{"id":435728,"date":"2026-08-18T00:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T00:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435728\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T00:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T00:12:13","slug":"letters-san-jose-city-council-must-restore-land-use-sanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435728\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters: San Jose City Council must restore land-use sanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submit your letter to the editor via this form<\/a>. Read more Letters to the Editor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

San Jose council must restore land-use sanity
\nRe: \u201cSan Jose residents deserve a voice in key land-use decision<\/a>\u201d\u00a0 (Page A6, Aug. 13).<\/p>\n

During the 45 years I\u2019ve lived in San Jose, there have been many decisions made by the City Council with which I have not agreed, but I have always been able to understand, if not appreciate, opposing points of view \u2014 at least until now.<\/p>\n

Our Planning Commission\u2019s recent 9-2 decision to effectively nullify the Envision San Jose 2040 plan by recommending dramatic upzoning uniformly across all residential neighborhoods is dumbfounding, irresponsible and, in my view, a complete abdication of the assenting commissioners\u2019 duty and responsibility to the residents of San Jose.<\/p>\n

Quite frankly, I\u2019m ashamed and embarrassed at being put in a position of having to voice my vehement objection to this boneheaded policy recommendation. I don\u2019t recall \u201ccommon sense\u201d being given a leave of absence.<\/p>\n

I trust that common sense will return, and the City Council will vote unanimously to reject the Planning Commission\u2019s utterly ridiculous recommendation.<\/p>\n

Nick Cochran
San Jose<\/p>\n

Industry will seek path of least resistance<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cDecision to split lot spurs data center foes<\/a>\u201d (Page B1, Aug. 14).<\/p>\n

Last week, Dave Cortese and others said we should put industrial things like battery storage in existing industrial zones (\u201cControversial battery storage project withdrawn<\/a>,\u201d Page A1, Aug. 5), not on open space or farmland.<\/p>\n

Now we say, don\u2019t put industrial things in existing industrial zones either.<\/p>\n

We obviously mean, \u201cDon\u2019t put industrial things.\u201d Period. Companies should expand elsewhere \u2026 and they will.<\/p>\n

Randall Spangler
San Jose<\/p>\n

Opening track to public builds community<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cLos Gatos High School track is now open for public use<\/a>\u201d (Aug. 12).<\/p>\n

In Ray Oldenburg\u2019s book \u201cThe Great Good Place,\u201d he coined the phrase \u201cthird place,\u201d a place for community connection outside of home and work. I\u2019m glad that Los Gatos High School is opening its track to the public, a wonderful third place.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t live near Los Gatos High School, but a school in my neighborhood has had its track open to the public. It has become an integral part of our neighborhood community. I\u2019ve greeted new neighbors there and met people I might never have encountered otherwise, simply because we\u2019re always so busy.<\/p>\n

At a time when so much of our social interaction takes place online, third places help build communities. Los Gatos High School deserves praise for recognizing that its track can be more than an athletic space for students; it can also be a civic space for community members. I hope more schools will follow its example.<\/p>\n

Lucas Yuan
Los Gatos<\/p>\n

Consequences will outlast Trump\u2019s war<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cHow the war in Iran is complicating Trump\u2019s agenda at home<\/a>\u201d (Aug. 8).<\/p>\n

America is burning through its oil insurance policy. For the first time since 1983, America\u2019s Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen below 300 million barrels<\/a>. That should be a flashing warning light, not another statistic to shrug off.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly tapped the reserve to soften the consequences of an energy crisis intensified by its own policies and confrontation with Iran. That may provide temporary relief, but it exposes a troubling inability to understand second-order effects: actions abroad disrupt supply, disrupted supply raises prices and Washington responds by draining the emergency stockpile meant to protect us from the next crisis.<\/p>\n

The SPR is national insurance, not an endless political pressure valve. With oil above $80 and gasoline above $4 a gallon ($6 in California), America now has less strategic cushion precisely when geopolitical risk is elevated.<\/p>\n

Policies have consequences. Eventually, the reserve runs out before the consequences do.<\/p>\n

Akeem Mostamandy
San Jose<\/p>\n

Health system takes advantage of seniors<\/p>\n

As a retired healthcare professional, I know the complexities of billing. As a senior on a fixed income in the Bay Area, I see a system that has detached itself from the community it claims to serve.<\/p>\n

We are watching medical costs climb sharply recently. Nonprofit biggies like Sutter justify hikes by citing operational inflation, labor costs and institutional debt.<\/p>\n

These companies have tax-exempt status, balance sheets with billions in cash reserves and real estate<\/p>\n

Inflation has eroded purchasing power for food, utilities and housing. Billions of federal tax dollars flow to overseas conflicts, while family budgets are squeezed.<\/p>\n

For seniors, every additional medical bill comes out of basic living expenses. Telling seniors to apply for aid or appeals is burden shifting.<\/p>\n

Nonprofit status is granted by the community. When health systems hide behind tax exemptions while passing costs onto seniors, the social contract is broken.<\/p>\n

Kohli Singh
San Jose<\/p>\n

Trump goes 0-for-3 on recent leadership<\/p>\n

President Trump is squarely responsible for the botched repair job of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump\u2019s original claim that the cost would be $1.5 to $2 million has mushroomed to $16 million<\/a>. He personally selected a contractor he worked with at his private clubs and bypassed the competitive bidding process. Refusing any accountability, he shifted blame for the repair failure to a former Olympic medalist, charging him criminally with vandalism.<\/p>\n

Typical Trump incompetence is reflected in his other big building project that destroyed the White House East Wing to build a gold-plated ballroom, which will likely cost taxpayers millions more than he first claimed. Far more revealing of Trump\u2019s inept leadership and malfeasance is his mishandling of the Iran war, which he is solely responsible for starting and could have serious long-term economic and national security consequences.<\/p>\n

Warren Seifert
Gilroy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. San Jose council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,19628,1335,536,187,1280,1337,19378,181,2953,1564,190,975,88,5500,90,89,198,386,200,1695],"class_list":["post-435728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-data-centers","tag-development","tag-donald-trump","tag-gilroy","tag-health-care","tag-housing-development","tag-iran","tag-latest-headlines","tag-letters","tag-letters-to-the-editor","tag-los-gatos","tag-opinion","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-city-council","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-seniors","tag-south-bay","tag-trump-administration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}