Deaf child’s deportation seems like a nightmare

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Deaf child’s deportation seems like nightmare

Re: “Deportation of deaf child, family draws outrage” (Page A1, March 7).

I fear that we are misusing the name “United States.” I don’t feel that we are inclusive or united.

A six-year-old deaf child was deported without his hearing aids. Is this the example we are setting for the world, for families to be torn apart and children to be thrown away without help?

This is no United States. This is a nightmare. When will we wake up?

Joseph Fierro
San Jose

City aims to keep Super Bowl vibe rolling

Re: “PayPal Park gets OK for concerts” (Page B1, Feb. 27).

The effort by San Jose city leaders to allow concerts at PayPal Park shows their desire to keep San Jose relevant when it comes to hosting social events.

With the Super Bowl aftermath finally over and the World Cup anticipation building, city leaders are attempting to continue the momentum these events bring to the city. Even before these international events, the city’s promotion of block parties in downtown San Jose is very much a promotional tactic for the city to bring life to what was one of the most boring urban atmospheres in the post-pandemic Bay Area.

While it seems to be working so far, it will be interesting to see whether it will be sustainable in the long term.

Matthew Meyer
San Jose

San Jose owes residents Super Bowl standard

I loved the changes Super Bowl 50 brought to San Jose. It wasn’t the masses of people lining the sidewalk outside my house to get into concerts and block parties. But today, as I walk past parks filled with trash and homeless men yelling obscenities at me, I find myself longing for the pristine parks and lively streets of Super Bowl weekend.

The cleanup was nothing more than a ruse to make San Jose look like a destination city for the hundreds of thousands of tourists. The city should care enough about its residents to uphold that same standard every day.

Keira Vail
San Jose

Ranked choice could prevent election SNAFU

Re: “Democrats fear being locked out of governor’s race” (Page A1, March 7).

The June primary election will designate the top two gubernatorial candidates for the November general election. Anxiety is growing that both could be fringe candidates disfavored by the majority of Californians. The old closed primary system had drawbacks, but at least it guaranteed that candidates of opposite parties would be on the November ballot.

The solution is to upgrade the primary to a ranked-choice voting election. Voters would mark their ballots with preferences, and the count would use “instant runoff” multiround counting until two candidates remain with the highest vote counts. Those two would then advance to November.

Local cities, including San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro, have successfully used ranked choice voting for years to elect officials. It is time to bring this proven improvement to our state elections to ensure our leaders represent the true majority.

Michael Sage
Santa Clara

Normalize carpools to offset gas prices

Re: “How to lower gas prices — and how not to” (Page A7, March 6).

As gas prices increase, many people face this new financial challenge. My solution is to normalize carpooling.

Carpooling is a joint commute. Some use public transportation, but carpooling is a better option. Workplaces should even encourage carpooling, organizing locations of those who could carpool on the way to work. This would allow saving money on gas.

Creating an app could even be helpful. Instead of an Uber, you have a carpool app, where a person could pick someone up on the way, heading the same direction as the driver. This could be a neighborhood app that connects people with their neighbors. You might not even know that your next-door neighbor is going the same direction as you are. Or maybe that neighbor across the street is dropping their kid off at the same school as your kid. This would ensure safety, at least knowing that they are a neighbor.

Giselle Mendoza
Salinas

Handshake deal won’t calm energy costs

Re: “Trump says deal on data centers will cut electricity costs” (Page C9, March 5).

We must lower electricity costs so that electrifying our homes and buildings will be affordable. Large amounts of electrical power are required by the data centers. Ratepayers are understandably worried that electricity rates will continue to increase.

The investor-owned utilities like PG&E argue that increased data center demand will lower rates by spreading fixed grid costs over more kilowatt hours. Their argument is hard to believe given the recent history of rate increases. Providing electricity to the data centers will require new transmission infrastructure. The costs of building such infrastructure are passed on to ratepayers. Most of the recent rate increases were due to building and expanding transmission lines.

A handshake deal between the Trump administration and the AI tech companies is not good enough. Our state legislators must pass a bill that requires the AI companies to pay for their own data center electricity.

Rob Hogue
Menlo Park