Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Google’s S.J. largesse reaches few residents

Re: “Google’s downtown plan a winner for San Jose” (Page A6, March 20).

I disagree that Google’s downtown plan was “a winner for San Jose.” It’s an overbroad statement.

The greater community really didn’t benefit very much: We lost our local Orchard Supply Hardware (now Outdoor Supply). (The next closest Ace hardware store has a small footprint, comparatively.) Poorhouse Bistro moved to Little Italy and Patty’s Inn drinking establishment was also sacrificed. The so-called “community benefits” were specific to nonprofits; their work is for targeted populations. So calling these “community” benefits is a misnomer.

The property reassessments resulting in “tens of millions” for schools, city and county clearly weren’t enough, as the county still chose to raise our sales tax. San Jose School District raised property taxes with Measure R (passed in 2024). And now San Jose is polling residents about a parcel tax for park maintenance.

So how has this been a “winner for San Jose”? Maybe for some, but not for all.

Tina Morrill
San Jose

City, state should honor long-time UFW leaders

Re: “Chavez’s name must go, but next steps are tough” (Page A1, March 20).

Sal Pizarro recently noted the problem of the new information about Cesar Chavez. There is a simple solution: replace him with Delores Huerta and Larry Itliong — everywhere.

There were three leaders of the Farm Workers’ Movement, not one. Itliong organized the Delano Grape Strike in 1965, which got the ball rolling. His strategic decision to strike forced a historic coalition with Mexican American farmworkers led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta. This coalition formed the United Farm Workers in 1966.

The Plaza in Downtown San Jose should be renamed: “Farm Workers Plaza.” Chavez’s images should be replaced by Huerta’s and Itliong’s.

Marc-David Levenson
Saratoga

We must confront dark contradiction of Chavez

Re: “UFW is halting Chavez events” (Page A1, March 18).

All of us in the farmworker movement eventually came to know that there was another side to Cesar Chavez that did not match the public persona.

We talked about it in private, but for the sake of the movement, we kept it among ourselves

When Cesar died, I chose not to participate in any of the memorial marches. I believed in a cause, not a myth.

Though many of us left the movement in frustration and disillusionment, nobody I knew had any idea that the dark side of Cesar Chavez would include sexual abuse.

He was a great man, and yet he was not. That’s now a contradiction that none of us can avoid.

Robert Wright
San Jose

Entrenched parties won’t solve DHS funding

Re: “For travelers, the shutdown answer is simple: Pay TSA” (Page A4, March 22).

It is horrible that TSA workers are working without pay due to the partial DHS shutdown.

The battle cry seems to be “the Democrats are holding things up because they can’t get their way.” The way I see it, the same can be said about the Republicans. They don’t seem to be willing to work toward a compromise or solution to funding DHS. If we had a functioning government, both parties would be working together to find a solution.

Then Congress could focus solely on the big issue that’s holding everything up.

Melinda Knepp
San Jose

Postal Service proud to honor women

Women’s History Month is a time to recognize women who have shaped our nation. As the Postmaster of San Jose, I value how important connection, service and community pride are in the work we do.

The history of the United States Postal Service is tied to the stories of remarkable women honored on our nation’s postage stamps. Many influential women have been recognized on postage stamps, including Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart, Selena, Chien-Shiung Wu and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Postage stamps do more than help transport mail; they share stories and commemorate women who broke barriers and whose leadership continues to inspire our community and our nation.

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, I’m proud to share this rich philatelic history with each piece processed through our vast postal network, in San Jose and around the world.

Rick Keppeler
Postmaster
San Jose

Ditch the GOP and oil apologists for prosperity

As he fell in line with Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Iran, Donald Trump decided he was the “god” figure to correct all ills in the world using the U.S. military as his proxy, his confidence built off decades of boot-licking sycophants never telling him he was wrong. In doing so, he has spent our nation’s political capital to suit his own egotistical ends.

There is no end to this war in sight. Iran has immense capability to disrupt the global order we know, and they are comforted via their control of the Strait of Hormuz. Yet this is also the greatest argument to end our unsustainable oil-soaked economy, which is warming our globe while being subservient to the whims of madmen.

If you want a world with stability and sanity, ditch Trump, the Republican Party and all the oil apologists.

Mathew Clark
Campbell