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Let District 3 voters
pick council member
We the people in District 3 deserve to elect our replacement representative. I agree with Mayor Matt Mahan, who recommends this approach.
To those who worry about costs, yes I agree with them, too. It’s a lot of money, and isn’t it a shame that we even have to have this conversation? But here we are. I look at the hundreds of millions of dollars ($120 million) that San Jose spends on the homeless and think that District 3 residents are worth the small fraction of that to be spent to ensure a proper process for selecting our representation.
Please give us a special election.
Tina Morrill
San Jose
District 3 residents, not
council, should pick
Re: “Fill open S.J. council seat by appointment” (Page A6, Nov. 8).
Robert Wright supports the appointment of a District 3 council representative to replace Omar Torres. Many District 3 residents disagree. We need to replace our City Council representative with a district resident chosen by election.
District 3 has unique concerns. For example, District 3 houses at least 50% of all the city’s services to the homeless population. One of the most dangerous encampments (“It’s not the best thing,” Page A1, Oct. 30) is in Columbus Park. It is considered District 6 for political reasons, but it is only remotely connected to that area. The encampment, known for trash, crime and drugs, borders directly on District 3.
We cannot count on city government for an equitable distribution of the city’s problems or the resources to address them with an appointed crony of the City Council. We need a strong advocate.
Elections cost money but subverting democracy is far more costly in the long run.
Judith Hurley
San Jose
Don’t make state ground
zero for Trump fight
Re: “Newsom prepares for Trump skirmishes” (Page A1, Nov. 8).
While I am deeply disappointed with the return of Donald Trump and his chaos to the White House, I strongly disagree with Gov. Newsom’s intent of making California ground zero for the resistance.
With nearly 40% of California voters choosing Trump, now is the time for Democratic leaders to listen to the voters and follow Kamala Harris’ promise to represent all California voters, no matter how they voted. My suggestion is the California Democratic leaders hold town halls in each voting district and really listen to what the voters want before assuming blanket Trump opposition.
Newsom is only in office for two more years, while the rest of us Californians have to live with the resistance fallout for much longer. Besides, it is not clear to me that spending millions of taxpayer dollars on thousands of lawyers is the right move now.
Bob Groppo
Sunnyvale
Pelosi should point
finger at herself
Re: “Pelosi unhappy over Biden’s late exit, lack of an ‘open primary’” (Page A4, Nov. 9).
So Nancy Pelosi is upset that there wasn’t an open primary. She can also share the blame with other Democrats instead of pointing fingers.
As the Democrat leader of the House, she certainly met with the president daily for three and a half years. While keeping Joe Biden’s mental decline a secret from the very people she was elected to represent, she proved that her lust for power was more important than honesty or integrity. She could have made a difference by speaking out but chose to remain silent. Only at the last minute did she act, thereby throwing the president, her friend, under the bus.
Nancy Pelosi betrayed Biden, the American people and any ethics she purported to have. She has no business pointing fingers. She isn’t blameless. She’s shameless.
Jay Morrett
San Jose
Keep pushing to leave
climate legacy for kids
The recent election was a bust on the climate from both sides. Yet, almost everyone knows the climate is changing.
Many fear the solution more than the consequences of not acting. They don’t have any particular love of fossil fuels but think a future without them will threaten our freedom, prosperity and way of life. What a blocker.
Viewed from that perspective it’s understandable, but there’s no cause for fear. The means for gracefully transitioning to a clean energy American economy is well within our grasp — by mid-century. And if we reach for it, our children, grandchildren and future generations will be eternally grateful. It will be our historic legacy.
David Cain
Los Altos
Bad messengers don’t
make message wrong
Re: “Voters to Democratic elites: Do you see me now?” (Page A13, Nov. 10).
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Political analysts of all stripes are enthusiastically eager to pin the latest presidential election loss by Democrats on their elitism, snobbish self-superiority, and inability to empathize with the plight of the working class. I will accept some of that along with some definitely misplaced priorities.
That doesn’t change the fact we’ve elected a group who doesn’t believe in education unless it reinforces their existing prejudices and ignorance of basic science. The world’s going to get warmer, more unhealthy and more dangerous in spite of burying our collective heads in the sand. The economy will continue to benefit the 1% at the expense of the poor and the middle class. Personal freedoms, the alleged foundational rock of our nation, will be available to the select few who hew to the party line and look and speak the party line.
We may be poor message packagers, but that doesn’t make us wrong.
Eugene Ely
San Jose