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Expand SJ streets teams
to fight homelessness
As a resident of San Jose, I have observed the growing amounts of trash and homelessness over the past year. Marisa Kendall’s article on the two-year pilot program for the Guadalupe River Park, (“Pilot program will help Guadalupe River Park,” Page B1) published March 9, was a refreshing read.
I appreciate Santa Clara Valley Water District’s grant to fund this project. If only the nonprofit, Downtown Streets Team, could increase its five-person crew to more people who are unhoused. This would allow the unhoused to give back the beauty, safety and gatherings the park once had, sooner than two years.
The incentive to beautify a community where some of the unhoused currently live, along with receiving a stipend that helps pay their expenses, will provide a cleaner environment in a much faster and more efficient way.
Leilani Molina
San Jose
Google’s SJ project
worsens housing crisis
Your editorial proclaiming that the Google project in San Jose will create much-needed housing (“Google plan is breath of fresh air for San Jose,” Page A6, April 7) is simply wrong.
Look at the numbers. Google expects that the project will generate 20,000 jobs but only 4,000 housing units. That’s 16,000 more jobs than houses. Rather than reducing the housing shortage, the project makes it significantly worse. And with only 1,000 affordable homes created, there will be one affordable home for every 20 jobs.
We have a housing crisis, not a jobs crisis and it is absurd to suggest that the solution is building massive commercial projects that make the problem worse.
Richard Leask
Palo Alto
Sewage plant upgrade
is already under way
Ronald Martinez criticizes the City of Sunnyvale’s handling of its Water Pollution Control Plant, due to last year’s regrettable wastewater spill (“Sewage plants must update to prevent spills,” Page A6, April 8). He claims “it took a massive spill to show how antiquated it is”.
Simply put, no, it didn’t. Five years ago, Sunnyvale launched its $450 million WPCP rehabilitation project, the largest municipal project in Sunnyvale’s history. Construction started in 2018 after planning was completed and funding identified. Almost every WPCP facility will be replaced or renovated over the next 30 years, including the pipe in question, buried 10 feet underground. It simply failed sooner than expected.
Sunnyvale’s massive WPCP project is well-documented, although Martinez is clearly unfamiliar with it. Visitors to the WPCP and SMaRT Station have watched the ongoing construction for three years now. What more does Martinez expect, other than to proclaim “start earlier”? Hindsight is 20/20 – but fairly useless.
Jim Griffith
Former Sunnyvale mayor
Sunnyvale
Stiffer penalties needed
for distracted driving
As a cyclist myself, I am disgusted by the women who do not feel a driver was responsible for hitting a cyclist due to using her phone while driving (“There are good reasons for laws about cellphone use while driving,” Roadshow, Page A2, April 7).
Rather than accepting that the use of her phone was the catalyst of the accident, these women blamed irrelevant external factors. The cyclist did not do anything illegal, while the driver was the one who was distracted by her phone.
One out of 4 car accidents are caused by cellphone distractions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That is 25% of accidents.
The consequences for being caught using a cellphone while driving are mere slaps on the wrist. Drivers revert to normal cellphone use within days of being caught.
Lawmakers must establish more severe punishments for drivers using their phones while driving and educate drivers on the fatal results of said behavior. The future starts with education on the subject.
Patrick Wan
San Mateo
Vaccinate everyone
before reopening state
I was astonished to read that Gov. Gavin Newsom is expecting to fully reopen California by June 15. I wonder if these plans have taken into consideration that not everyone will have had access to the vaccine by then. I agree with Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith: This plan is obviously “premature.”
While the demand for vaccine increases, the focus needs to be on making sure everyone has access to the shots. Getting an appointment for the vaccine is difficult as is, and it has still not been open to everyone.
As Smith said, “the governor can’t predict when the pandemic is over, only science can.” It is essential that we reorganize our priorities before jeopardizing the lives of thousands. Let’s make sure we vaccinate everyone first before making plans to reopen.
Lesly Carrasco
San Jose
Donor scam shows
Trump hasn’t changed
So, once again Donald Trump and his campaign have been caught in yet another scam.
It seems Trump supporters who didn’t read the fine print – really fine print on donation forms – and thought they were making a one-time donation, were duped into agreeing to monthly or even weekly donations, amounting to millions of dollars in Trump’s coffers.
I wonder if anyone is surprised. In Trump’s case, once a con man, always a con man.
Caroline Rackowski
Morgan Hill
