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Proposed buildingheights dwarf church
No doubt you have driven past the beautiful, red-topped towers of Five Wounds Portuguese National Church at Highway 101 and East Santa Clara Street. Now, the city of San Jose is considering 300-foot-tall buildings immediately behind the church at the future 28th Street/Little Portugal BART station.
Today, the General Plan calls for 120-foot-tall buildings there, something that was agreed to by the community and city planners in 2013. The church is a living symbol of immigrants who wanted to maintain a little piece of their homeland and their language through the celebration of their faith and life’s milestones with their families, friends and fellow immigrants. Five Wounds Church is history writ large, a community’s history, San Jose’s history that still lives today, valuable in and of itself.
The church’s prominent place in San Jose’s skyline should not be diminished by buildings three times its height.
Davide VieiraSan Jose
Prop. 50 is rightresponse to rigging
Californians take pride in protecting voting rights and ensuring fair representation. Politicians are using partisan gerrymandering to rig congressional maps in their favor — without voter input. Power grabs distort elections, silence voters and tip the balance of Congress away from fair representation.
Proposition 50 is temporary and will offset unfair advantages in other states. It does not weaken California’s independent redistricting process. Proposition 50 reaffirms the authority of the Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw fair maps.
California is a powerhouse economy, and our communities depend on strong federal support for infrastructure, environmental protection, healthcare and education. Our state risks losing in Congress to those who manipulated the rules to entrench themselves in power. Proposition 50 ensures California does not sit idly by while these attacks on democracy unfold.
A yes vote defends freedom, fair democracy and protects California’s influence in Congress.
Allison ChopAuburn
Bulletin from VAspins the shutdown
On Sept. 30, the Department of Veterans Affairs sent veterans a shutdown bulletin that read:“President Trump opposes a lapse in appropriations. … Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking this Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands.”
I read VA newsletters closely to stay updated on the care and benefits my father depends on. It was disturbing to see partisan messaging inserted into that channel. Secretary Doug Collins has repeatedly used VA resources this way, in clear violation of the Hatch Act, as a political megaphone. Veterans deserve neutral facts, not political spin.
Carla KingMorgan Hill
Tariffs tear at costof medications
My dog requires medication in his eyes to prevent blindness. I have ordered from Canada for years because it is affordable, $38 for a two-month supply.
Today I ordered again to find outrageous tariffs bringing the cost with shipping from the U.K. to $158 for a 1-month supply. This is for a pet. This is insane. They don’t make this medication in the U.S. It normally comes from India.
What American without drug insurance coverage can afford to be well? What dogs? Does our president not understand at all how a global marketplace is interdependent?
Carolyn ReynoldsSanta Cruz
Masked ICE agentsraise specter of KKK
Re: “Guard troops could be deployed as Border Patrol agents flood into Chicago” (Page A4, Sept. 30).
ICE frightens me the way the KKK frightens me. They are both a stain on our country that can never be washed away.
Both are bullies and cowards who hide their faces for fear of being recognized or ostracized. Who are these masked menaces who rip children from their parents, throw women to the ground, assault our senior statesmen, snatch people from courthouse steps, then whisk them away in the blink of an eye to places unknown? Are they our next-door neighbors, the father coaching our son’s Little League game, the guy sitting beside us in church, on a plane or in the dentist’s office? I cannot fathom treating people violently, with cruelty and anonymity, yet living among us once the mask is removed.
The bogeyman is here, and he is us.
We must stand together to stop the violence and fear. Make your voices heard; silence is complicity.
Pauline ChandSan Jose
Nation’s birthday offerschance to heal division
What are we doing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country?
Now when political violence is on the rise, when so many norms and precedents are being broken, when people feel cast adrift, this may be the perfect time to celebrate the sincere, measured words of a small committee 250 years ago to explain why they felt the need to form a new government.
Without blinding ourselves to division or threats to civil rights, we can celebrate the foundations of democracy. The members of the Continental Congress knew they were risking their lives. How proud they would be now to see what came about. And how much they would still tremble with the sense of responsibility.
Theodore TimpsonMountain View