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Ample reasons exist
for oil well buffer zones
Re. “Newsom proposes buffer zone between wells, sensitive sites,” Page B1, Oct. 22:
John Cox of the Bakersfield Californian did a great job highlighting the petroleum industry’s talking points on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed rule that mandates a buffer zone between new wells and locations like homes, schools, and churches and the installation of monitoring equipment and vapor containment systems for existing wells within the buffer zone.
Only in the penultimate paragraph did he acknowledge that “multiple studies have shown a correlation between proximity to oil and gas wells and health problems, including adverse birth outcomes, heart disease and respiratory diseases.” He omitted the disproportionate impact of wells on lower-income people, as the wealthy can better afford homes farther from the wells. Cox framed the rule not as protecting the health of school kids and families, but as an attack on the oil industry.
Actually, the rule is a long-needed limit on a toxic industry that repeatedly prioritizes profit over our health and safety.
Barbara Fukumoto
Sunnyvale
Facebook fashioning
a younger audience
Re. “Just what are ‘The Facebook Papers’?,” Page A3, Oct. 26:
Mischievous Mark Zuckerberg recently announced to his investors that Facebook’s “North Star” will lean toward 18- to 29-year-olds. As the “Facebook Papers” begin to shed light on his dystopia, let us take note that Facebook Messenger for kids continues to menacingly encourage kids to send out codes to their friends (so their parents can opt-in their children to share messages). As an unfortunate result, Facebook is developing a family tree of the social networks of its under-18 advertising user base with full parental consent.
Interestingly, the informal Oxford definition of “maniac” is “an obsessive enthusiast.” This “obsessive enthusiast” whose organization recently settled lawsuits for hiring H1Bs over Americans (“Facebook settles claims for up to $9.5M,” Page C7, Oct. 20) is driving a yet-to-be-defined maniacal mission. The Bay Area should take heed: This isn’t innovation of technology but of our children’s habits.
Akeem Mostamandy
San Jose
Second Santana Row
bad for housing crunch
I was intrigued by the article describing the El Paseo site as a potential location for a second Santana Row center (“Village a la Santana Row is making progress,” Page B1, Oct. 26). It included details about housing development of up to 1,100 residential units and had two options to either include a school or not.
A second Santana Row sounds great in theory; however, this does not address the housing crisis we are facing in San Jose. Even at their cheapest rates, the rent of a Santana Row property exceeds what many people living in San Jose make in a month. While the idea of another high-end retail location sounds appealing, we must find better ways to redevelop properties while providing housing that is affordable.
Building affordable housing helps alleviate social services and improves our economy by allowing people to spend money on things other than rent.
George Ruiz
San Jose
U.S. has a lot to learn
on high-speed rail
It’s difficult to understand why Californians in particular and U.S. voters in general fail to see the huge economic and social benefits of high-speed rail (“State must stop wasting billions on bullet train,” Page A6, Oct. 15).
I was fortunate as a college student to experience Japan’s high-speed rail in the 1960s. Japan’s economy boomed as industry expanded and workers could move about fast and efficiently. Tibet has extended their high-speed rail. Tibet? Many European and Asian countries have long ago established high-speed rail, especially China. The ability to effectively move people quickly from distant locations for work or play clearly enhanced economic opportunity.
California’s politicians should learn from other nations.
Gene Ozawa
San Jose
Universal mask mandate
needed on campuses
Masks need to be enforced at all schools, no matter a person’s standing on the vaccine.
Although the vaccine is extremely effective in preventing COVID, there are still risks of catching the virus due to the delta variant. Mask mandates should be required at all campuses across the nation because it provides extra protection for all people, whether they are vaccinated or not.
If masks mandates are put into all campuses, there would be even fewer COVID cases than there are now. If there is no mandate put into place, we will continue to see a rise in COVID cases across campuses in America.
As for now, we will continue to wear our masks around our campus and especially in the classrooms to do our best in stopping the spread of this deadly virus.
Nicholas Han
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com