{"id":5728,"date":"2026-07-28T23:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5728"},"modified":"2026-07-28T23:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:09:10","slug":"letters-san-jose-council-should-focus-on-bigger-issues-than-bins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5728","title":{"rendered":"Letters: San Jose council should focus on bigger issues than bins"},"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>Council should focus on bigger issues than bins<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cOfficials: Look out for rogue operators\u201d (Page A1, July 25).<\/p>\n<p>Fascinating that the San Jose City Council members\u2019 concern is illegal donation boxes.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5726\">Judge tosses most charges in death of Maurice Monk at Santa Rita Jail<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, \u201cdata centers\u201d are cropping up throughout San Jose. These data centers are a waste of land and water, rapidly deteriorating the well-being of humans and wildlife.<\/p>\n<p>What do we do with current City Council members who entertain corporate interests over their constituents\u2019?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kathleen Hanes<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Jose<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Districts should spend on teachers, not housing<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cDistrict housing plan costly for schools\u201d and \u201cLow-income workers deserve ownership path\u201d (Page A6, July 16).<\/p>\n<p>The contrast between the two letters is striking. While closing schools amid a 20% enrollment decline, the San Jose Unified School District plans to purchase 337 condos for employee housing. Ironically, high housing costs are helping drive school closures\u00a0that displace thousands of students and families.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Most new housing consists of expensive rental apartments that generate profits for owners but offer no path to homeownership or generational wealth. New housing should expand opportunities for homeownership, not just add rental units.<\/p>\n<p>The elephant in the room is that highly profitable corporations are welcomed for their tax revenue while many employees \u2014 including teachers \u2014 still cannot afford to buy a home. Rather than subsidizing teacher housing, why not pay teachers enough to buy homes themselves?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Peggy Brady<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Foster City<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Advancing technology will ease e-car change<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cVoters sour on Newsom\u2019s push to ban gas cars\u201d (Page A10, July 26).<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Voters who are worried about California banning gas cars by 2035 should remember technology is rapidly changing.<\/p>\n<p>According to \u201cBack to the Future,\u201d we should already have flying cars.<\/p>\n<p>Used cars that run on gasoline probably won\u2019t be banned in 2035, and will be plentiful. Today\u2019s high-priced new EV models will be inexpensive used models by that time. The Chinese NIO ET7 already has a more than 620-mile range on a charge. Cars with that range and longer should be widely available in the United States by 2035.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5724\">eBay agrees to pay nearly $50 million to couple sent cockroaches, bloody pig mask<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My family is happily driving a Subaru Solterra with a 240- to 250-mile range on a charge around the Bay Area and charging it at home overnight. We have a 2014 Toyota Camry hybrid for long-distance driving.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Michael Gray<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>San Jose<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Voters want others to pay for climate rules<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cVoters sour on Newsom\u2019s push to ban gas cars\u201d (Page A10, July 26).<\/p>\n<p>The headline does Donald Trump\u2019s work for him \u2014 throw cold water on any climate change repair.<\/p>\n<p>The actual words in this piece tell a far different story. That is, voters have polled consistently that they support climate repair, until they have to pay anything for it. Voters want businesses to pay, not themselves.<\/p>\n<p>A reader scanning the page would get a more accurate impression if the headline were: \u201cVoters support climate repair but don\u2019t want to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Allen Price<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Half Moon Bay<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Financial analysis is too facile to be useful<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cHousing is no longer the best place for growing your money\u201d (Page A10, July 26).<\/p>\n<p>Allison Schrager\u2019s simple financial analysis is flawed.<\/p>\n<p>Schrager compares buying a $500,000 house to investing $500,000 in the stock market. When you buy a house, you usually get a mortgage and pay a down payment of maybe 20%. In this case, you are only investing $100,000 in the house upfront. Investing $100,000 in the market would net less than half the gain from buying a house.<\/p>\n<p>Inflation protection is important. Rents go up, fixed-rate mortgage payments don\u2019t and can go down.\u00a0There are other considerations, such as property tax, maintenance and capital gains exemptions for houses. It is not an easy answer.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5722\">Kurtenbach: Renardo Green has the tools to be the 49ers\u2019 shutdown corner. Raheem Morris just provided the missing spark.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kirby Kruckmeyer<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Sunnyvale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: Teachers over housing | Advancing technology | Who pays? | Facile analysis. Mercury News reader letters to the editor for July 29, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5728","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: San Jose council should focus on bigger issues than bins - 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=5728\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters: San Jose council should focus on bigger issues than bins - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Also: Teachers over housing | Advancing technology | Who pays? | Facile analysis. 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