“York tries and, as usual, fails,” Jay Mariotti, Jan. 5

Eddie D. should replace Trent Baalke

What a great idea to make Eddie DeBartolo the general manager of the 49ers. He’s had the downs and certainly the ups of being at the helm of this great institution. He knows how to inspire. How to spend. And, hopefully now, how not to spend.

If Jed! wants to make amends to his fans, hiring Eddie would be a great first step.

Mike Zonta

San Francisco

Niners turning into Raiders

Sadly the 49er management has demolished the reputation of a once well regarded franchise. It appears events are going the way of the Al Davis years of revolving door coaches with all the ineptness that followed it.

Truth, forthrightness and loyalty are among the casualties in this 49er organization. The question is will the elder Yorks persist in suffering this affliction of a demoralized fan base with the attendant dispirited flying banners and empty seats? Eddie, Carmen, where are you?

Tony Favero

Half Moon Bay

“City Hall 2015: Flashpoint of change,” The City, Jan. 1

City ignoring the elderly

Congratulations on a very good year-end review for the City of San Francisco. Your review rightfully included the protracted crisis involving homeless people. What was missing was how The City is causing homelessness among seniors age 61 and older.

In this regard, The City’s latest homeless count and survey reported that the percentage of homeless who are seniors almost tripled from 2013, rising to 8 percent from 3 percent. Homelessness is not just a passing difficulty for seniors. It is a calamity, because seniors are often disabled as well as elderly. This makes their climb out of homelessness almost impossible.

The City, however, is turning a blind eye to the problem of senior homelessness, or maybe a more apt description is “spitting in the eye” of low-income seniors. This indifference is shown in the policies of the San Francisco Housing Authority, where its preference policies are almost eliminating seniors from public housing eligibility.

In this regard, according to Housing Authority 2015 records, only two seniors were admitted to senior/disabled housing, as compared to 13 admissions for disabled people under the age of 62. This policy is ass-backwards because younger people, even the disabled, have a much better chance of climbing out of homeless than elderly seniors.

John M. Kelly

San Francisco

“Yellow Cab to file for bankruptcy,” The City, Jan. 6

Ride-hail competition

And the bricks began to fall … the largest taxi company in The City struggles to compete with ride-hails, not the last brick, with the loss of some 530 jobs possibly on the line.

Another brick about to fall in the San Francisco taxi service is General Motors, which will invest $500 million in the ride-hail company Lyft in an aggressive move into a future where on-demand ride services threaten to replace auto ownership. And robots could unseat human drivers.

Perhaps the last brick to fall on the on-demand ride-hails will be the loss of jobs by the independent drivers of these cars. It is now a competition between the automakers and Silicon Valley for the profits in the auto-ride sharing industry. Hopefully the ridership will benefit from this competition.

Frank Norton

San Francisco

“New app encourages public help,” Crime Ink, Jan. 7

Police app requires response

The new police app sounds like a good idea, but it is worthless if the police don’t respond.

I recently called to report some individuals casing cars in a parking lot, where several break-ins have occurred. I was told a unit would respond. Ten minutes later, an alarm went off, so I called back to report and was told “the officers are on the scene.”

They had not appeared yet, but I did see a police car coming up the street. It just drove by slowly and didn’t stop. Three cars were broken into, and a perfect opportunity to catch the perpetrators was lost. This appears to be a common occurrence.

Perhaps if those who have sworn to protect this city actually lived here, they might be more inclined to do their duty.

Tim Donnelly

San Francisco

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