Letters: San Jose’s threats are no help to the homeless
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San Jose’s threats are
no help to homeless
With the recent news about San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s approach to deal with homelessness, his “common sense” solutions dangerously treat poverty and mental illnesses as criminal offenses.
His emphasis on the plan to punish those who refuse the shelter opportunity after three offers within 18 months has raised legal and ethical concerns. Homelessness shouldn’t be a crime, and declining an offer for shelter, which can sometimes be unsafe for the individual’s needs, should not be punished with the justice system.
Trisha Bauman of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley emphasized that the criminal legal system never once solved homelessness and that the policies have proven to be failures. Instead of criminalizing them, a right-to-shelter proposal that guarantees shelter without a jail threat should be supported.
Ken Le
San Jose
Safer streets would
garner more cyclists
Living in the suburban sprawl that is San Jose, it is nearly impossible to get around town without a car. With the recent VTA strike affecting the lives of regular commuters, we need to consider the other alternative when traveling on wheels: biking.
Although the city has put in the effort to be more cyclist-friendly in its Better Bike Plan 2025, people are still reluctant to bike because of safety concerns. Quick builds with plastic bollards are an easy solution to putting bikes on the roads, but the lack of a physical barrier and distance between the biker and car still sets off alarm bells to any new, potential riders.
Upgrading our current bike lanes to concrete curbs or metal bollard protection would help with physical safety, while installing more bike lockers in various locations would help prevent bicycle theft and encourage more people to bike.
Catherine Vo
San Jose
Make health care
accessible for all
As the daughter of parents who don’t speak English, I often served as a child interpreter during hospital visits — an arduous and eye-opening experience. This must change. Access to equitable health care is a fundamental right, yet language and cultural barriers continue to hinder many in our community from receiving the care they deserve.
Health care systems should adopt cultural competency training for providers and integrate professional interpreters into their services. Cultural competency equips providers with the ability to understand and respect diverse backgrounds, ensuring more compassionate care. Professional interpreters close language gaps, enhancing communication between patients and providers. Together, these measures improve health care outcomes, reduce errors and foster trust.
I urge policymakers and health care leaders in San Jose to prioritize these changes. By creating a more inclusive and effective health care system, we can ensure equal access for all.
Cassandra Cruz
San Jose
Showdown with China
another Trump mistake
Re: “What Trump just cost America in trust, allies” (Page A7, April 11).
Thomas Friedman’s column was one of his best, a frank analysis of the idiocy of Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Think about the very simple reality we face in a China-U.S. trade war:
• China has four times our population.
• China’s work ethic and brainpower are superior to ours. (It’s no mystery why U.S. tech companies scramble for H-1B visas to hire Chinese talent.)
• China’s government is laser-focused and gets things done. Think bullet trains: China has many; ours from L.A. to S.F. is on track after 15-plus years to take you from Bakersfield to Merced. BART to downtown San Jose? We’ve discussed it for five decades; China would probably have done it in 18 months.
We are not competing with China; we are accommodating China, and Trump is screwing it up.
Kirch DeMartini
Saratoga
Centrist GOP, Dems
could save democracy
I have become increasingly dismayed at the dismantling of the rules and traditions that have been crucial to our functioning democracy for years.
The Democrats by themselves are not in a position to check Donald Trump’s trampling of the norms, but a small cohort of Democrats and Republicans could be a force for positive change. All it would take is a handful (five) of Republicans to declare themselves as independent and to caucus with whichever party was willing to be the most reasonable. To be balanced, an equal number of Democrats could do the same thing.
We have big problems to solve (e.g. climate change, the deficit, immigration, voting and democratic reforms), and a controlling group in the middle could be just the remedy we need to heal America and American democracy.
John Holton
Los Altos
U.S. on dangerously
familiar path to tyranny
Edmund Burke’s admonishment about history repeating itself has come true.
In 1924, a future leader was convicted of an attempted coup. Exactly 100 later, another leader was found guilty of a crime. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia because he needed “lebensraum,” or living space. Ours needs Canada. They burned books; we ban books. They sent “undesirables” to prison in another country; ours sends them to Central America. A new car, the Volkswagen was enthusiastically endorsed by the leader; Tesla was endorsed by ours.
In Germany, those who should have known better “bought into” the regime. Sadly in America, many buy into ours. Burke’s final word: “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”
Nelson Tandoc
San Jose