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State should use surplus
to bury power lines
California is on fire. As a California native, I’ve watched these fires get worse over the year. Last year we watched California burn at record rates. California is reaching a tipping point in our fight against climate change. At the same time, California’s budget surplus provides us with the opportunity to take meaningful action against these catastrophic fires. That’s why I, along with a motivated team of activists, are working to use just 2% of California’s budget surplus to bury fire-causing power lines.
Burying the highest risk overhead power lines in the state is the best prevention tactic we can use to stop these fires from damaging any more of California. I urge you to sign our petition on Change.org. This is a grassroots effort to call on our state Legislature to devote just 2% of the budget surplus to saving California from devastating fires.
Hannah Meyers
Santa Barbara
Seniors have reason
to reject Newsom recall
Recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom is misguided and potentially very dangerous He is the only governor we have had in too many years who recognizes our state’s aging population.
This governor has prioritized the needs of our aging and disabled populations and is addressing this head-on. He signed an executive order in June 2019 to create the California Master Plan for Aging (https://mpa.aging.ca.gov/). This will provide a roadmap for systemwide change that impacts older adults, the disabled and family caregivers. This population has suffered over the years without any state-level leadership reaching out to boldly advance solutions.
Recalling the governor is grounded in misguided political animosity. Our state desperately needs bold leadership. This governor has recognized this issue and is taking action. Older Californians should reject this recall.
Shirley Krohn
Walnut Creek
Officers’ quick response
likely saved many lives
I wanted to express my gratitude and admiration for the Santa Clara County sheriff deputies and San Jose Police Department officers who acted so quickly and courageously to confront the active shooter at the VTA rail yard. I am sure lives were saved by their actions.
We should recognize that officers’ jobs have changed. Now they must be prepared to confront heavily armed individuals who are killing victims right now and are ready to die. This is more than traditional policing — this is deadly combat. It take a lot to go on duty every day knowing this could happen — and it can happen here.
I worked for Santa Clara County for 27 years, and work took me to 70 W. Hedding almost every week. The lives they saved could have been mine.
Gregory Rasure
Fremont
Plenty of big lies
we must put right
There’s an entire house of cards holding up the Big Lie.
Let’s start with the nonsense in a recent letter about going after the criminals rather than guns (“More gun laws simply won’t solve shootings,” Letters to the Editor, Page A6, June 2). The VTA shooter was not a criminal until he killed nine people. Guns kill people. More guns kill more people. Saying anything else is a lie.
It’s also a lie to say that there is a constitutional right to individual gun ownership. That right was created by the Supreme Court in 2008. For 221 years people read the plain language in the Constitution for what it was. It’s a court decision, not the Constitution, that allows people to buy dozens of guns and thousands of rounds.
Neither we nor elected officials are powerless. We can start by calling out the lies.
Michael Moore
Walnut Creek
Congress must pass federal
clean electricity standard
The next two years will be critical in setting the United States on a path toward 100% clean energy, from both a political and scientific standpoint.
The Biden administration has included a 100% Clean Electricity Standard (CES) in its American Jobs Plan to accelerate power sector decarbonization. This standard would put us on a path toward, at minimum, 80% zero-emissions electricity by 2030. A federal CES would create up to 2.2 million jobs by the 2030s, lower electricity costs, and reduce deadly air pollution that disproportionately impacts low-income communities and communities of color — all while accelerating our transition to a clean energy future.
Our representatives in Congress must ensure that the CES is included in the final American Jobs legislative package and push to get it passed, and we as citizens must put pressure on them to do so.
Nory Griffin
Alameda
