Letters: Unused spaces offer an answer for homelessness

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Unused spaces offer hope for homeless

Re: “Motel-to-housing conversion plans eyed in San Jose” (Page B3, May 20).

San Jose’s plan to turn the Caravelle Inn & Suites into apartment units is a great first step to addressing the city’s ever-growing housing shortage.

Rent is always going up, and many low-income residents are faced with nowhere to go. At the same time, many hotels and commercial buildings remain vacant. This leaves valuable developed land empty when it could be meeting community needs. Turning unused spaces into apartments makes a lot of sense and is usually cheaper than new builds. This gives unused properties a new purpose while providing much-needed relief to our community’s crisis.

If more of these unused spaces were converted to apartments, San Jose could create thousands of dynamic housing opportunities and make better use of existing lots across the city. City leadership should prioritize projects like this and focus on the people who need it the most.

Maia Kerr
Mountain View

Trump’s open criminality is beyond description

Re: “Trump sets up fund for his allies” (Page A1, May 19).

The blatant criminality and corruption of the Trump administration is on a scale that defies description and is nearly impossible to believe.

Anyone who condones his “Anti-Weaponization Fund” should ask themselves whether James Comey or Leticia James will receive a portion of those same funds, as they were obviously targeted for prosecution by Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

With the Supreme Court in his hip pocket and the passage of the Presidential Immunity Act, Trump is confident that literally anything he does as a sitting president is guaranteed to be immune from criminal or civil prosecution.

One reason for Trump to pay over $1 billion to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists is to buy their loyalty and to preside over his own private armed militia. A greater motivation is to repeatedly numb the American public to his rapacious greed and brazenly steal billions for himself and his cronies.

Jerry Gudeman
Santa Clara

Trump’s grifting has no end in sight

Re: “Trump sets up fund for his allies” (Page A1, May 19).

With utter dismay, I read that the Justice Department has agreed to not only set aside almost $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars for President Trump to pass out like he does pardons to anyone he deems unfairly prosecuted, but also has granted complete and total immunity from tax audits to Trump and his entire family, in perpetuity.

That is not only giving the fox the keys to the hen house, but it is also giving him a map showing how to get there and the times of day he can visit, and when the farmer isn’t looking.

Is there no end to the grift? Is there no shame anywhere in the Republican Party?

Tom Carson
San Jose

Republicans turn blind eye to Trump’s abuses

Re: “Trump discloses thousands of stock trades, some directly influenced by his policies” (Page A3, May 20).

There can be no reasoning with the other political party when they completely ignore all crimes their president is committing, as he trashes the democracy, our world status and 250 years of men in the Oval Office who worked for the betterment of this country.

The flagrant bribes, sinking boats in international waters, kidnapping the leader of another country, starting a war without working through Congress and now his admission to stock trades as he purposefully manipulates the market violate the rule of law.

David Wilkins
San Jose

Trump is turning US into personal fiefdom

Re: “Government drops Trump tax case” (Page A1, May 20).

Where is the outrage? Donald Trump and his family will be exempt from IRS audits in perpetuity. This is simply ridiculous! Who has ever been shielded from tax responsibility like this? Is the Congress in thrall to this would-be third-world dictator?

Meanwhile, he’s using his presidential power to directly influence companies and countries while investing in them. This is an ethics violation, but that has never been a concern for Trump. He’s using the U.S. government to further his fortune while avoiding any oversight. If he were a lesser government official, a department secretary, he would be committing a crime.

How can Republicans continue to turn a blind eye to not only his personal greed, but also to the egotism and instability he displays daily? An embarrassment and a danger, Trump is making this country his personal fiefdom, aided by silent acquiescence.

Claudia Parker
San Jose

Vets deserve the truth more than a holiday

I fought in Iraq because America was told it was tied to 9/11, a lie our government sold us and the media repeated. I was wounded in combat, and I’m a Gold Star family member. Every Memorial Day, we carry the cost.

Politicians gung-ho about war have never seen combat or lost anyone to it. The ones with doubts kept quiet. Politicians backing unconditional aid to governments waging illegal, offensive wars are complicit and should be held responsible.

This Memorial Day, those same politicians have no right showing up at the graves of servicemembers they put there. To them, they were pawns to sacrifice for personal gain.

As I do every Memorial Day, I’ll be with people I care about, not gallivanting around saying, “I’m against war,” while voting for it.
We owe the dead more than a holiday. We owe them honesty about how they got there.

Anthony Dang
Belmont