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Caltrain Engineers
Should be imitated
Re: “Although some praise former Caltrain officials who built secret apartments, prosecutors call it a crime” (p. B1, April 3).
Mayor Mahon may consider hiring Joe Navarro and Seth Worden to lead his shelter and low-cost housing efforts in San Jose. These two former Caltrain employees built two secret apartments for $50,000 inside a disused station. Their entrepreneurship should be recognized and appreciated.
After being fired and awaiting trial on misappropriation of public funds, they have plenty of time to use their obvious talents to spend millions in city funds earmarked for shelter and affordable housing. It should be.
Creativity, chutzpah and closure … what more could we ask for?
Ty Greaves
San Jose
AI promises.
A bright future
Re: “San Jose taps AI to identify homeless encampments” (page A1, April 7).
With the rise of AI, Silicon Valley is once again at the forefront of global change. English is the new programming language.
As a change, 20 years ago only the futurists among us (like former Adobe CEO, Bruce Schizen) would talk about replacing physical objects (like flashlights) with applications. The thought at the time boggled the mind, and in hindsight is taken for granted. Just as we seamlessly download apps to our phones, we’ll all soon write our own “GPTs” not by coding, but by writing advanced prompts (in English) with custom knowledge bases. Will prepare.
Art will soon merge with technology as a new generation of non-engineers turn their hand to application design. The future is bright.
Sterile determination.
San Jose
EV, other moves
There are no climate cures.
Re: “Carbon fee will spur EV sales” (page A6, April 10).
Carlos Rodríguez Santiago believes that the so-called cyber tricks are “very beautiful”. This is unfortunate when one considers that Tesla’s “Cyber Truck” is extremely heavy, requires a lot of batteries, and poses a safety hazard on the road due to its weight.
Electric vehicles of any kind, photovoltaic cells as well as “cloud brightening”, are by no means a panacea for the growing climate crisis. In fact, these are bigger distractions than what really needs to be, which can be described as “radical protection”. Maintaining the lifestyle of the middle class in America (and elsewhere globally) is unviable. Dramatic changes are needed in how we live our lives.
No technological miracles will come to the rescue, despite what the billionaires claim. Simply put, we need to produce less and consume less overall. And what we produce needs to be distributed far more equitably.
Anthony Stegman
San Jose
California should be.
Complete ban on plastic bags
Plastic pollution harms our oceans, wildlife and even us humans: plastic bags break down into microplastics, which end up in our drinking water and, in turn, our blood. The single-use plastic bags distributed by grocery stores—which we only use for five minutes—take hundreds of years to break down and continue to harm us for hundreds of years beyond their use.
As a global leader in environmental protection, California has the opportunity to catalyze great change for a more sustainable future. That’s why SB 1053, which would ban single-use plastic bags in grocery stores, is such an important bill. With this initiative, we can pave the way for the phasing out of single-use plastics and ensure the elimination of their undeniable harm.
Avalon Kelly
Los Gatos
Blockade of Gaza continues
There should be a UN investigation
It is outrageous that Israel continues to deny food, water and basic necessities to everyone under its control. Just outside its borders are many trucks loaded with food, tents and medical supplies, waiting to be unloaded.
The UN International Court of Justice should prosecute Israel for the crime of failing to protect vulnerable human beings living in its own land.
If Israel fails to ensure the safety of those living inside its territory, a full boycott by the United Nations should be declared.
Gul Walgran
San Jose
Op-ed raises profile.
A few protesters
Re: “Creepy Tactics of the ‘Free Palestine’ Movement” (page A7, April 9).
Reading Brett Stephens’ opinion piece reminded me of similar articles I read regarding Black Lives Matter protests. Some in the media wanted to throw out the whole message, which was meant to bring awareness to the structural inequalities that still exist in our country, because some of the violence was perpetrated by outsiders.
There are those who do not condemn the heinous actions of Hamas on October 7, and their voices may be raised. However, the “Free Palestine” movement is largely about calling for peace and diplomacy, as 33,000+ people in Gaza have been killed by US-supplied bombs, much of Gaza’s infrastructure has been destroyed, and famine is on the rise. has spread.
Protests bring about necessary change. It is not fair to condemn an entire movement because of the extreme messages of a few.
Daniel Muse
Palo Alto