Opinion

Letters to the Editor, July 9, 2019

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake significantly damaged a hospital that had served the community of Watsonville for decades. Devastated by the earthquake, the nonprofit Watsonville Community Hospital (WCH) had to be sold to a for-profit corporation. In 2022, it returned to community ownership.  Still,...

Since my last message our clocks have sprung forward and Spring is here. As we move past the storms of the past several months, much-awaited federal help for our neighbors in Pajaro has arrived.  The President approved a major disaster declaration for Santa Cruz and...

Joseph Stalin famously remarked that in an election, “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” While stakeholders in our democratic system insist that our votes count, in reality, given our electoral system, which consistently features two major political parties, in...

Censure is a distraction from real issues While in no way defending the recent behavior of Georgia Acosta, I have to call out those Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees members now involved in the censure pile-on. Following the Brown Act is the responsibility...

Railbanking is the answer Who, what, why, where, when and how? These are the questions that need to be considered in any public transportation project. According to the RTC's planning documents, a $1.3 billion train would primarily serve a projected 300 Watsonville commuters, making an insignificant impact...

Have your say in downtown’s future The Watsonville Downtown plan needs attention. Watsonville is an agricultural town. Walker Street, running through a busy industrial area, is its backbone. Please do not reimagine the Walker Street area. We do need good, safe access from the train...

If there was any doubt that the inmates are running the asylum in our administration right now, the group chat on the Signal messaging app about the attack on Yemen should have erased it for all but the most diehard MAGA supporters.  The conversation intended...

As a lifelong resident of Watsonville and current PVUSD Trustee for Area 4, I urge you to support Measure M in the upcoming election.  This measure is vital for our community's future. As a proud Watsonville High School alumnus (Class of 2000) and parent of...

For seven years in the 1970s I taught elementary school at Hall District School in Las Lomas. My students were virtually identical to those massacred in Uvalde, Texas. Apparently, “my” children watched for almost an hour while their teachers and friends were being blown...