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Coyote Valley vote
a critical first step
Congratulations to Mayor Sam Liccardo for his leadership in rezoning Coyote Valley for agricultural uses (“North Coyote Valley will be preserved as open space,” Page B1).
This is much more than a zoning decision; it is a legacy of preserving a pristine parcel of what the valley was known for until 1950. While the rezoning to agricultural land is important, I urge the council to truly protect the land from “solar farms” which don’t constitute “open space” nor do hotels or “ag-related businesses” east of Monterey Road. Open Space should be fields of mustard flowers, habitats for all God’s creatures, and the land passage needs to be clear of buildings for that to happen.
On Nov. 16, the council took a big step forward. Please continue to protect the last small piece of our valley that is picturesque and truly inspiring.
Paul Boehm
San Jose
Find appropriate place
to preserve Fallon statue
Re. “Controversial Fallon statue will be removed,” Page A1, Nov. 11:
The Thomas Fallon statue has merit and should be preserved — maybe in San Jose’s History Park. There are redeeming and instructive aspects to Fallon’s story.
Fallon, a Roman Catholic immigrant from Ireland, married a Hispanic lady, Maria Del Carmen Cota in Santa Cruz. The Irish-Hispanic alliance in early California statehood, based on Roman Catholic marriages, is an important feature of our early history and helped to reduce social tensions.
Also, Fallon’s ride over the Santa Cruz Mountains was another installment in “comic opera” early California history. During Mexican rule, there were occasional minor skirmishes between forces in Northern California and in Southern California, especially in the 1840s. Fallon and his forces did not commit violence during their seizure of power in San Jose. Contrast that with so many other conquests, followed by summary executions and firing squads. World history is filled with them.
Douglas Hawes
San Jose
Hyrdrocarbon-free plan
needs details, analysis
Re. “California needs to share details about hydrocarbon-free future,” Page A19, Nov. 7:
Dan Walter’s excellent Nov. 7 opinion piece suggesting that Gov. Newsom put some meat on the bones of a hydrocarbon-free future is an absolutely essential requirement for a rational, dispassionate discussion of our energy future.
Hydrocarbon energy is dense energy; it is affordable, reliable, dispatchable. It has powered our modern civilization, lifting billions out of poverty. Net zero will replace that energy with expensive, unreliable, dilute energy.
By following the 2015 Paris agreement, environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg calculates $60 trillion to $120 trillion would be needed to meet emission reduction goals resulting in a mere 0.17 degree reduction in 2100 temperature projections.
California’s 1 percent of total global CO2 emissions suggests our fair share of the policy/implementation costs could be $600 billion to $1.2 trillion, or about the cost of 6 to 12 California high-speed rail systems.
Californians should demand a comprehensive, detailed decarbonization plan and a thorough cost/benefit analysis for California and the world.
Bruce Guenard
San Jose
‘One religion’ is path
to intractable conflict
Re. “Cartoonist’s View,” Page A6, Nov. 17:
The “one religion” call of Michael Flynn is shocking, appalling and laughable at the same time.
Does no one read history? Remember the Christians being thrown to the lions in ancient Rome? The Inquisition? King Henry VIII’s takeover of the Catholic churches and murder of the Catholic priests in the 1500s? Queen “Bloody” Mary’s flipping of the table and persecution of the Protestants a few years later? The Holocaust? The fighting between Sunnis and Shiites? My own ninth great grandmother, Mary Barrett Dyer, was hung by the Puritans in 1690 for refusing to give up practicing her Quaker faith.
“One religion” has never worked and never will. It only causes division, destruction and death. Religion should be a matter of an individual’s heritage and personal beliefs, and no business of the state or anyone else.
Amy Yee
San Jose
Legislature should
step in on water fix
Re. “Water proposal resulting in rancor,” Page A1, Nov. 17:
California uses more water than it collects. The climate crisis is getting worse. We need food from farms that need water to grow crops. These are straightforward environmental and ecological concerns.
Let’s not turn the proposed “Water Infrastructure Funding Act of 2022” into another left-right ideological fight. Dams, reservoirs, desalination plants and recycled water plants can be built with appropriate and adequate environmental oversight while serving their purpose of providing more water for our parched state.
Maybe our state legislators should take this up and write a reasonable bill before the initiative process puts a proposition on the ballot that is less than well-designed.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont
Source: www.mercurynews.com