Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Stop traumatizing
homeless with sweeps

Re: “Cities vowed to clear camps, but have they?” (Page A1, Jan. 19).

Where will they go? Sweeps in the past are traumatizing, leaving residents without their belongings and their formed communities, and with nowhere to go except back on the streets.

Shelters do not provide a permanent solution as some do not provide social services, counseling and medical help. We should be investing in solutions such as the Victorville Wellness Center. Each person has their own private small space to reside. Their pets are welcome. Social services are provided to help them re-enter the community and support groups help get them back on their feet. When will we treat these people like human beings instead of like cattle being moved from one place to another?

Sweeps will only send the homeless to another location to set up a new encampment. Stop these sweeps.

Rev. Juanita Cordero
Los Gatos

Working homeless
deserve help, not hassle

Re: “City cracks down on RV parking” (Page B1, Jan. 19).

San Jose and Santa Clara County have had homeless issues for some time. This option addresses those who have jobs, cannot afford housing and are living out of their vehicles. This is roughly a third of the homeless. These people are making a contribution to the economy and deserve a hand up.

Rather than hassle them to keep moving their vehicles, it would be prudent to take an open space, like an old drive-in theatre, and provide an area to park overnight, and to have access to water, electricity and portable toilets. A small fee could be required to cover the operating expenses. Everyone wins. For a little more investment, showers could be provided.

Because they make a contribution to our community, they need to be treated differently than those with mental health and drug issues, or those who refuse any assistance.

Bill Beecher
Aptos

Media should keep eyes
on Trump’s worst moves

Re: “Trump out to be a name-changer” (Page A1, Jan. 23).

President Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders that will change Americans’ lives for the worse, from cutting access to medical coverage and lower prescription prices to rolling back protections for civil rights. So what gets half the front page of the Mercury News? A stupid notion about changing some place names that won’t affect anyone.

Please stop chasing every shiny distraction he throws out there and focus instead on the meaningful damage he’s doing that will make life harder for millions of people. It shouldn’t be hard to find something substantial, given how many ways he’s trying to undo a century of American progress.

Doug Edwards
Los Altos

Cartoonist owes apology
for bad comparison

There was a cartoon in the Jan. 20 paper, the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, that was so offensive I felt I must write to the paper.

“Mallard Fillmore” is a very political cartoon. Freedom of speech and a differing opinion are foundational rights in our democracy. However, the Jan. 20 strip that compared Donald Trump to Martin Luther King Jr. is such an ill-informed statement.

The cartoonist should write an apology at the very least.

Donna Thompson
Santa Cruz

Plenty of reasons to find
Trump contemptible

Had he only sexually abused women, that would have been enough to be contemptible.

Had he not sexually abused women, but committed felonies and fraud, that would have been enough.

Related Articles

Letters: Donald Trump’s new agenda is just what the nation ordered

Letters: Donald Trump’s presidency is a sign of a nation in decline

Letters: Barbara Lee isn’t the change Oakland needs

Letters: Is Khanna seeking attention with conspiracy theory?

Letters: Green infrastructure could give our California coast a chance

Had he not abused women, not committed felony and fraud, but lied over 30,000 times, including a known, big lie to divide the nation, that would have been enough.

Had he not abused women, not committed felony and fraud, and not lied pathologically, including dividing the nation, but engaged in election interference, that would have been enough.

Had he not abused women, not committed felony and fraud, not lied pathologically, not sowed division, and not attempted to interfere with an election, but dodged the draft and demeaned those who served, that would have been enough.

Had he not committed these transgressions but scapegoated immigrants and failed to show empathy for others, that would be, and is, contemptible.

Larry Ebert
San Francisco