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PG&E must invest
in safer infrastructure

Re. “PG&E facing $1.15B loss from Dixie Fire,” Page A1, Nov. 2:

Due to PG&E’s inefficiencies, California taxpayers have been recovering from the damage done by the Dixie Fire, which cost over $1.1 billion.

The company is at fault for multiple incidents causing wildfires, such as the Dixie Fire which started by a tree leaning on an unmaintained power line. Rather than temporary solutions, such as rolling blackouts where hundreds of thousands of California residents regularly lose power, we need to look at a more permanent solution, such as investing in safer electrical equipment.

Although this implementation would be expensive, it is more cost-effective than wasting financial resources because of faulty electrical equipment, would allow us to focus on other sources of wildfireS such as climate change. We need to find ways to make our environment better and safer for the future.

Alexander Trigonis
San Jose

S.J. also facing
gerrymander effort

Thanks very much for the Nov. 12 editorial opposing Santa Clara County’s gerrymander attempt by the labor and non-profit groups.  (“County should reject effort at gerrymandering,” Page A8).

This same group has also submitted a similar map, inappropriately named the “Unity Map,” to the San Jose Redistricting Commission. This map should be rejected by the City Council for the very same reasons you stated about their county map. Instead, the “Community Map” should be approved for final adoption because it follows established guidelines that keep areas of common interest together.

Failure to keep these areas together results in the silencing of reasonable divergent opinions on a host of community issues and weakens our democratic principles of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Let’s all join together to prevent the loss of this most basic governing principle.

Rich Crowley
Vice-Chair, Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility
San Jose

Support legislation to
phase out factory farms

In the United States today almost 10 billion animals a year are killed for food in the United States, and 99% are raised on factory farms, crowded together in intensive confinement and unable to carry out some of their most basic natural behaviors.

Factory farming hurts more than just animals — it hurts people too. It prioritizes efficiency and profits at the expense of our environment, the health and safety of food workers and consumers, and the welfare of rural communities and farmers.

The Farm Service Reform Act (HR 4421/S 2332) currently under consideration in Congress will phase out large concentrated animal feeding operations by 2040. It will also provide funding to support farmers as they transition to more humane and sustainable farming methods.

Urge your legislators to support the Farm Service Reform Act. Let’s move away from inhumane, destructive factory farming and support the transition to a more humane, sustainable and just food system.

Judith Hurley
San Jose

Democracy under attack
from Democrats and GOP

Our democracy is in crisis. This is ironically a bipartisan effort, though from different origins.

The Republicans are hacking at the roots of democracy. They realize that their goals (eliminate taxes on the rich and remove all regulations on corporations) have no attraction for the masses. So they focus on false allegations and conspiracy theories, gerrymandered districts and voter suppression to maintain their minority grip on power.

The Democrats are starving the masses of the fruits of democracy (well-paying jobs, access to housing and health care, secure retirements) to satisfy their financial base, the wealthy elites and rich corporations.

Between the two, they are starving the health of democracy and reducing people’s incentive to fight for its survival. If this does not change we will lose what generations of Americans have fought and died to protect.

Ed Taub
Mountain View

Source: www.mercurynews.com