{"id":4772,"date":"2026-07-17T23:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2026-07-17T23:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:36:38","slug":"letters-we-should-stop-sinking-money-in-high-speed-rail-pit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4772","title":{"rendered":"Letters: We should stop sinking money in high-speed rail pit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Stop sinking money in high-speed rail pit<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cHigh-speed rail agency seeks new fed funding\u201d (Page A1, July 9).<\/p>\n<p>I am 85 years old and have voted in every election throughout my life. Over the years, I\u2019ve supported both Democrats and Republicans, and I\u2019ve always felt confident in my choices. I\u2019ve never once wished I could go back and change my vote \u2014 except for one decision.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4770\">Letters: SAVE Act is another example of Republican hypocrisy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I regret voting for the high\u2011speed rail project.<\/p>\n<p>The endless delays, the ballooning costs and the fact that it still won\u2019t run from San Francisco to Los Angeles in any phase have left me deeply disappointed. It feels as though we are throwing money into a bottomless pit, and after all these years, there are still no trains.<\/p>\n<p>I believe Californians deserve the chance to vote again on whether we want to continue funding a rail system that, at this point, serves only the Central Valley.<\/p>\n<p>Stop the high-speed rail in California and stop throwing money into a never-ending hole.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carl Politis<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Concord<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Take up policy problems with districts, not unions<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cPublic instruction is to blame for decline\u201d (Page A6, July 2).<\/p>\n<p>From a distance, Jay Todesco\u2019s opinion is easy to hold. Up close, it becomes so light that it becomes invisible. Todesco says that \u201ckids are getting indoctrination instead of instruction,\u201d and \u201cI believe the teachers\u2019 unions have a lot to do with this.\u201d Let me untangle his thought, his \u201cbelief,\u201d and his agenda, and hitch it to where it belongs.<\/p>\n<p>Teachers\u2019 unions are to help stabilize work conditions where districts would easily take greater advantage of teachers than they already do. Rather than unions pushing \u201cleft-wing influences,\u201d look no further than the district offices of school districts. This is where policies are crafted, curriculum divined and bulldozed into an often unreceptive teacher\u2019s lap. If any \u201cpush \u2026 for DEI and \u2018woke\u2019 mantras\u201d are to be found, please guide your thoughts to those in the district office who make policy, not those in unions who support teachers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>William Green<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Alameda<\/em><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Threats against Newsom family are bad for nation<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cTrump\u2019s actions irritate Newsom\u201d (Page A1, June 16).<\/p>\n<p>Nothing is more intimidating than the fear that someone will harm your family. Making threats against the loved ones of their opponents is a tool used by unscrupulous leaders against those who oppose their policies.<\/p>\n<p>Donald Trump understands this well. He is untethered to normal feelings of empathy due to his narcissistic tendencies. Gov. Gavin Newsom is a potential presidential candidate who has sharply criticized Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has sent the FBI to investigate Newsom\u2019s wife, Jennifer Seibel Newsom, for vague accusations of tax improprieties. This follows his previous threats against the families of Joe Biden and members of Congress who don\u2019t support him.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4768\">Review: Workplace \u2018isms\u2019 clash in \u2018Employee Dharma Playbook\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Those who approve of such tactics will applaud them as necessary business. The rest of us watch helplessly, understanding that such threats are not being made for the good of the country, but to bolster the power of a wannabe dictator while causing great distress to the victims.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teri Shikany<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Danville<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Will research funding cover minority disease?<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cResearch bond set for ballot\u201d (Page A1, June 29).<\/p>\n<p>Research funding is very important, helping to discover cures for diseases present in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n<p>How much of the money would go to developing treatments and a cure for sickle cell, a predominantly minority disease?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tim Brown<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Hayward<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Trump treats public service as a business<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cUnpacking the alleged claims of market fraud\u201d (Page A6, July 15).<\/p>\n<p>How comforting to learn from Health and Human Services that losing nearly 3 million Americans from healthcare rolls is a triumph of efficiency. Rebranding people who cannot afford a 58% premium hike as \u201cphantom enrollees\u201d is bureaucratic alchemy, turning abandonment into a crusade against \u201cfraud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is the comedy of treating a public service as a commercial commodity. The federal government, as currency issuer, faces no financial barrier to funding health subsidies. The only real constraints are resource-based: the supply of doctors, nurses, clinics, preventive education and the political will to cap unit drug prices \u2014 a move that actually protects pharmaceutical market size through expanded patient volume.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Larry Henry<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Berkeley<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Wimbledon has lessons for Trump and cronies<\/h4>\n<p>I just watched the Wimbledon Tennis Final from Britain.<\/p>\n<p>The loser congratulated the winner. The winner congratulated the loser. They spoke with compassion and respect for each other, and for the game and for their public. They laughed, they controlled their tears and no one claimed the match was stolen.<\/p>\n<p>No one insulted or threatened their opponents with prison or death. We saw, from deep in Donald Trump\u2019s America, players who did the best they could with the whole world watching, still able to congratulate and accept the results of their best efforts, even when they lost.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4766\">Gov. Newsom curbs fund paying workers up to $1,700 a week for common ailments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now, imagine President Trump under similar circumstances. What do you see?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Michael Steinberg<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Berkeley<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: District policy | Family threats | Research funding | Public service | Wimbledon&#8217;s lessons. East Bay Times reader letters to the editor for July 19, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters: We should stop sinking money in high-speed rail pit - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters: We should stop sinking money in high-speed rail pit - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Also: District policy | Family threats | Research funding | Public service | Wimbledon&#039;s lessons. 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