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Google village seems like an empty promise

Re. “Google rethinks timeline for village,” Page A1, Feb. 14:

Google’s Downtown West Village delay is the Redevelopment Agency 2.0. Make unrealistic promises, force out existing businesses, clear the land and then stop. Just like downtown San Jose, beginning in the 1960s, there will be blocks of empty land for years, if not, decades. At least there will be ample parking for events at SAP.

Also, can we stop using the term “village” for densely packed urban areas? Like San Jose’s Urban Villages, which really amounted to nothing, Google Village always seems like the word “idiot” should follow.

Ted Atlas Campbell

Feinstein was leader on climate issues

Re. “Feinstein won’t run for reelection in 2024,” Page A1, Feb. 15:

I applaud Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her many years of service to the American people. In particular, she has always been a champion of mine for her unwavering support of climate and environmental issues.

A great example is that she recently signed on — along with Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Anna Eshoo — as an original cosponsor of the bipartisan, bicameral RISEE Act. This legislation would establish funding from offshore wind development to protect shorelines and safeguard vulnerable communities and businesses most threatened by sea level rise and coastal erosion.

The following statement of Feinstein’s from Feb. 14 gives me hope for our future:

“Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives. Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years.”

Brava, Sen. Feinstein.

Paula Danz Los Altos

Long traffic lights can be a good thing

In the Feb. 17 letter to the editor “Sunnyvale traffic lights are a big problem,” (Page A6) Brian Turner claims Sunnyvale has the “worst” traffic lights in the country, with long wait times.

I agree the efficiency of our traffic lights can be improved, and experts recommend reevaluation every three years. However, a long wait time is not always a bad thing. I’ve come to appreciate our long light because it restricts traffic in our neighborhood and encourages it onto Mathilda Avenue, a four-lane commercial road — the path of least resistance.

Conrad Garcia Sunnyvale

Electric VTA buses aren’t up to the task

I just rode into San Jose State University on a newer electric VTA bus (Route 66 from North Milpitas). If this is the future for public transit, we’re in trouble.

For the second time this month on an electric bus, there was no heat. Both times, our drivers assured us that the heaters were working. He also looked freezing cold. We could all see our breath in the frigid bus.

Today, the weather is 43 degrees in the morning. When a fellow passenger and I stepped off the bus on 7th Street, we both felt it was warmer outside than in the bus.

If EVs can’t provide basic heat on colder days, VTA should go back to conventional internal combustion engine buses on cold days.

Jim Hsia Milpitas

US must enact gun control now

The recent Michigan State University shooting has left students around America terrified. Students expect to arrive at school and focus on exams, homework and new lessons. Instead, they are now entering school grounds with the fear that they may end up as another number along with the 71 mass shootings that occurred just this year. To think, children in elementary schools learn how to survive an active shooter before learning how to read.

How many more people must die to realize something is wrong in our society? At some point, “hopes and prayers” are not enough.

Mass shootings cannot continue to be seen as normal. As Americans, we must step up and demand change to ensure the safety of future generations. Although controversial, some form of gun control needs to be implemented; even if it has to start small.

Raluca Nistor San Jose

America must find way to change on guns

Prayers and Thoughts. Prayers and Thoughts. Prayers and Thoughts. Enough. Prayers and thoughts aren’t going to bring back the dead or the injured whose lives were changed in an instant, nor the families who never got to say goodbye.

What is it going to take to change this paradigm that having easy access to guns is okay, big or small? Who are we? This isn’t America. We are just a battleground, figuring out how to stay safe.

Enough with excuses, enough with saying guns don’t kill, people do, enough with saying as long as it’s NIMBY. There must be some Founding Fathers spinning in their graves. We have become a sorry excuse for a democracy.

Loretta Du Bois San Jose