Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
HSR’s $23 billion couldhave been better spent
Letter writer Rod Diridon, Sr. says (“First HSR line heads to finish despite critics,” Page A6, March 5) the HSR is only $136 million per mile. That comes to $23 billion that could be far better spent on things California needs rather than a railroad through mostly vacant farmland to Bakersfield.
Forecasts of ridership show it will have to be subsidized with as much as $90 million a year. It will never be tunneled through the earthquake-riddled Tehachapi Mountains to L.A. Even our great, great-grandchildren won’t need it.
It’s way past time to shift the billions of HSR funds to speeding up commuter transportation and other far more important priorities.
Ed KahlWoodside
Stop bashing teachers;get them vaccinated
Yes, let’s hurry up and get teachers back in the classrooms so everyone can stop criticizing distance learning and go back to criticizing teachers for being too strict, or too lenient, or giving too much homework, or not enough homework, or not meeting the needs of children, or stifling creativity, or not having a challenging curriculum, etc.
I hoped that having children at home for a year would give others more of an appreciation for the art of teaching and how challenging it can be. In addition to thanking our grocery workers and nurses and paramedics, let’s remember our teachers. Let’s stop criticizing teachers for wanting to protect their own health. Teachers are essential workers and deserve to get some priority for this vaccine.
Tom FuncheonSan Jose
Shifting vaccine prioritiesunfair to waiting seniors
I just had my appointment changed from my health care provider from March 12 to April 2.
Here is what they said: “Unfortunately, we are expecting a temporary reduction in our COVID-19 vaccine supply next week. The shortage is a result of Santa Clara County receiving a fraction of its anticipated vaccine shipment — something that we recognized was a possibility as the state transitions vaccine administration from the counties to Blue Shield of California.”
Everything seemed to be working until Gov. Gavin Newsom gave a $15 million no-bid contract to his political donor to handle the vaccine and decided to give the vaccine to 400 areas by ZIP code for equity reasons. Where is the equity for me and my family and friends? I’m 70 years old and in the priority 1 category. We are being punished for where we live and following the rules and keeping infections down.
Ray TyneckiSunnyvale
Capitol attack, racismare inextricably linked
As Americans try to find justifications for the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, they search for equivalency in the Black Lives Matter protests. But the fact is that there is no equivalency between the two.
The Capitol attack sprung from lies and conspiracies about an “unfair” and “stolen” election that were spread by our 45th president and his supporters whereas the Black Lives Matter protests were about justice, equality, fighting for basic human rights and ending systemic racism. BLM protesters were tear-gassed, shot with rubber bullets arrested and met with violence for peacefully protesting while the people who attacked the Capitol took selfies with law enforcement and were given organic meals in jail upon request.
The people who stormed the Capitol demonstrated how the color of their skin holds power in America. If it were to have been Black Americans, we would be talking about them in the past tense.
Rocio Lara-PuenteSoledad
