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PG&E bonus pay should
go to improving safety

First, let me say I appreciate the work and effort of the PG&E line workers. They are doing difficult work under very harsh conditions.

That being said, my home is in a block of homes that were without power for 53 hours starting Aug. 14. The same block was without power for five hours starting Sept. 7. We are not talking Ben Lomond or Boulder Creek here. We are talking Almaden Valley. And from the outage map, we are not alone.

Here is an idea. How about PG&E take the $266 million it sought to give out in performance bonuses to executives this year and improve the infrastructure so the lights remain on for the customers who would pay those bonuses?

Harvey Tran
San Jose

Media must connect impact
of wildfires, climate change

I do not understand why The Mercury News doesn’t use every possible chance to explain the connection between these extreme heat events and global warming. I also don’t understand why reporters and editorial writers don’t use the opportunity to discuss climate change related to all these fires.

Climate change is the issue of the time. It should be kept on everyone’s mind every chance you get. We need to change our ways before it’s too late. The Mercury News has opportunities it is missing. Our planet is frying because of fossil fuels.

Marilynn Smith
San Jose

The issue isn’t freedom,
it’s safety from COVID-19

I used to have a lot of admiration and respect for Kerri Walsh Jennings, our local Olympian from Los Gatos. Her comments about going shopping without a mask go to show you that just because you’re good at one thing doesn’t make you particularly smart.

Spare us, Walsh Jennings. Wear your darn face mask. It’s not about your freedom. It’s about freeing us from your bad behavior. And your possible contagion.

David E. Cohen
San Jose

Proposition 16 is an attack
on equal treatment guarantee

California’s constitutional guarantee of equal treatment is under attack.

In spite of its fancy language, the goal of Proposition 16 is clear: Preferential treatment will be legalized in public jobs, schools and contracts, in the name of skin-color diversity.

California has achieved amazing levels of diversity and inclusion under a merit-based system. Today, both UC and CSU have more female students than male students. The UC system has reached a record high of minority students in its 2020 admissions cycle.

The acceptance rates to UC have declined across all racial groups as a result of state-wide budget cuts, population growth and increases in non-California students. Proposition 209 is not to blame. Nor will Proposition 16 solve the problem.

Treating everyone equally is the cornerstone of American values and is a motivating factor for Americans of various ethnicities to get ahead in life with hard work.

Vote no on Proposition 16.!

Ric Shar
Foster City

Firms pushing Prop. 22
to escape responsibility

The economic hardship as a result of COVID-19 has shown how important government benefits are for working people. Unemployment insurance for those laid off or state disability for those who are physically unable to work have been lifesavers for millions.

California workers can also get SDI if they need to leave their jobs to care for an ill or disabled relative.

These benefits are for employees. The billionaires at Lyft and Uber are spending more than $100 million to ensure that these life-saving protections are not available to their drivers. They wish to roll back the protections provided in recently passed AB 5 by financing Proposition 22. Proposition 22 would take away these benefits for these workers, who if they became ill and unable to work would likely end up homeless and on welfare.

Let Uber and Lyft take corporate responsibility for their drivers and not shift the expenses to the taxpayer.

Gilbert Stein
Aptos

Endorsement misses
Trump’s kept promises

While your endorsement of Joe Biden for president (“Former VP Joe Biden will heal and unite our country,” Sept. 6) properly focused on what he has done, is doing, and will do, it did not discuss the numerous promises President Trump has kept, such as ending bad trade deals, strengthening the border, taming regulations, lowering tax rates, reforming the criminal justice system, rebuilding the military/VA, defeating ISIS, etc.

In addition, while you critiqued the president’s character, you did not discuss  Biden’s countless gaffes, his plagiarism, his family’s questionable business dealings with the Ukraine and China, and the fact that his former boss, President Obama, would only endorse him after he won the nomination.

We are asked to choose between an accomplished promise keeper and a career politician, between an outsider and insider. May God help us.

John Haggerty
Santa Clara