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Expand efforts to
students with disabilities
Statewide, about 13% of students in California are identified as having a disability, according to data from the California Department of Education. However, most of these students experience ableist language, microaggressions and social exclusion, which take away from their academic and personal growth.
I have observed ableism at Cupertino High School, such as misusing words like “sped,” “autistic” and the r-word. I want to address this by promoting and supporting programs such as Best Buddies, a nonprofit organization that has established a club at our school. This club focuses on one-on-one friendships, leadership development and inclusive opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Expanding Best Buddies programs in schools across California will create meaningful connections among students, and educate students on types of disabilities and ableism.
Schools should integrate Best Buddies and promote participation through advisory education sessions and advertisements.
Alyssa Hwang
Cupertino
MTC should reject
bridge toll increase
Re: Borenstein: Bay Area transportation slush fund casts doubt on need for $2.50 bridge toll hike
We represent a coalition of taxpayer and transportation advocacy organizations (Bay Area Transportation Working Group, Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association, Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, Alameda County Taxpayers’ Association, Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers and Solano County Taxpayers’ Association) that oppose the $10.50 Bay Area bridge toll, which the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) will consider Wednesday.
BATA, comprised of members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, should reject this unwarranted $2.50 toll increase. BATA first must reform its deceptive financial practices and appoint an independent inspector general to serve as an internal auditor and investigator, like Caltrans, BART and New York MTA now have.
Of today’s $7 toll, $3 are earmarked for “toll bridge seismic retrofit work.” Although BATA deemed the seismic retrofit program complete in 2019, it will collect the $3 surcharge in perpetuity. BATA should use any excess funds for bridge rehabilitation or maintenance to offset the proposed increase.
Gerald Cauthen
Oakland
Mark Hinkle
San Jose
Marc Joffe
Walnut Creek
PG&E leaders should
feel sting of high rates
Re: “Report: PG&E electricity bills are rising faster than other titans” (Page B9, Dec. 15).
Is it any wonder that customers no longer believe that PG&E is operating in good faith? People are suffering, yet all we get from PG&E is a statement assuring us that someday rates might come down.
We are supposed to take heart because “rates do not increase continually.” These tone-deaf responses reveal the problem: Clients are trapped and the C-suite is doing a poor job, but they’re paid handsomely for their abysmal performance.
To earn back the trust and respect of their clients, how about this: For every year that there is a rate hike there are no bonuses for the C-suite? And for every rate hike, the C-suite receives the same percentage in a pay cut? Perhaps then some serious restructuring and reorganization to change the broken business model would take place.
Janet Warrington
Los Altos
Polio vaccine ban
would be tragic reversal
Re: “McConnell says Trump nominees should ‘steer clear’ of polio vaccine” (Page A4, Dec. 15).
Like Sen. McConnell, I am a survivor of childhood polio. As a 7-year-old in 1950, prior to the polio vaccine, I experienced paralysis in all four limbs.
This led to a full year of hospitalization followed by three surgeries. Three of my siblings also suffered from this highly infectious disease. Today, at age 82, I am experiencing muscular weakness, diagnosed as post-polio syndrome by a Stanford neurologist.
I fear that if the polio vaccine, which has substantially eliminated polio worldwide, is stopped my offspring and their cohorts will be susceptible to this catastrophic virus. This must not happen.
Judith Stratman
Saratoga
Are drone sightings
result of U.S. policy?
Re: “Senator: Drones should be shot down” (Page A4, Dec. 13).
As mysterious drones hover over New Jersey, Americans should not be surprised that they have come to our shores. Since the Obama administration, the United States has employed drone warfare, resulting in the tragic deaths of innocent women and children, often due to mistaken targets.
Now, from behind remote video screens, Israeli forces are carrying out what many consider one of the most horrifying acts of genocide in modern history. This is a chapter our grandchildren may one day reflect upon with disbelief and sorrow, asking why we stood idly by.
Akeem Mostamandy
San Jose
Trump is prepared
to do Russia’s bidding
Re: “Russia launches massive attack against Ukraine” (Page A3, Dec. 14).
The statement that most struck me in the article about Ukraine’s use of U.S. missiles was the Kremlin spokesman’s comment that Donald Trump’s stance “conforms to our position.”
I fear it is a Russian sentiment that we will experience again and again over the next four years.
Kris Sowolla
Los Gatos
Court’s ruling against
TikTok is prudent
Re: “TikTok ruling threatens free speech in the U.S.” (Page A9, Dec. 15).
“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean,” according to Humpty Dumpty — and apparently to law school deans, who seem to believe that lawyers have Humpty Dumpty’s power to change reality by changing a word’s meaning.
Regardless of the U.S. Supreme Court’s anti-democracy Citizens United decision that corporations are persons, they are not — any more than a building is a person. Yes, both have actual people inside them, but that doesn’t make corporations and buildings into real, living people. I’m sure most 10-year-olds don’t believe that — even if some law school professors do.
There are limits to free speech. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out, “You can’t shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.” There is a lot of evidence that TikTok represents a dangerous national security risk to the United States, and needs to be separated from the Chinese government’s control.
Dave Whitaker
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com