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We can do better on
crime, but will we?
Re: “Newsom targets brazen robberies” (Page A1, Jan. 10).
Most propositions would benefit from some tweaking and that is true with Proposition 47. Let there be no mistake, however, that blaming Proposition 47 for our criminal difficulties is convenient, inaccurate and dishonest.
We don’t adequately enforce the laws that exist. For some time, property crimes haven’t been enforced with needed prosecution, adequate consequences and rehabilitation opportunities.
Serial offenders are frequently allowed to remain out of custody to continue offending without consideration for community safety. Adding new laws, without changing current practices, will result in more of the same.
We presently have the ability to do much better. Do we have the will? So far, the answer is a resounding no.
Eugene Hyman
Los Altos
Individual risk should
decide insurance rate
Re: “Why should all Californians pay for the fire risks only a few face” (Page A6, Jan. 10).
I agree with Jacquelyn Johnson that home insurance rates should be based on where the home is located and the risks for that area. Just as 16-year-old male drivers do not determine all auto insurance rates, not all home insurance rates should be the same regardless of where one lives.
If homeowners choose to live in fire-prone areas, along rivers that flood or near beaches that may erode into the sea, that is their choice and they should pay appropriate rates for their insurance risk. The rest of us, who don’t get to live in the forests, next to rivers or the ocean, shouldn’t have to subsidize their lifestyle.
It is only fair to base insurance rates on risk. Homeowners in risky areas can decide to buy insurance, not buy insurance or move. The rest of us should not be responsible for their choices.
Tina Peak
Palo Alto
Electing board could
keep them from greed
Re: “Make the CPUC board elected positions” (Page A6, Jan. 10).
I read the letter Michael McWalters sent to the San Jose Mercury News with interest and agreement.
Michael is right on. PG&E thinks that solar customers are stealing some of their profits. To remedy this, the PUC granted PG&E’s wish by decreasing the amount of money solar customers earn by installing the system. Many customers, like apartments, farms and schools, can no longer profit from the saved energy provided by solar systems. That energy goes back to PG&E so they can sell it to customers at a retail price.
Michael suggests a constitutional amendment to weed out the corruption. He believes PUC members should be elected every two years. That is an excellent suggestion. Members would leave the position before they fell under PG&E’s magic spell.
Lynne Glaser
Redwood City
GOP showing it may
never ‘get over’ Civil War
Re: “GOP should get over it — South lost the Civil War” (Page A9, Jan. 7).
What is very concerning is how thick the Civil War cultural and educational norms are in the South.
Nikki Haley, a second-generation immigrant, has fully embraced the Confederacy narrative on the causes of the Civil War. She said that the question she got about the causes of the Civil War was a hard question. Most likely because she had to reach back to the Civil War history teachings of the South Carolina school system. She gave their textbook answer to the causes of the Civil War. From South Carolina’s viewpoint, slavery was very far down the list. So far down she neglected to mention it.
The South has had almost 160 years to “get over it.” Nikki Haley is a strong example of how the South is not even close to getting over it. And at this pace, they may never.
Patrick Robbins
Santa Clara
Suddenly Trump, team
respect election process
Should Donald Trump be allowed to be a presidential candidate on the ballots of Colorado and Maine, two states challenging his eligibility to run for the office? Those states have determined that he is ineligible under the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the issue and will ultimately rule on Trump’s eligibility but conservatives say it is a political question that should be left up to the voters to decide.
How ironic that Trump and his supporters now respect the election process, when they attempted to overturn the 2020 election with a violent insurrection, and it’s a bitter irony that the 14th Amendment was written by 19th-century Republicans who intended it precisely to keep insurrectionists like Trump, who had taken an oath, from ever holding government office in the future.
Warren Seifert
Gilroy
Christie’s exit claims
last decent Republican
Farewell Chris Christie — the only decent candidate in the GOP field who boldly stood up to Donald Trump and demonstrated his adherence to our Constitution. Our nation is the beacon of freedom and opportunity, but also of personal responsibility where no one is above the law, including our president.
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If the GOP insists on a flawed candidate with 91 felony counts and the temperament of a vicious animal stuck in a corner ready to lash out at anyone who is not his fan, as a Democrat, I welcome and look forward to the GOP’s demise as a major party.
As an American though, I am sad at the spectacle we continue to show the civilized world.
May God bless us with four more years of Joe Biden’s leadership, his decency and his decorum. I plead with my fellow Americans to vote against a savage tyrant.
Rameysh Ramdas
San Jose
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