Sunday, July 7, 2019

I urged SF Board of Supervisor to Roll Back on Plastic Bag Ban

SF Board of Supervisors is about to vote on Monday to raise bag fee from 10c to 25c. I wrote the letter below urging NO, plus roll back on the back ban to apply to necessities shopping only

Dear Board of Supervisors,

I write to urge you to vote NO on raising bag fee from 10c to 25c. I also write to urge you to roll back on bag ban. 

Bag fee should apply to necessities shopping such as groceries or household items, not discretionary shopping such as clothing. Bagging customer's purchases is a basic customer service. Taking customer service away, why should shoppers shop? Consumers walking around with the shopping bags provide free advertising for the retailers, instead of spending millions on to lure customers in.

Retailers face intense competition from online retailers like Amazon. So many shops have closed all over the city. Hundreds of jobs have been lost. Empty store fronts invite bad elements to the neighborhoods. Not to mention that losing business also means losing tax base for the city. 70% of our economy is based on good old consumer spending.

Plastic bag ban is a fads. Plastic debris in the ocean came from Hard plastic, Not plastic bags. 

I have a collection of videos on how was plastic bags are made and recycled, vs. paper here:

Many residents in SF are 2-people household. We use small plastic bags to line our trash bins in kitchen, bathroom bedroom. Since now I can't get them anymore, I have bought my 4th box of 1000 plastic bags from Amazon for $25. I have seen some seniors used small plastic produce bags to line half of their trash bins. Dog owners have to buy poop bags from pet stores. Pathetic. 

I used paper bag to hold other recyclable. So I have to pay 25c to "buy" a bag so that I can recycle? Isn't recycling a business that provide jobs, too? Why is the city killing everything it touches?

xxxx

So is global warming being tied to natural disaster. If you watch PragerU on youtube, you will see many climate experts who have dedicated 2-3 decades of their lives studying the issue have different opinion that what was drummed up by Al Gore and the like for political / ideological gain. The planet is 2/3 water. Climate was changing, ice caps were melting even before the invention of car. Planting trees is the easiest approach. Not tossing trillions into some fanciful talks for minuscule gain in reduction in temperature. That is -- irresponsible. 

Sincerely,
Terry C