Opinion

Despite a rainy winter, a serious water crisis continues in California.

By JOHN MENKE, Hyde Street Neighborhood Association Representative On Sept. 25, I emailed you a letter discussing the proposed Hilton Hotel at 1 Western Drive. Excerpts from that letter subsequently appeared in the Oct.  4 issue of The Pajaronian as an “open letter’’ to you....

For the last 18 years, I taught a special education class in the Pajaro Valley. Many of my students were farmworker children with learning disabilities: problems paying attention, reading difficulties, hyperactivity, autism, lower IQ and struggles with self-control. I was shocked to discover that one of the most widely used pesticides in the world — chlorpyrifos — has, after over 20 years of solid research at UC Davis, Berkeley, Columbia University and elsewhere, been linked to these difficulties in learning and behavior.

Unions have been a path to economic security for many Americans and in particular, have ensured those benefits reach minority workers.