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Bay Area must do better for our children
In the span of less than one week, a 15-year-old girl in San Francisco and a 17-year-old boy in San Jose were shot and killed. We are failing our children by blaming adjacent issues, like attending anti-ICE protests, rather than confronting the reality that the youth in our community no longer think twice before pulling a trigger.
This is not our youth’s fault; this is our fault, our system’s fault. Rather than using our tax dollars to invest in the lives of our youth through violence prevention and education, we continue to prioritize punishment. We must stop waiting until it’s too late to ask what went wrong.
Our children deserve more than pity and condolences from authorities. We need actions and reinforced initiatives so they can walk the streets safely, attend community gatherings and voice their beliefs without fear. Enough excuses.
Alexa Hernandez
East Palo Alto
ICE killings will define Trump’s second term
Re: “Bay Area leaders condemn ICE tactics, urge political unity to institute changes” (Page A1, Jan. 30).
As I read with pride of our local leaders expressing outrage at the fascist tactics of ICE, I was reminded of the most enduring and representative image of the first Donald Trump presidency. That, of course, was the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection carried out by primarily white domestic terrorists.
The recent killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, carried out by masked ICE thugs in Minneapolis, will stand as the enduring image of the second Trump presidency. The toxicity that trickles down from the White House to JD Vance, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem is both unprecedented and un-American. What a shameful legacy.
Barry Goldman-Hall
San Jose
Cemetery would ruin Coyote Valley’s value
The proposed Heritage Oaks Cemetery in Coyote Valley threatens one of the Bay Area’s most important natural landscapes.
Coyote Valley isn’t just open space for recreation; it’s a critical wildlife corridor and a key groundwater recharge zone that helps protect our region from drought and flooding. Converting a sizeable amount of this land into a large cemetery would permanently damage an ecosystem that local voters and policymakers have repeatedly prioritized for conservation.
There are many suitable places for new cemeteries, but there is only one Coyote Valley. Once it’s developed, its ecological value is lost forever. Approving this project would undermine years of public investment and set a troubling precedent for future encroachment. I urge local leaders in San Jose to reject the Heritage Oaks proposal and uphold the community’s commitment to preserving Coyote Valley as a vital, living landscape for generations to come.
Jennifer Normoyle
Hillsborough
Trump is pushing US toward one-man rule
In July, the United States will celebrate the 250th Anniversary of its founding. In 1776, the seeds of a democratic republic were planted. The Founding Fathers shunned monarchy and one-man rule in favor of a representative government elected by citizens, a government with a Constitution based on human rights and the rule of law.
But look at us now. We have a president and government that openly disregard the rule of law, the Constitution and attempt to rule by executive order, rather than by laws passed by elected bodies. And now, the president wants elections to be controlled and regulated by a single political party. The Soviet Union and other totalitarian states have party-controlled elections.
After 250 years of trying to build a democracy, is this how we are going to end up? Everyone, regardless of party or affiliations, needs to say, “No.”
Monty Steadman
San Jose
Election interference threatens democracy
Raids on election offices and the seizure of ballots mark a dangerous escalation in efforts to undermine democratic norms. After losing the 2020 election, Donald Trump pressured officials to “find” votes and now appears positioned to influence future elections. Control over election administration, especially voter rolls, opens the door to manipulation and abuse.
This is not a partisan concern. Democracy depends on independent, transparent elections free from intimidation or political coercion. When state power is used to tilt the electoral field, legitimacy collapses. Protecting the integrity of elections is not optional — it is essential to preserving American democracy.
Jag Singh
Los Altos
Save ocean ecosystem from deep-sea mining
As a student and environmental advocate moved by the degrading environmental impacts of deep-sea mining, the federal government’s recent decision to allow more companies to exploit deep-sea resources is incredibly worrisome.
Ocean ecosystems are already incredibly fragile, and human disruption can easily cause irreversible impacts on our environment, including biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, ocean pollution and disruption of carbon storage, among many others. The environmental risks of deep-sea mining trump the economic benefits, and I believe it is my responsibility to speak out against the policies that may impact our Earth and the livelihoods of future generations.
This new policy represents a significant setback to the effort against climate change, and the future of the deep-sea mining industry poses an environmental risk that we must not ignore.
Elaine Zou
Los Gatos
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