Letters to the Editor

Praise for Watsonville Fire Chief Lopez In 1996, I took my New School students to the Watsonville Fire Department on Second Street for an educational tour.  There I met fireman Rudy Lopez, who took an interest in my "second chance" high school students.  I met...

Having a ball as the times change It was 1977. The world was playing tennis. I had been riveted by the Wimbledon final match between Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. I was pulling for Bjorn Borg who looked like Jesus Christ with a racket. My...

 Prop. 50 stifles diverse voices California’s Proposition 50, on the November ballot, shamelessly deepens voter disenfranchisement. With 52 congressional districts and voters split at 45.3% Democrat, 25.2% Republican, and 22.3% Independent, California’s representation should reflect this diversity. Yet, only 9 of 52 House seats are...

Regarding benefit caps The local teacher’s union, PVFT, has been loudly crying during negotiations with the school district, PVUSD, to not put a cap on their benefits. It is a great slogan but flies in the face of reality. From 2010 to today, benefits have...

Board should reconsider BESS decision The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors failed their duty to protect the safety of first responders and the general public on June 30 with their decision to not move forward with codifying a battery energy storage system (BESS) ordinance....

Data center installations need tight standards There are issues coming up with many of the data center installations: they need power and cooling with water. Some of these data systems are planned where there is little water and should be required to move to regions...

Human cost of pesticides should be considered The Pajaro Valley Unified School District from 2017-2023 had a total of 14,486,224 pounds of pesticides applied in its boundaries—more than any other school district on the California coast or Salinas Valley. During the same 7-year period, PVUSD had...