Aren’t you glad we banned plastic straws?

Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive

This column specializes in  “fart in the elevator” questions. Here’s a good one for Marin elected officials.

You’re hell on plastic straws, banning them under the woke rubric that they contribute to a trashy environment. Now, we’re on the verge of completing a county-wide ban on plastic utensils used by take-out restaurants, complete with an enforcement mechanism deep within the bowels of Marin County that is ready to bust scofflaws. 

OK. Fine.

Yet, while you engage in this crackdown on plastic forks, you have allowed Binford Road to become a 2-mile stretch of broken down RVs, cars … and trash. Mountains of trash. In fact, it is reported to be the largest homeless encampment in the Bay Area, complete with an open-air market for fentanyl and other illicit drugs. 

It’s a trashy blight on the landscape and a human tragedy. And it isn’t the only place. 

Under bridges and down the slopes of creeks in Novato, people have been allowed to live almost undisturbed. They have turned these natural areas into human nests of trash.

What’s the matter with you, Marin elected officials? You ban plastic straws with a vengeance, but let Binford Road turn into what it is? Makes no sense. 

Every city in Marin has similar problems. 

Look, I know there’s a whole different subset of rules for government and the homeless. And, there should be because we’re talking about human beings here. But, aren’t humans deserving of more effective attention than plastic straws?  

Look,  we gotta fix this  … or stop patting ourselves on the back about plastic straws and forks.

EQUITY SMEQUITY

Here’s another uncomfortable question directed specifically at the woksters inside the Marin County administrative building. How did the Fairfax library improvement project get to be first on the 2023 spending list? I mean, you know, with Fairfax being so white and privileged should not it have been way further down the list? Is the county once again screwing readers in the Canal District and Marin City? You are the ones who said spending will be put under the equity lens. How’d this get put atop the list? Inquiring minds want to know.

COVID SHOT?

I have a friend who went to her doctor for a routine check-up last month. During the exam they talked about the usual aches and pains that everyone in their 60s experience. And of course, they talked about the recent pandemic and COVID shots. 

The doctor leaned close to my friend’s ear and whispered: “I’m not supposed to say this, but don’t get another shot.” 

Anecdotal? Yes.

But, I can’t help but wonder if there is a change taking place among the medical community about COVID boosters, but docs feel muzzled by laws like California’s that could punish a doctor from straying from orthodoxy on COVID vaccinations, which today is to get fully vaccinated for COVID and get boosted every year. 

A FUNNY THING

A funny thing happened in Santa Rosa recently. A guy sees his car being stolen and calls police, who happen to have a helicopter Johnny-on-the-spot. The helicopter follows the car to a chop-shop, where they find numerous stolen cars. Two men were arrested. 

Here’s the kicker. In addition to all that, police report that they found significant pools of automotive fluids which posed an environmental hazard.

Uh-oh. Forget the chop-shop operation and those multiple stolen cars. These guys could go away for a long time with a charge like that hanging over their heads. And, gawd forbid, they had any plastic straws laying about … 

ONE MORE THING

Thanks for reading again this week. Until next week, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority. 

(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)