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VTA spokesman offers
disgraceful response
Re. “VTA says investigation clears agency in Bay Area’s deadliest mass shooting,” Page A1, Dec. 13:
VTA employee JIm Lawson’s explanation was a disgrace.
If you ask anyone who is responsible for workplace safety in either the private or public sector, they will tell you that internal threats from disgruntled employees and/or spouses of employees are one of the largest threats they face. The remedy is often to bar or remove them from the workplace either temporarily or permanently.
The VTA board and the member cities that support the VTA should demand a better answer. Their employees and the riding public deserve no less.
Thomas Scott
Morgan Hill
Good news abounds
for the environment
Thanks for printing the two articles Dec. 5 that give visibility to overlooked areas; waste to biogas production and Tesla delivering its first EV trucks. These companies are doing important work to decarbonize our economy.
The biogas production process, like nature, is circular. The input to the process is human and agricultural waste that would otherwise be damaging to the planet. The outputs are energy and fertilizer while reducing the release of methane. Wind and solar may be bigger pieces of the renewable energy puzzle, but the puzzle won’t be complete without biogas.
Tesla, on the other hand, gets plenty of visibility, but not so much for trucking. Heavy loads and long haul distances will require other technologies, but EV seems a good fit for Frito-Lay. I didn’t expect to see EV semis loaded with snacks running down I-5 so soon.
Progress like this is encouraging.
Tom Calderwood
Los Gatos
S.J. council tramples
democratic principles
The unforgivable sin of politics was committed by members of the San Jose City Council.
Numerous voters addressed the council in the Dec. 5 meeting asking them to vote to hold a special election.
Apparently their pleas fell on deaf ears. Now, many city residents feel like I do that our democratic principles were trampled underfoot at that meeting.
Shame on you San Jose City Councilmembers who voted that the council will fill these two vacancies.
Bill McBride
San Jose
GOP leadership
to blame for Trump
Mitch McConnell is blaming the GOP’s poor midterm showing on Donald Trump, but who gave Trump a free pass on two impeachments so he could continue to rule incompetently and hold sway over the party? McConnell did.
The GOP is trying to distance themselves from the incompetence and criminality of Trump to save their reputations, but let it not be forgotten that the GOP leaders are the ones who ignored every red flag around Trump and chose him as their standard bearer. The blame for the incompetence and rot in the GOP lays squarely at the feet of the party’s leadership, McConnell included.
Mathew Clark
Campbell
Real ID delay bodes
ill for climate action
Re. “Real ID deadline extended again, pushed back to to 2025,” Page A3, Dec. 6:
Anyone who still believes that the governments of the world can forge an effective policy to meaningfully reduce future carbon dioxide emissions should pay attention to the recent news that the United States government has once again extended the deadline for the implementation of the Real ID requirement for airline security.
This Real ID requirement stemmed from a lapse in security that allowed the 9/11 terrorists to board airplanes with fraudulently obtained identification documents. It was supposed to take effect in 2008. After repeated extensions of this deadline to the latest date of May 3, 2025, it’s unlikely anyone takes this requirement seriously anymore.
If a single government can’t implement a relatively simple requirement in a meaningful time period what are the chances that a timely effective worldwide plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can be formulated and implemented? My answer: slim or none.
K. R. Kummerer
Saratoga
Source: www.mercurynews.com