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Willow Glen trestle lossreminds of lost histories
While the court decision to allow San Jose to tear down the old Western Pacific trestle is a loss (Court says San Jose can demolish the Willow Glen trestle), there are far bigger issues of historical amnesia taking place locally, when it comes to railroads. There is no commemoration whatsoever to the historic bridge location in Los Gatos Canyon where Chinese laborers who had helped build the Transcontinental Railroad struggled to dig a grade in 1877 through incredibly difficult topography, hanging from baskets. Nor is there any commemoration at Wrights Station, at the entrance to the Summit Tunnel whose construction took the lives of over 30 Chinese tunnel workers in a terrific explosion in November 1879, one of the worst construction disasters in California history. Even the location of the nearby graveyard where the Chinese workers were laid to rest has been lost to posterity.
Douglas HawesSan Jose
Ending ACA in pandemica sign president is unfit
You could see it coming. We just had to learn the hard way, distrusting and deconstructing science with alternative and twisted facts. America is facing a greater resurgence of the coronavirus than we’ve ever seen before. Each day brings new records and loss of life. And even as the plague infects more of us, there are those who shamelessly and irresponsibly taunt this reality starting with President Trump who clearly is unfit to serve. You cannot listen to his ranting, bizarre speech before his base without concluding he is unfit to serve. Just today in the middle of this pandemic he said he is going to reignite the effort to end the Affordable Care Act. With a million-plus infected, you are going to take away health care. To get America back on its feet and save lives, this president must resign.
Mark GrzanMorgan Hill
Joe Biden’s call to enactmask order could be costly
I read that Joe Biden said he would use the authority of the presidency to make wearing face masks mandatory for Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
I am grateful for state and local health guidance and have been faithfully following prescribed practices for as long as they’ve been in place. Yet I still want to say this to Mr. Biden: Oh no, Joe.
Don’t tell us you’re going to be issue executive orders requiring or forbidding everybody to do this or that. Even if you will, and even if it’s right.
Don’t you know who you sound like?
It’s a super button push all around.
The 2020 election is yours to blow. All you have to do is not say stuff like this. Don’t do it, Joe.
Meredith AmyxSan Jose
Too many U.S. statueshonor inglorious past
People who criticize taking down statues are missing the point of what a statue represents. A statue glorifies a certain aspect of history. In too many cases this is genocide, slavery or racism. These atrocities can be remembered just fine in history books and museums. No one is erasing history by tearing them down; they are simply trying to show we no longer tolerate the behavior that those statues represent.
West CarlsonSanta Cruz
Retirees continueto serve community
I am the president of Chapter 031 of the Retired Public Employees Association (RPEA). It is important that our citizens be aware of the level of volunteer services we provide to the community. We operate the information desk at Santa Clara County’s main building providing information and assistance. We direct people to county offices and provide directions to other locations, information handouts, and a live person to talk to. When the “shelter in place” is ended, we will return to help our community.
Retirees are not just sitting around, collecting fat checks. Retirees served the public as employees and now continue service as volunteers. When you come into the county’s main building, it will be a retiree who provides assistance to you.
Please remember that when you read some of the articles calling for changes that could gut the public retirement system.
Kathy MillerPresident, Chapter 031, Retired Public Employees AssociationSan Jose
Choosing the universewhere Hillary won race
I enjoyed the Sloan series about all the different universes inhabited by various incarnations of our Bay Area (Case of the New Golden Gate). I want to be in the one that elected Hillary Clinton. We would have had a very different three and a half years and tens of thousands of people would be alive today who have instead been sacrificed on the altar of political greed, ignorance and self-destructive divisiveness.
Edward TaubMountain View
