Letters: Psychiatric beds | SJSU neglect | Squandering cash | Overdoing coverage | Pac-12 negotiations | For climate’s sake | Electric appliances

Mercury News Letters to the Editor for Aug. 16, 2023

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County must preserve
its psychiatric beds

Re: “County must secure needed inpatient psychiatric beds” (Page A6, Aug. 11).

Do not close the 18 acute inpatient beds at Mission Oaks Hospital. It’s very important to keep these beds open. Many people need these beds that are going through hard times right now, especially after COVID.

We don’t have enough places to help our people who are suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. My son has schizophrenia and had a stay at this hospital. It helped him recover from his breakdown.

Jeri Bromley
Cupertino

SJSU continues to
neglect track and field

Re: “University adds $70M athletics complex” (Page B1, Aug. 13).

I just read that San Jose State has added a new $70 million athletic center. I have questions.

Where is the track and field facility? Currently, this major institution has track and field teams that must practice at local high school and community college facilities. Every high school in the area has a decent track facility but not the Spartans.

How does a school recruit athletes when it has no facility for those athletes? A small part of that $70 million could be used to put a track in somewhere. Most other major local universities have a track facility. Why not San Jose State? Historically track and field put San Jose State on the map.

Monty Steadman
San Jose

As students struggle,
SJSU squanders cash

Re: “University adds $70M athletics complex” (Page B1, Aug. 13).

Families can’t afford tuition. Students have to choose between food and rent and carry student loans for decades. What’s San Jose State’s answer to these problems? Build a $70 million sports complex.

Maybe the new “family entertainment zone” will have a soup kitchen in the basement for hungry students and their families.

Randall Spangler
San Jose

Paper is overdoing
Pink Poodle coverage

Re: “Pink Poodle explanations not believable” (Page A8, Aug. 13).

The Mercury News has gone on and on about the firefighters who stopped at the Pink Poodle, allegedly stopped at AJ’s and gave a ride to someone in a bikini.

First, it was because it wasn’t made public, then you were disappointed there wasn’t more in the report and that the firefighters didn’t receive enough discipline. Furthermore, the paper insinuates politics into the incident as in city versus the firefighters union.

By and large, firefighters are there when needed or a lot of us would not be here. Poor choices were made; I doubt it is an everyday occurrence and doesn’t call for drastic measures or prolonged coverage by this newspaper.

There are so many other things you could be reporting on or investigating that are of greater interest to those of us who subscribe to this newspaper.

Isabel Mota-Macias
Modesto

Pac-12’s nonrevenue
sports need advocate

Re: “Pac-12 collapse: Our five-step guide to rebuilding the conference around the four schools left behind” (Aug. 7).

The stories written about the Pac-12 demise focus on the incompetence of leaders and what’s next. But, the perspective of the “conference landscape” solely discusses men’s football and basketball.

Maybe leaders and journalists should consider whether there is negotiating room for other affected sports and athletes. There are legitimate victims of the realignment: the West Coast nonrevenue sports student-athletes having to travel too far a distance to compete back East (and vice versa for their opponents). It would be nice to consider options for their benefit.

Would the Big 10 allow a Pac-8 arrangement for these sports with rights to revenue share but control broadcast? Can the U.S. Olympic Committee play a role in creating regional competitions?

The Pac-12 leaders who failed were slow, inept, unrealistic and not bold enough repeatedly. Let’s try to do better for a larger quantity of athletes that need an alternative to what they now face.

Michael DiMartino
Menlo Park

For climate’s sake,
don’t vote for GOP

Re: “Far-right climate strategy: Drill more” (Page A1, Aug. 6).

Imagine the Earth is a bus careening toward a cliff. The passengers desperately need a plan to avert disaster. The Republicans’ answer? Step on the accelerator.

I don’t believe I’ve read a more terrifying article all year. If we are to have a future as a nation (indeed as a planet) it is our moral obligation to do everything we can to keep myopic, science-denying extremists away from the levers of power.

David Eshleman
Los Gatos

All families can benefit
from electric appliances

Re: “Elias: Forcing appliance electrification may cause California backlash” (Aug. 4).

As climate disasters unfold and we gain greater clarity around the health harms of burning methane gas indoors, it’s just simple common sense for California to support households in making the upgrade to clean heating and cooling equipment when their fossil fuel furnaces and water heaters burn out.

And by taking advantage of both soon-to-be available federal incentives and state incentives, many low-income households will actually be able to save money by upgrading to these zero-emission alternatives – while gaining efficient cooling, better air filtration systems, and more comfortable homes.

Gas company executives would love for consumers to fear the transition away from fossil fuels in homes – but the fact is, everyone wants the latest in clean, affordable, and efficient appliances, and that is what we’re gaining from this transition. Look forward to healthier air quality, more comfortable homes, and a more stable climate.

Melissa Yu
San Francisco