people, but it sucks up a lot of water and most of the vineyards throughout Sonoma County are sprayed with pesticides. The workers are exposed to toxic chemicals and residents who live near vineyards—which are ubiquitous and so many residents live near them!—are also being exposed to toxic chemicals.
And finally, monocrops are not healthy for the environment. They’re more susceptible to disease and bugs, which sets up a cycle of more toxic spraying to keep the grapes viable.
It might be a benefit to residents and future generations to have fewer vineyards here.
Jodi Selene
Santa Rosa
The Price Is Wrong
For the past 74 years or so—I’m 75—I have heard experts and pundits go on and on about how businesses and their employees are leaving California en masse because of high costs, poor housing prospects and overregulation.
Gosh, how we all wish it were true.
I will believe it when Hwy 80 between Vallejo and Oakland is empty between 4pm and 9pm, when the cost of housing returns to 1955 levels—my dad bought a house in Larkspur; his relatives called it Lahkspuh—for $12,000, when I can get a large sausage-and-kale pizza and a family sized Caesar at Amici’s for under $250, and when a half-bag of groceries at Mollie Stone’s costs less than $90. We are still victims of supply and demand, and demand is staying home, thank you, not moving to Utah.
Craig J. Corsini
San Rafael
Poem Zoned
Poor Todd Blanche, his tears are about to burst,
Long before Natalie, it was he who proclaimed, “I love you, sir,” first.
Melania wears a coat and its message is oh so true,
On the back it bellows, “I really don’t care, do U?”
The question hurts because the truth is sharp:
Can Donald get it up to pluck his golden harp?
Bob Canning
Petaluma
