Letters: S.J. council should let businesses alone

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S.J. council should let businesses alone

Re: “San Jose may try new self-checkout rules to aid workers” (Page A1, Sept. 19).

If you want insight into why businesses struggle and routinely leave California, you need look no further than the San Jose City Council’s decision to study a rules committee proposal to impose a variety of new limits on self-checkout lanes in grocery stores and pharmacies.

The misguided presumption is that local stores are totally incapable of making staffing decisions that best serve their customers, and thus, these decisions are best left to government. This one-size-fits-all approach, central planning by any other name, has failed miserably everywhere else it’s ever been tried. Why does the city of San Jose think it will be any different this time?

Come on, City Council, stay out of the way and let local businesses do what they do best — serve their customers as only they know how.

Nick Cochran
San Jose

Development won’t lower home prices

Re: “‘Big Short’ investor leads fight against 25 homes on Saratoga hillside” (Sept. 30).

In the article, Leora Tanjuatco Ross, California director of YIMBY Action, is quoted that the lawsuit will block teachers, nurses and firefighters from being able to buy houses in Saratoga.

How can that happen on their salaries when the average house sale there is about $4 million?

Andy Green
San Jose

Universities must protect sexual assault victims

Re: “Cornell’s reckonings with fraternities haven’t prevented misconduct” (Sept. 30).

On September 14, 2026, former student Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity. On October 19, 2024, Doe, a 20-year-old Cornell undergraduate, alleged being sexually assaulted and drugged for seven hours at the fraternity by seven men.

According to the lawsuit, fraternity members pressured her to snort ketamine and sexually assaulted her while already intoxicated, while one member allegedly invited others through a group chat to participate. Doe reported the incident to Cornell University Police, where it resulted in two expulsions and five alleged assailants were given essays as punishment. Cornell’s decision raises serious concerns about accountability, as essays cannot match the severity of the allegations.

Universities must take sexual violence allegations seriously and ensure students feel safe and protected — without survivors questioning whether their university will hold perpetrators accountable.

Laura Au
San Jose

Failed execution puts procedure in question

Re: “Pike in critical condition after failed execution” (Page A4, Oct. 2).

September 30, 2026, Christa Pike was set to be the first woman in over 200 years in Tennessee to be executed by lethal injection. But as we now know, the execution failed after trying to administer two doses of the lethal injection to Pike.

Now the question is, why did it all go wrong? Whether or not you believe in the death penalty, what happened to Pike was wrong. Yes, she committed a horrible crime; yes, she should pay for her actions, but what should not have happened was a failed execution that has reportedly caused her immense pain and suffering.

If we stand by the values of the United States, there should be no cruel or unusual punishment inflicted on Pike; but this improper execution raises concerns about whether the procedure was carried out safely, as humanely as possible and according to established standards.

Brenda Flores-Santiago
San Jose

Hegseth’s sound, fury signify nothing

As I watched Pete Hegseth’s speech yesterday, I recalled this quote from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth“:

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Shakespeare compares human life to a “poor player” (an actor) who makes noise and moves anxiously on stage for a short time before disappearing completely.

Hegseth is definitely a poor player. Yesterday he strutted and fretted his time — too long — on stage, sounding like the idiot that he is. Would that he would disappear completely; it couldn’t be too soon.

Lorraine D’Ambruoso
San Jose